Page 32 - DMGT404 RESEARCH_METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology

Notes Introduction

Research design is simply a plan for a study. This is used as a guide in collecting and analyzing
the data. It can be called a blue print to carry out the study. It is like a plan made by an architect
to build the house, if a research is conducted without a blue print, the result is likely to be
different from what is expected at the start. The blue print includes (1) interviews to be conducted,
observations to be made, experiments to be conducted data analysis to be made. (2) Tools used
to collect the data such as questionnaire (3) what is the sampling methods used.

3.1 An Overview

Research design can be thought of as the structure of research - it is the "glue" that holds all of the
elements in a research project together. A successful design stems from a collaborative process
involving good planning and communication.
Research Design is mainly of three types namely, exploratory, descriptive and causal research.
Exploratory research is used to seek insights into general nature of the problem. It provides the
relevant variable that need to be considered. In this type of research, there is no previous
knowledge; research methods are flexible, qualitative and unstructured.

Notes The researcher in this method does not know "what he will find".

Descriptive research is a type of research, very widely used in marketing research. Generally in
descriptive study there will be a hypothesis, with respect to this hypothesis, we ask questions
like size, distribution, etc.

Causal research, this type of research is concerned with finding cause and effect relationship.
Normally experiments are conducted in this type of research.

3.1.1 Need for Research Design

Before starting the research process, efficient and appropriate research design should be prepared.
A research design is needed because of the following benefits it provides:
 It helps in smooth functioning of various research operations.

 It requires less effort, time and money.
 It helps to plan in advance the methods and techniques to be used for collecting and
analysing data.

 It helps in obtaining the objectives of the research with the availability of staff, time and
money.
The researcher should consider the following factors before creating a research design:

 The method for obtaining information source
 Skills of the researcher and the co-ordinating staff
 Problem objectives
 Nature of the problem

 Time and money available for the research work.

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