Framework Or Plan for a Study (Research) Used As a Guide

1

Research Design:

·  Framework or plan for a study (research) used as a guide

in collecting and analyzing data

·  A blueprint to follow in completing a study

The purposes of making a proper research design are:

·  To ensure that the study is relevant to the research problem

·  To ensure that the study use relevant and economical procedures

·  To learn more about research methods

Remember that there is never a single, correct, optimal or standard method for carrying out research

Three basic research design frameworks:

1.  Exploratory

2.  Descriptive

3.  Causal

1.  Exploratory Research

Major focus on:

Gaining ideas and insight

Breaking brad, vague problems into smaller, more precise subproblems

2.  Descriptive Research

Major emphasis on determining the frequency with which something occurs or the extent to which two variables correlate

3.  Causal Research

Major focus on determining cause-and-effect relationships

4.  Exploratory Research

Purposes of exploratory research:

·  Formulating a problem for more precise investigation

·  Developing hypotheses

·  Establishing priorities for further research

·  Gathering information about practical problems of carrying out research on particular issues

·  Increasing your familiarity with the problem

·  Clarifying concepts

Exploratory research is appropriate for any problem about which little is known

Exploratory research is the foundation for a good study

“Allocation of specific assets”

Exploratory research is very flexible with respect to methods used for gaining insight

Different types of exploratory studies:

·  Literature search

·  Experience Survey

·  Focus Groups

·  Analysis of selected cases

Make a tentative description of your “research field”

Search for relevant concepts or phenomena?

-Concepts

-Setting

·  Purchasing decisions?

·  Consumers or firms/organizations?

·  Relevant courses as guidelines?

·  Initial purchasing decisions or established buyer-seller relationships?

·  Anchors in the purchasing process?

Use the gathered information in order to:

·  Discover new ideas

·  Discover tentative or interesting explanations or

correlations

·  Examine further research opportunities

·  Examine overview articles

·  Get statistical data

·  Information about relevant industries and firms

(e.g. competitors)

Use appropriate logistics journals and basic logistic data bases in the library in addition to public statistics and text books

Experience Survey

This means a key informant survey of people knowledgeable about the general subject being investigated

Cool Hunters

Innovators

Front line firms

The main focus is to explore alternative and tentative explanations to phenomena

Focus Groups

·  A personal interview simultaneously conducted among a small number of individuals

·  Main focus on the ideas from the group discussion

·  Open questions

·  You have the position as a leader/moderator in the discussion

·  8-12 persons participate in discussions of 1.5 to 2 hours

Purposes of focus groups:

·  Generating hypotheses

·  Generating information helpful for construction of questionnaires

·  Providing information about new management tools in business logistics

Remember that focus groups are NOT representative for a certain population

Be careful with making generalizations of attitudes, viewpoints and actions/decisions

Main focus should aim at getting ideas and insights for

further investigations

Analysis of Selected Cases

This implies an analysis of selected cases of the phenomenon under investigation

As a researcher, you have to focus on:

·  Listening and open mind instead of confirmation of

your expected explanation

·  Revised questions as new information occurs

·  Reasonable understanding and interpretation of the obtained information

·  Avoidance of leading questions

Possible strategies:

1. Select well performing firms in order to make benchmarking of the performance of a specific firm

2. Compare several, selected cased based on the focus of the research problem

3. Select case based on initiative from the case firm

Descriptive Research Design

Purposes of descriptive research design:

·  Describe characteristics of specific industrial firms with respects to strategies, logistic management, sales figures and export rates

·  Make predictions of sales and implementation of specific logistic solutions for a certain time period

Descriptive research focus in general on who, what, when, where, why and how related to a research question or hypothesis

Be careful with the motivation for asking specific questions!!

What is interesting??

The desired analysis or decision making options are the strongest guideline for what is interesting in descriptive research?

·  What industry groups are interesting to compare?

·  What is the content of logistic strategy or planning?

·  Is the localization of the firms of any interest?

·  Comparison of customers/not-customers?

·  What is customer loyalty?

Two main types of descriptive research:

1.  Cross-sectional study

2.  Longitudinal study

More details

1.  Cross-sectional study

·  Most important and common descriptive design

·  A snapshot of the variables of interest at a single point of time

·  Based on a specific probability sample survey

·  Cross-classifications of data and correlations

2.  Longitudinal study

This design implies a repeated measurement of firms or individuals with respect to certain attributes like sales, logistic strategies, inventory management and marketing

Longitudinal studies are based on either true panels or omnibus panels

True Panels:

·  Repeated measurements of the same variables

·  The same sample is maintained over time

·  Time series analysis

Omnibus Panels:

·  Repeated measurements of different issues (variables)

·  New sub-samples is selected for each issue

The most important issues in time series analysis is to analyze changes:

Example 1: Purchasing

Purchased Item / Time T1 / Time T2
A (Our firm) / 200 / 250
B / 300 / 270
C / 350 / 330
D / 150 / 150
Total / 1000 / 1000

Conclusion:

1.  Our firm is increasing the market share

2.  Do we capture new customers from competitor

B and C?

Go for further interpretation!!

Example 2: Purchasing, more detailed information

T1 / T2
A / B / C / D / Total
A / 175
87.5% / 25
12.5% / 0
0% / 0
0% / 200
100%
B / 0
0% / 225
75.0% / 50
16.7% / 25
8.3% / 300
100%
C / 0
0% / 0
0% / 280
80.0% / 70
20.0% / 350
100%
D / 75
50.0% / 20
13.3% / 0
0% / 55
36.7% / 150
100%
Total / 250 / 270 / 330 / 150 / 1000

Analysis:

·  Our firm A has lost 25 (12.5%) of our customers to B

·  Our firm A has won 75 (50%) of D’s customers

·  The changing pattern is more interesting than the current

status report

Theory:

A.O. Hirschmann: Exit, Voice and Loyalty

Conclusion:

·  True panel data gives a methodological advantage in the sense that it captures more accurate data in real time and hence avoids the problems with memory of the past

·  True panel data opens for more sophisticated analysis of change and change patterns

·  The greatest problem with true panel data is that they are not quite representative. Why?

Causal Research Design

Does X cause Y?

Three basic factors have to be considered:

1.  Statistical correlation between X and Y (concitant variation)

2.  Logical time order of the occurrence of X and Y

3.  Elimination of other causal factors

Experiments:

1.  Laboratory Experiment

2.  Field Experiment