Descriptive Studies

Chapter 6 Research Design : An Overview Donald R. Cooper & Pamela S. Schindler

授課教授: 洪新原 教授

組員:602530037 翁育群 602556023 李明易 601520038 游珉宜

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What Is Research Design? • Blueprint

• Plan • Guide • Framework 2013/10/28

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What Is Research Design?

Design in the Research Process 2013/10/28

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What Tools Are Used in Designing Research?

CPM Schedule of Research Design 2013/10/28

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Classification of Designs Category

Options

The degree to which the research question has been crystallized

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Exploratory study Formal study

The method of data collection

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Monitoring Communication study

The power of the researcher to produce effects in the variables under study

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Experimental Ex post facto

The purpose of the study

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Reporting Descriptive Casual - Explanatory. Predictive

The time dimension

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Cross-sectional Longitudinal

The topical scope – breadth and depth – of the study

• Case • Statistical study

The research environment

• Field setting • Laboratory research • Simulation

The participants’ perceptions of research activity

• Actual routine • Modified routine

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Degree of Research Question Crystallization • Exploratory study • Formal study

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Method of Data Collection • Monitoring • Communication study

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Researcher Control of Variables • Experiment • Ex post facto design

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The purpose of the Study • Reporting study

• Descriptive study • Causal-explanatory study • Causal-predictive study 2013/10/28

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The Time Dimension • Cross-sectional studies • Longitudinal studies

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The Topical Scope • Statistical studies • Case studies

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The Research Environment • Field conditions • Laboratory conditions

• Simulations

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Participants’ Perceptual Awareness • 1.Participants perceive no deviations from everyday routines • 2.Participants perceive deviations, but as unrelated to the researcher • 3.Participants perceive deviations as researcher-induced 2013/10/28

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Exploratory Studies Established range and scope of possible management decisions

Established major dimensions of research task

Defined a set of subsidiary questions that can guide research design 2013/10/28

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Exploratory Studies Develop hypotheses about possible causes of management dilemma

Learn which hypotheses can be safely ignored

Conclude additional research is not needed or not feasible 2013/10/28

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Quality Technique The Amount

The How Much

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The essential character or nature of something

The what

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Quality Technique

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Commonly Used Exploratory Techniques

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Secondary data analysis

Experience surveys

Focus groups

Two-stage designs

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Experience Survey • What is being done? • What has been tried in the past with or without success? • How have things changed? • Who is involved in the decisions? • What problem areas can be seen? • Whom can we count on to assist or participate in the research? 2013/10/28

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Focus Groups •Group discussion •6-10 participants •Moderator-led •90 minutes-2 hours

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Descriptive Studies Who?

How much?

When? 2013/10/28

What?

Where? 21

Descriptive Studies • In contrast to exploratory studies, more formalized studies are typically structured with clearly stated hypotheses or investigative questions. Formal studies serve a variety of research objectives: 1. Descriptions of population characteristics 2. Estimates of frequency of characteristics 3. Discovery of associations among variables

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Descriptive Studies(cont.)

• The simplest descriptive study concerns a univariate question or hypothesis in which we ask about, or state something about, the size, form, distribution, or existence of a variable. • In the account analysis at BankChoice we might be interested in developing a profile of savers. The question: What percentage of the savers live within a two-mile radius of the office?

Using the hypothesis format 2013/10/28

→60 percentage or more of the savers live within a two-mile radius of the office.

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Descriptive Studies(cont.) • Cross-tabulations between the distance from the account owner’s residence or employment to the branch and account activity may suggest that different rates of activity are related to account owner location. • The correlation between nearness to the office and the probability of having an account at the office suggested the question Why would people who live far from the office have an account there? 2013/10/28

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Descriptive Studies(cont.) • It might be hypothesized that: 1.

2.

3. 4.

Distant savers have accounts at the office because they once lived near the office; they were “near” when the account decision was made. Distant savers actually live near the office, but the address on the account is outside the 2-mile radius; they are “near,” but the records do not show this. Distant savers work near the office; they are “near” by virtue of their work location. Distant savers are not normally near the office but responded to a promotion that encouraged savers to bank via computer; this is another form of “nearness” in which this concept is transformed into one of “convenience.”

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Causal Studies • Causation is that A “produces” B or A “forces” B to occur. • Meeting the ideal standard of causation: requires that one variable always causes another and no other variable has the same causal effect. • John Stuart Mill: Mills Method of Agreement “ When two or more cases of a given phenomenon have one and only one condition in common, then that condition may be regarded as the cause (or effect) of the phenomenon.” 2013/10/28

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Mills Method of Agreement Exhibit 6-4 Mills Method of Agreement

The method of agreement helps rule out some variables as irrelevant. 2013/10/28

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Causal Studies(cont.) • The negative canon of agreement states that where the absence of C is associated with the absence of Z, there is evidence of a causal relationship between C and Z.

negative canon of agreement

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Method of Agreement

Method of Difference

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Mills Method of Difference Exhibit 6-4 Mills Method of Difference

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Evidence of Causality • In testing causal hypotheses, we seek three types of evidence: 1. Covariation between A and B 2. Time order of events moving in the hypothesized direction 3. No other possible causes of B

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Causation and Experimental Design • In addition to these conditions successful inferencemaking from experimental design must meet two other requirements.

Control

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Random Assignment

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Causation and Experimental Design(cont.)  If we consider the possible relationships that can occur between two variables, we can conclude there are three possibilities: • Symmetrical one in which two variables fluctuate together, but we assume the changes in neither variable are due to changes in the other.

• Reciprocal when two variables mutually influence or reinforce each other

• Asymmetrical we postulate that changes in one variable(IV) are responsible for changes in another variable(DV) 2013/10/28

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Asymmetrical Relationships Stimulus-Response

Property-Behavior

Asymmetrical Relationships

Property-Disposition

Disposition-Behavior 2013/10/28

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Types of Asymmetrical Causal Relationships Exhibit 6-6 Four Types of Asymmetrical Causal Relationships Relationship Type Stimulus-response

Nature of Relationship An event or change results in a response from some object.

Examples •

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A change in work rules leads to a higher level of worker output. A change in government economic policy restricts corporate financial decisions. A price increase results in fewer unit sales.

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Property-disposition

An existing property causes a disposition.

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Age and attitudes about saving. Gender attitudes toward social issues. Social class and opinions about taxation.

Disposition-behavior

A disposition causes a specific behavior.

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Opinions about a brand and its purchase. Job satisfaction and work output. Moral values and tax cheating.

An existing property causes a specific behavior.

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Stage of the family life cycle and purchases of furniture. Social class and family savings patterns. 34 Age and sports participation.

Property-behavior 2013/10/28

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