Business Research Method Chapter II Literature Review What

Business Research Method Chapter II Literature Review

What is literature review �is an overview of previous research on the author’s topic or on an important aspect of the author’s topic. �A way to discover what other research in the area of our problem has uncovered �Helps the researchers to develop a thorough understanding and insight into previous research works that relates to the present study �a important steps in scientific research �The research process often begins with a question that the researcher would like to answer. In order to identify what other research has addressed this question and to find out what is already known about it, the researcher will conduct a literature review.

What is literature review �Composed of two words “literature” which means all established knowledge or fact and “ review” which means systematic and careful examination. �This entail examining scholarly books and journal articles, and sometimes additional resources such as conference proceedings and dissertations, to learn about previous research related to the question. �Researchers want to be able to identify what is already known about the question and to build upon existing knowledge. �Familiarity with previous research also helps researchers design their own study.

What LR provides? In general, the literature review should: �provide a context for the research �justify the research �ensure the research hasn't been done before (or if it is repeated, that it is marked as a "replication study") �enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject �illustrate how the subject has been studied previously �highlight flaws in previous research �outline gaps in previous research �show that the work is adding to the understanding and knowledge of the field �help refine, refocus or even change the topic

Purposes Previous studies provides foundation to our study thus can not be ignored. Main purpose is to find out what research studies have been conducted in one’s chosen field of study and what remain to be done �To know the research that has been conducted in the select area ( What research has been done? ) �To identify the gap ( what has not been done? ) �To develop theoretical framework ( what theories have been developed? �To know the approach taken by others �To develop research design

Source of LR LR is an account of previous works related to our research topic. It is obvious question that where to find research literature. Important sources of literature are: • Books: to know the concepts and theories related to the research topic and variables used in research. • Research articles: to get overview of studies made by previous researchers • Dissertation/ thesis: to get in-depth knowledge for background objective, research design, method of analysis and findings • Internet: internet provides access to online data base, electronic copy of journals and library too. • Abstracts: provides the summary of the study • Reports: Periodic publication of reports like annual report, survey reports, census report etc provide useful information on our research.

Steps in Conducting a Literature Review Conducting a literature review involves using research databases to identify materials that cover or are related in some sense to the research topic I. Searching and identifing the relevant sources: II. Getting the literatures III. Reading IV. Extracting the relevant information V. Evaluation of the content of literatures VI. Writing up the literatures

Literature review search through the internet �Internet is an important sources of l. R. �Provides access to literature and data base �All the materials provide in the internet may not be reliable. Hence one should be able to identify the reliable source of literature. �Some important search engines to get LR are Google, yahoo, Hotbot, Go etc.

Theoretical framework �Is the foundation upon which our study is based �Consist of concepts with their definitions and reference to relevant scholarly literature, existing theory that is used for our particular study. �Conceptual model that shows the relation among various variables which have been identified a important to the study. �Prepared after literature review and defining the research problem. �Present the relationship between the dependent variables and independent variables which are identified in the research problem. �Can also be presented in diagrammatic form

Purposes of theoretical framework � helping to identify the variable of the study �Means for identifying and defining research problems �providing the general framework for data collection � providing the general framework for data analysis �showing the relationship among/ between variables bases on previous studies

Theory and research �Research is based on theory �Theory is the verified statement concerning the relationship among variables. �can be general like harder study leads to better performance or can be specific like students of BMC (BBA) able to score top in examination because they are laborious. �Theory helps to conduct research in systematic and research help to improve the existing theory and develop the new theory �Thus, have reciprocal relationship

Theory and research �The relationship between theory and research can be

Deductive approach �Is aimed at Testing theories �Begin with theory Narrow down to specific hypothesis observations for collecting data and test hypothesis finally leads to confirmation of theory or amendment of theory Inductive approach �Is concerned with Constructing theory from specific observations �Begin with specific observation detect the pattern formulates hypothesis end up with the conclusion or theories

RESEARCH PROBLEM �Research problem is a perceived gap between the existing state and a desired state is the research problem. It is the subject area into which researcher want to inquire. �It is one of crucial step in the research process. Selection of research problem depends on several factors such as researcher’s knowledge, skills, interest, expertise, motivation and creativity with respect to the subject of inquiry.

�Problem definition is a clear and precise statement of question or issue that is to be investigated for finding answer. �Sometime we state the symptom as the problem, if this happened the study results would be superficial or sometimes useless. �For example is low productivity of workers may merely be a symptom of their skill deficiencies. Under this circumstance, increase is incentive to workers will not improve productivity

Steps of formulation of problem � Identify broad problem area: The first step in the formulation of the research problem is to decide on a broad subject area on which researcher is interested of. Researcher should develop idea from the observation, theory or any other medium so as to solve the problem. � Divide the subject area into sub-area: The subject area of interest is to be divided in sub areas or in smaller part. In this way, researcher will be able to select one of his interests and feel convenience to do the research work. � Defining problem: Researchers should generate as many research questions as possible. He/she should take as much time as possible to generate many questions so that there are plenty of choices. Research questions should be such that can be answered using scientific techniques and research procedures. � Decide the objective: Objectives are the possible answers so as to address the research question or the research problem that have been formulated. Objectives must be specific so that research can be conducted around the objectives that have been decided. General objectives and specific objectives can be developed according to the nature of research work.

RESEARCH QUESTION �Research question is defined as the statement that identifies the issues to be studied. It indicates the purpose and motive of the research investigation. The objective of research can be mirrored by the research question. It is wisely said that “a question well stated is a question half answered. ” The research question serves two main functions; �To help the researcher to focus the study. �To give the researcher guidance on how to conduct it. Research questions are generally stated as question concerning the nature of relationship between two or more variables such as �To what extent do age, gender, place of residence of employee, marital status affect the absenteeism of worker �What is the effect of training on performance of employee?

Types of research question � There are three types of research questions. They are: � Descriptive questions: It is the question that is designed primarily to describe what is going on or what exists. It is designed primarily to describe what is going on or what exists. Public opinion polls that seek only to describe the proportion of people who hold various opinions are primarily descriptive in nature. For instance, if we want to know, what is the current state of quality of work life of employees in Nepal? � Observational/Relational Questions: It is the question that is designed to look at the relationships between two or more variables. This type of questions helps to understand the relationship between dependent and independent variables. For instance, to what extent are organizational justice and organizational commitment related in Nepalese business enterprises? � Causal or Cause and Effect Questions: It is designed to determine whether one or more variables causes or affects one or more outcome variables. Basically, such questions are used to evaluate the effect of one variable upon another variable. For instance, does the regular attendance increase the pass percentage in exam?

HYPOTHESIS �Hypothesis refers to logically expected relationship among the variables expressed in form of statement to be tested. It is declarative statement that shows the relationship among variables. It is a potential answer to the research question. �Hypothesis predicts what the researchers expect to see, the goal of research is to determine whether this guess is right or wrong. It shows the direction of research work and helps to find out solution of the problem. �Hypotheses are formulated in two ways: �Observation of the social event or condition which are linked with various logics and presented as hypothesis. �Developing hypothesis through the in-depth idea and knowledge from literature review.

Role of hypothesis � • It provides clarity to the research problem and research objectives. � • It describes, explains or predicts the expected results or outcome of the research. � • It indicates the type of research design. � • It directs the research study process. � • It identifies the population of the research study that is to be investigated or examined. � • It facilitates data collection, data analysis and data interpretation

Criteria of good hypothesis �It must state the expected relationship between variables. �It must be testable. �It should be stated as simply and concisely as possible. �It contains an independent and dependent variable. �It should be specific to the research problem.

Types of hypothesis a. Descriptive Hypothesis: It is the hypothesis in which certain subject matter are described and elaborated. It contains only one variable. Generally, researcher use research question rather than hypothesis in this context. However, hypothesis is used to describe the situation and encourage researchers to think about the implication of subject matter. For instance, most of the shareholders favor bonus than cash dividend in the context of Nepal, 80 % of students does their assignment in the morning, the market share of Cocacola is 75% etc. b. Relationship Hypothesis: It explains the relationship between variables. Such relationship may be correlation or explanatory. Correlation hypothesis simply state whether two occur together in specific manner without implying one cause another like increase in population increase in demand. For instance, increase in income of people increase the market of the luxury product. Explanatory states one situation (dependent) change due to changes in another situation (independent). � Is there any relation between increase in pay rate and commitment level of employees?

c. Directional and non-direction hypothesis �Directional hypothesis is the hypothesis which is formulated by comparing two variables with the use of more and less, in between variables. It gives the direction to the relationship of the variables. For instance, women employees are more committed towards organization than the men employees. �Non- directional hypothesis doesn’t show any direction positively and negatively. It shows the relationship between the variable but they do not present the degree of relationship. For instance, there is relationship between age and job satisfaction.

d. Null and alternative hypothesis � The null hypothesis states that there is no relationship or difference between the two variables being studied (one variable does not affect the other). It states that the results are due to chance and are not significant in terms of supporting the idea being investigated. � The alternative hypothesis states that there is a relationship between the two variables being studied (one variable has an effect on the other). It states that the results are not due to chance and that they are significant in terms of supporting the research being investigated. It can be made clear with the formulation of following hypotheses as follows: � H 0: Organizational justice does not increase the commitment of employees. � H 1: Organizational justice increases the commitment of employees. � Null Hypothesis (H 0): μ 1 - μ 2=0 or H 0: μ 1=μ 2 (No significant difference between sample and population mean) � Alternative Hypothesis (H 1): μ 1 - μ 2≠ 0 H 1: μ 1 ≠ μ 2 (Significant difference between sample and population mean)

Error in hypothesis testing �Type I error: When the null hypothesis is true and researcher reject it, then it is the type I error. Such error takes place when researcher reject hypothesis as statistical tools reject it even though it is correct. This error is denoted by alpha i. e. �Type II error: When the null hypothesis is false but researcher is failed to reject it, then it is type II error. Such error takes place when researcher accept hypothesis as statistical tools accept it even though it is incorrect. This error is denoted by beta i. e. This error is more harmful than the type I error.

The following illustration clarifies the types of error in hypothesis testing. A research wants to test two types of medication for the patient. He or she sets up the following null and alternative hypothesis. � Null hypothesis (H 0): μ 1= μ 2 (The two medications are equally effective) � Alternative hypothesis (H 1): μ 1≠ μ 2 (The two medications are not equally effective) If the medications have the same effectiveness, the researcher may not consider this error too severe because the patients still benefit from the same level of effectiveness regardless of which medicine they take. However, if a type II error occurs, the researcher fails to reject the null hypothesis when it should be rejected. That is, the researcher concludes that the medications are the same when, in fact, they are different. This error is potentially life-threatening if the less effective medication is sold to the public instead of the more effective one