Chapter 6 The Research Process Data collection Data

Chapter 6 The Research Process – Data collection & Data analysis– (Stage 5 & 6 in Research Process) © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 1

§ Recall the Research process: 1) Broad problem area 2) Problem statement 3) Theoretical Framework 4) Generation of hypotheses 5) Data collection: 6) Data analysis: 7) Report Writing( Interpretation of results) © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 2

Stage 5: Data collection § The process by which the researcher collects the information needed to answer the research problem. § In collecting the data, the researcher must decide: – Which data to collect – How to collect the data – Who will collect the data © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran – When to collect the data 3

Sources of Data § Primary data: information obtained first hand by the researcher on the variables of interest for the specific purpose of the study. Examples: Surveys, focus groups, panels, Questionnaires, Personal interviews. § Secondary data: information gathered from sources already existing. Examples: company records or archives, government publications, industry analyses offered by the media, web sites, the Internet, and so on. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 4

Ways of Searching for Suitable Data § Reading professional Journals; to learn what kind of data sources are being used, or how variables are formulated, measured or used by similar studies. § Reading books; it provides a description of various variables for the reader. § Talking with other researchers; who may be familiar with specific tools or methods in their data collections. § Combining one or more tools; that are used by other researchers. § John Developing your own method ; or approach to © 2009 Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran collect the data. 5

Data Limitations § Most Data sources in empirical economic research papers are Secondary data. § When was it collected? For how long? – May be out of date for what you want to analyze. – May not have been collected long enough for detecting trends. § Is the data set complete? – There may be missing information on some observations © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 6

Data Limitations § Are there confounding problems? – Sample selection bias? – Source choice bias? – In time series, did some observations drop out over time? § Are the data consistent/reliable? – Did variables drop out over time? – Did variables change in definition over time? © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 7

Squeezing Data Limitations § Is the information exactly what you need? – In some cases, may have to use “proxy variables” – variables that may approximate something you really wanted to measure. § No need to reinvent the wheel. – If someone has already found the data, take advantage of it. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 8

Squeezing Data Limitations § Save your time by using your money. – Primary data collection is very time consuming. – Sometimes you have to pay for data access, thus it is cheaper in terms of money than collecting your own data. § Primary data has great exploratory value – Exploring research questions and formulating hypothesis to test. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 9

Data Collection Choice § What you must ask yourself? – Will the data answer my research question? § To answer that: – You must first decide what your research question is. – Then you need to decide what data/variables are needed to scientifically answer the question. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 10

Data Collection Choice § If that data exist in secondary data form, then use them to the extent you can, keeping in mind limitations. § But if it does not, and you are able to fund primary collection, then it is the method of choice. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 11

Stage 6: Data Analysis § Once data are ready for analysis, the researcher can test the hypotheses already developed for the study. § Data analysis and interpretation of results may be the most meaningfully explained by referring to business research project. § In this stage, the hypothesis will be tested using an statistical regression analysis. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 12

§ The statistical system employs unique programming techniques to model the decisions that researchers make. § The researcher should learn how regression outputs are interpreted. § The data analysis should be based on testing hypotheses that have been already formulated. § BE AWARE!!! That It would be incorrect to change your original hypotheses to suit the results of data analyses. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 13

§ However, it is acceptable to develop inductive hypotheses and later test them through further research. § In this stage, you should be able to summarize your results. § In addition, be ready to make recommendation based on your interpretation of the results. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www. wileyeurope. com/college/sekaran 14