SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION

CHAPTER 2

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Topics Discussed
 The Hallmarks of Science
 The Building Blocks of Science and
Hypothetico-Deductive Method of
Research
 The Seven Steps of the Hypothetico-
Deductive Method
 Other types of Research
- Case studies
- Action research
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 The definition of research
 Research is an organized,
systematic, data-based, critical,
objective, scientific inquiry into a
specific problem that needs a
solution.
 Managerial decisions based on the
results of scientific research tend
to be effective.
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 What is Meant by a Scientific
?Research
 Scientific research focuses on solving problems and
pursues a step-by-step logical, organized, and rigorous
method to identify the problems, gather data, analyze
them, and draw valid conclusions therefrom.

 Thus, scientific research is not based on hunches,

experience, and intuition (though these may play a part
in final decision making), but a purposive and rigorous.

 Scientific research helps researchers to state their

findings with accuracy and confidence.

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 What is Meant by a Scientific
?Research
 Scientific investigation tends to be more objective
than subjective, and helps managers to highlight the
most critical factors at the workplace that need
specific attention so as to avoid, minimize, or solve
problems.

 Scientific research applies to both basic and applied

research.

 Applied research may or may not be generalizable

to other organizations, depending on the extent to
which differences exist in such factors as size, nature
of work, characteristics of the employees, and
structure of the organization.
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 The Hallmarks of Scientific
Research
 The Hallmarks or main distinguishing
characteristics of scientific research may
be listed as follows:

1. Purposiveness 5. Precision and

confidence

2. Rigor 6. Objectivity

3. Testability 7. Generalizability

4. Replicability 8. Parsimony
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Purposiveness .1
 The scientific approach should have a
definite aim or objective.
 For Example: “How employees’
commitment to the organization can be
increased?” is a research question of an
organization.
 Purpose: to reduce labour turnover, to
reduce absenteeism, to increase
performance and etc.
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Rigor .2
 A good theoretical base and a
sound methodological design
would add rigor to a purposive
study.
 Rigor means carefulness, and the
degree of exactitude in research
investigations.

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Lack of rigor appears for the
:following reasons
1. Incorrect conclusions because they are based on
the responses of just a few employees (lacks of
methodological sophistication).
2. the manner of framing and addressing the
questions could have introduced bias in the
responses (lacks of methodological sophistication).
3. There might be many other important influences
on organizational commitment that this small
sample did not verbalize during the interviews,
and the researcher would have failed to include
them (lacks of a good theoretical framework).
Conclusions drawn from an investigation that lacks a
good theoretical framework and methodological
sophistications would be unscientific.

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Testability .3
 It is an important characteristics of scientific
research. The developed hypotheses should be
tested with the help of scientifically collected
data

 Scientific research tends itself to testing

logically developed hypotheses to see
whether or not the data support the
hypotheses that are developed.

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Replicability .4
 The results of the tests of
hypotheses should be supported
again and again when the same
type of research is repeated in
other similar circumstances.
 If the results are repeated, we will
gain confidence in the scientific
nature of our research.
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Precision and .5
Confidence
 Precision refers to the closeness of
the findings to reality based on a
sample.
 Precision reflects the degree of
accuracy of the results on the
basis of the sample, to what really
exists in the universe.

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Precision and Confidence
 In business research, we are not able to
draw “definitive” conclusions on the
basis of the results of data analysis. The
reasons are:
1. We have to base our findings on a
sample that we draw from the universe.
The sample may not reflect the exact
characteristics of the phenomenon we
try to study.
2. Measurement errors and other
problems are bound to introduce an
error in our findings.
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Precision and Confidence
 We would like to design the
research in a manner that ensures
that our findings are as close to
reality as possible, so that we
can place reliance or
confidence in the results.

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Precision and Confidence
 Confidence refers to the probability that
our estimations are correct.
 It is not enough to be precise, but it is
also important that we can confidently
claim that 95% of the time our results
would be true and there is only a 5%
chance of our being wrong. This is also
known as confidence level.
 The greater the precision and confidence
we aim at in our research, the more
scientific is the investigation and the
more useful are the results.
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objectivity .6
 The conclusions drawn through the
interpretation of the results of data
analysis should be objective.
 The conclusions should be based on
the facts of the findings derived from
actual data, and not on our own
subjective or emotional values.
 The more objective the interpretation of
the data, the more scientific the research
investigation becomes.
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Generalizability .7
 Generalizability refers to the scope
of applicability of the research
findings in one organizational
setting to other settings.
 The wider the range of

applicability of the solutions

generated by research, the more
useful the research is to the users.
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Parsimony .8
 Parsimony refers to simplicity in explaining
the phenomena or problems that occur, and
in generating solutions for the problems.
 Economy in research models is achieved
when we can build into our research
framework a lesser number of variables
that would explain the variance far more
efficiently than a complex set of variables
that would only marginally add to the
variance explained.
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Parsimony
 Parsimony can be introduced with a
good understanding of the problem
and the important factors that
influence it.
 A good conceptual theoretical
model can be realized through
interviews with the concerned
people, and a thorough literature
review of the previous research work
in the particular problem area.
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Scientific Approach and
Business Research
It is not always possible to conduct investigation 

100 percent scientific in business research.

Unlike the physical sciences, the results obtained
will not be exact and error free, since most of the
business research deals with human behavior. It
is very difficult to measure and collect of
subjective information like, feelings, emotions,
attitudes and etc. Hence, it may not possible for
comparability, consistency and wide
.generalizability in most of the business research

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Deduction and Induction

 Induction consists of studying several

individual cases and drawing a generalization.
It involves two process – observation and
generalization. Conclusions from induction are
tentative inferences and they are subject to
further conformation based on more evidence.

 Deduction is reasoning process of applying a

general accepted principle to a specific
individual case falling under the general
principle.

 Both inductive and deductive processes are

often used in research. 21 21
 Example
 Based on observation (observation is the starting point of most
of the research whether applied or basic), A sales manager
might observe that customers are perhaps not pleased as they
used to be. The manager may not be certain that this is really
the case but may experience anxiety and some uneasiness that
customer satisfaction is on the decline.

 The next step is to determine whether there is a real problem,

and if so, how serious it is. This problem identification calls for
some preliminary data gathering.

 The manager might talk to a few customers to find out how

they feel about the products and customer service. The manager
might find that the customers like the products but are upset
because many of the times the product is out of stock, and they
perceive the salesperson as not being helpful.

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…Example (cont
 From discussions with some of the salespersons, the
manager might discover that the factory does not supply
the goods on time. Salespersons might also indicate that
they try to please the customers by communicating the
delivery dates given to them by the factory.

 Integration of the information obtained through the

informal and formal interviewing process has helped
the manager to determine that the problem does exist.

 It also helps the manager to formulate a conceptual

model or theoretical framework of all the factors
contributing to the problem.

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…Example (cont
 Thus, the following factors
contribute to the problem:
 Delays by the factory in delivering goods
 The notification of later delivery dates
that are not kept
 The promises of the salespersons to the
customers that cannot be fulfilled
All of these factors contribute to customer
dissatisfaction.
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The hypothetico-Deductive
Method

Theseven steps involved in the
hypothetico-deductive method of
research stem from the building blocks
discussed above and listed below:
1. Identify a broad problem area
2. Define the problem statement
3. Develop hypotheses
4. Determine measures
5. Data collection
6. Data analysis
7. Interpretation of data

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Identify a broad problem
area
 If the manager notice a drop in
sales, incorrect accounting results,
low-yielding investment,
disinterestedness of employees in
their work, and the like, could
attract the attention of the
manager to do a research project.

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Define the problem
statement
• Scientific research starts with a
definite aim or purpose.
• A problem statement states the
general objective of the research.

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Develop hypotheses
 The network of associations between
the problem and the variables that
affect it is identified.
 A scientific hypothesis must meet two
requirements:
1. The hypothesis must be testable
2. The hypothesis must be falsifiable (we
can only prove our hypotheses until
they are disproved).
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Determine measures
 The variables in the theoretical
framework should be measurable in
some way.
 Some variables can not be measure
quantitatively, such as unresponsive
employees, we need to operationalize
this variable.
 Measurement of variables is discussed
in Chs. 6 and 7.
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Data collection
 Data with respect to each variable
in the hypothesis need to be
obtained.
 There are two types of data:
- Quantitatative data
- Qualitative data

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Data Analysis
 In this step, the data gathered are
statistically analyzed to see if the
hypotheses that were generated
have been supported.
 Analyses of both quantitative and
qualitative data can be done to
determine if certain relations are
important.
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Data Analysis
 Qualitative data refer to information
gathered through interviews and
observations. These data usually for
objects than can not be physically
measured, like feelings and attitudes.
 Quantitative data refer to information
gathered about objects that can be
physically measured. The researcher could
obtain these data through the company
records, government statistics, or any
formal records.
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Interpretation of data
 Now we must decide whether our
hypotheses are supported or not
by interpreting the meaning of the
results or the data analysis.
 Based on these results, the
researcher would make
recommendations in order to
solve the problem in hand.
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Example of applying the
Hypothetico-Deductive
Method
 Observation of the CIO Dilemma
The Chief Information Officer (CIO) of a firm observes
that the newly installed Management Information
System (MIS) is not being used by middle managers as
much as was originally expected.
“There is surely a problem here,” the CIO exclaims.
 Information Gathering through Informal Interviews

- Talking to some of the middle-level managers, the CIO

finds that many of them have very little idea as to what
MIS is all about, what kinds of information it could
provide, and how to access it and utilize the
information.

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 …Cont
 Obtaining More Information through Literature Survey
- The CIO immediately uses the Internet to explore further information on the lack of
use of MIS in organizations.
- The search indicates that many middle-level managers are not familiar with
operating personal computers.
- Lack of knowledge about what MIS offers is also found to be another main reason
why some managers do not use it.
 Formulating a Theory
- based on all this information, the CIO develops a theory incorporating all the relevant
factors contributing to the lack of access to the MIS by managers in the organization.
 Hypothesizing
From such a theory, the CIO generates various hypotheses for testing, one among
them being:
- Knowledge of the usefulness of MIS would help managers to put it to greater use.

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…Cont
 Data Collection
The CIO then develops a short questionnaire
on the various factors theorized to influence
the use of the MIS by managers, such as:
- The extent of knowledge of what MIS is
- What kinds of information MIS provides
- How to gain access to the information
- The level of comfort felt by managers in using
computers in general
- How often managers have used the MIS in the
preceding 3 months.
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…Cont
 Data Analysis
The CIO then analyzes the data obtained through the
questionnaire to see what factors prevent the managers
from using the system.
 Interpretation of data

Based on the results, the manager deduces or concludes

that managers do not use MIS owing to certain factors.
• These deductions help the CIO to take necessary
actions to solve the problem, which might include,
among other things:
- Organizing seminars for training managers on the use of
computers, and
- MIS and its usefulness.

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Other Types of Research
 Case studies, and
 Action research
Are sometimes used to study
certain types of issues.

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Case Studies
 Case studies involve in-depth analyses of similar
situations in other organizations, where the nature and
definition of the problem is the same as experienced in
the current situation.
 If a particular hypothesis has not been supported even
in a single other case study, the researcher could ignore
that hypothesis.
 Case studies are not often undertaken in organizations
because:
1. It is very seldom to find similar problems happened in an
organizations of the same size and same type of setting.
2. Many companies prefer to guard their problems and
their data.

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Action Research
 Action research is sometimes undertaken by consultants
who want to initiate change processes in organizations.
 Action research methodology is most appropriate while
effecting planned changes.
 The researcher begins with a problem that is already
identified, and gathers relevant data to provide a
tentative problem solution.
 This solution is then implemented, with the knowledge
that there may be unintended consequences following
such implementation.
 The effects are then evaluated, defined, and diagnosed,
and the research continues on an ongoing basis until
the problem is fully resolved.

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 ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO
RESEARCH

:Positivism 
Science and Scientific research is seen as the 
way to get at the truth to understand the world
well enough so that we are able to predict and
.control it
For a positivist, the world operates by laws of 
cause and effect
Positivist concern with rigor and replicability of 
their research, reliability of observation and the
.generalibility of findings
.They use deductive reasoning 
 ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO
RESEARCH

Constructionism
They criticize the positivist belief that there is 
an objective truth. They hold an opposite view,
.namely mentally constructed
Instead of finding truth, they aim to understand 

the rules people use to make sense of the world

.by investigating what happens in people mind
They particularly interested in how people’s 
views of the world result from interactions with
.others and the context which they take place

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ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO
RESEARCH

Critical Realism 

It is combination of the belief in an external reality with 

the rejection of the calm that this external reality can be
.objectively measured
From this point of view, measures of phenomena such as 
emotions, feelings, and attitude are often subjective in
.nature and the collection of data is imperfect and flawed
Pragmatism 

It does not take any particular point on what make good 

.research
They feel that research on both objective, observable 
phenomena and subjective meaning can produce useful
.knowledge depending on research question

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