Chapter 6

GROUP TWO

SUMMARY CHAPTER 6: ELEMENTS OF RESEARCH DESIGN

The chapter discussed the basic research design. The research design includes the purpose of the study which may be exploratory in nature; which involves a situation when there is inadequate information furnished for the research. It could also be descriptive research which is undertaken to establish and illustrate the characteristics of the variables of interest in a situation. The hypothesis testing was also discussed. The type of investigation to be undertaken which could be either casual study or correlation was examined. The chapter also stated that that the unit of analysis referred to the process of gathering data for analysis and the time horizon could be cross-sectional or longitudinal. Finally, the circumstances in which each design would be appropriate were examined.

REFLECTION

In understanding what a researcher is about to do, the manager has to have adequate knowledge of the research design. Before a manager takes up a study he is expected to do a thorough analysis to have an idea of the how rigorous the study maybe. The design to be adopted by the manager is contingent on magnitude of the problem experienced. Knowledge of research design helps managers to study and intelligently comment on research proposals.