Research methods

There are mainly to methods of research. They are :

·         Primary Research

·         Secondary Research

Primary Research

This is used to either build a theory or test a theory and also the results may support the theory in a new context and give new knowledge regarding the field of study. This is done in many forms . So methods of doing primary research are :

·         Participant observations

·         Structured observations

·         Case study

·         Surveys

The most efficient method of conducting primary research is a Survey

Study on Surveys

Surveys are not always appropriate for every situation . Its Important to identify when a survey will be beneficial.

When is survey appropriate

·         We have a very good understanding of the needed information.

·         The need to collect info from a particular group.

·         Are confident that the same question will mean the same thing to different people. For questionnaires in a survey a reliability test should be done on a pilot group.

·         When the research require a description of a wide range of people characteristics and relationships between those characteristic.

Survey methods

·         Post

·         Face to face

·         Telephone

·         Via Internet

In order to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of these methods two role plays were conducted in class by two groups . And through the role plays the following details were observed.

Group 01:

Conducting surveys through Telephone conversation

Weakness of using telephone method

·         Source is not reliable.

·         Can give false information.

·         They may be reluctant to give info 

·         Since its not face to face false assumptions can be made

Strengths of using telephone method

·         More chance of the informant answering the phone .

·         The feedback can be heard

·         Since its not face to face they might give more details

Conducting surveys through via the Internet.

Weakness of using the internet

·         No control over reliability

·         Limited to a particular user group

·         The response might not be unique

Strengths of using the internet

·         Can reach a wider range of people

·         Can reach a large number at once

Group 02:

Conducting surveys Face to face

Strengths of face to face surveys

·         Not just relied on verbal details but also body language.

·         Interpretation of the question is done correctly.

·         There’s a obligation to respond.

Weakness of face to face surveys

·         Reluctant to be honest

·         It’s inconvenient to participant

·         Restricted to only what at a time.

·         Data might be influenced by the interviewers opinion.

Conducting surveys through the Post

Strengths of the postal method

·         Can access to a far wide range

·         If someone shows interest to reply back then there might be accurate responses.

Weakness of the postal method

·         Takes time to reach the respondent

·         Lost in the process

·         The wrong interpretation of question.

When conducting a survey or interview the most important and difficult task is asking good questions .

The following should be considered when drafting a questionnaire.

Ask about One Thing at a Time

The question shouldn’t  contain multiple questions. This can  confuse participants or lead them to answer only part of the question. (Driscoll, 2011)

Avoid Leading Questions

Make sure that the question wont prompt the participant to respond in a particular way, which can create bias. (Driscoll, 2011)

When to Use Open and Closed Questions

There are two types of questions you can use when conducting a survey : closed and open. (Driscoll, 2011)

Closed questions

Closed questions have a choice of definite responses like yes / no .

This type of question id more easy to analyze and much more easy and fester to collect than the respondent witting the answer in their own words. (Charles Sturt University, 2014)

For this many people use the Likert scales. This is done in two ways

Type A:  A clearly graded scale of response, for example, (Charles Sturt University, 2014)

Excellent         Very good       Good   Poor     Unsuitable

Type B : Ask people to allocate their attitude on a continuum between two extreme alternatives, for example from most desirable to least desirable (Charles Sturt University, 2014):

1          2          3          4          5          6

Other scales of measurement

·         Nominal: Where the number is used as a identifier 

·         Ordinal: Rank order of winners or choice

·         Interval: performance ranking on a scale from 0 to 10

·         Ratio: Time to finish in seconds

Open-ended questions

These allow respondents to give a more lengthy answer from and the answers will be more individual. These questions are not easy to analyze and they take up more time for the respondent to reply to. This is generally used when the respondents personal opinion is needed but the answers can tend to be bias. (Charles Sturt University, 2014)

In addition to these in class were taught 3 methods of asking questions according to the way you sequence the interview.

Pyramid

 Initiate with structure questions after the interviewee is comfortable and have a good understanding then expand to broader questions.

Funnel structure

 Ask broad structured questions and then base the interview on that and ask specific questions.

Diamond

 

  

Combinations of both above. Try to understand the person .

Conducting a pilot survey

This is a very important step when conducting a survey.In this the questionnaire is tested on a sample of the population under investigation.(the full range of people who are going to be included in the final sample should be represented). You do not need to survey a large number, as one person from each category should be sufficient. (Charles Sturt University, 2014)

Project Proposal Discussions

Week six and Week seven

Project Proposal is a major component to the final submission for this module. According to the requirements of the assignment we had to analyze a organization and evaluate the problems faced within its processes. We were advised by the lecturer to target the problem statement to be upto a final year s project proposal submission.

From the beginning of the module we were advised to look into a prospective problem area. Along the course of the module I had private discussion with the lecturer and obtain feedback to where the project area was suitable and upon getting positive feedback I was processed to take a deeper look into the organization and the problem area. During the course of one week we had discussions with the lecturer in class about the problem areas that were looked into by the students and feedback was given to the perspective student along with advice and guidelines for the proposal and how to look into the problem area in a professional intake.

According to Dawson (2000) a project proposal should consist of the following:

·         A Title: This should be clear and concise.

·         Aims and objective

·         Expected outcomes/deliverables

·         Introduction / Background / overview

·         Related research

·         Research questions and hypothesis

·         Project plan

The company that I looked into was MagaNeguma Construction Equipment Company after looking into the company process what was analyzed was that the company us very much effected by inefficient resource allocation. Due to this the construction projects were not efficient planned. One main reason for this was that there is no proper method of communication of information between the sites and the head office.

Therefore I looked into how this information gap can be bridged and how the resources needed for projects can be efficiently planed.