Exploratory Research Design - Meaning and Methods

This ppt contains Exploratory Research Design which covers Introduction to Exploratory Research, Meaning of Exploratory Research, Techniques of Exploratory Research, Examples of Exploratory Research, Methods of Designing Exploratory Research

1. Sundar B. N. Assistant Professor Exploratory Research Design

2. Introduction to Exploratory Research When research aims to gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to acquire new insight into it, in order to formulate a more precise problem or to develop an hypothesis , exploratory studies or formulative studies come in handy. The main purpose of such studies is that formulating a problem for more precise investigation or of developing the working hypothesis from an operational point of view. The main emphasis in such studies must be flexible enough to provide opportunity for considering, discovery of ideas and insight are major emphasis.

3. Meaning of Exploratory Research Exploratory research design also termed as formulative research studies. It is a research conducted for a problem that has not been clearly defined. Exploratory research as the name states, intends merely to explore the research question and does not intend to offer final and conclusive solution to existing problems. It is conducted to determine the nature of the problem , this type of research is not intended to provide conclusive evidence but help us to have a better understanding of the problem.

4. Why Conduct Exploratory Research? The purpose of exploratory research is intertwined with the need for a clear and precise statement of the recognized problem. Three interrelated forms of exploratory research exist: Diagnosing a situation Screening alternatives, and Discovering new ideas.

5. Examples of Exploratory Research Services such as Google Alerts may send major search engine, search results by researcher via e-mail Services such as Google trends track comprehensive search results over lengthy periods of time Researchers may set up websites to attract world-wide feedback on any subject

6. Purpose of Exploratory Research Design Formulation of problem preciously Formulation of Working Hypothesis/ es Provide more knowledge about the problem to the research Establish priorities for further research Design appropriate information collection procedure Determine nature of relationship between variables

7. Categories of Exploratory Research Design The Survey of Concerning Literature/Secondary Data Analysis Experience Surveys/Expert opinion survey Comprehensive Case Methods Focus Group Discussions Analysis of Insight Stimulating Examples

8. The Survey of Concerning Literature/Secondary Data Analysis The economical and quick source of background information is trade literature in the public library. Searching through such material is exploratory research by means of secondary data analysis. Basic theoretical research is rarely conducted without extensive reviews of the literature in the field or similar research. Once a situational analysis using secondary data or experience surveys has been informally carried out, issues that still need clarification may warrant further exploratory investigation beyond the gathering of background information. Hypothesis stated by earlier workers may be reviewed and their usefulness be evaluated as a basis for further studies. To suggest new hypothesis the researchers should review and build upon the work already done by others by bibliographical Survey

9. The Survey of Concerning Literature/Secondary Data Analysis For example, a personnel manager may want to evaluate her company’s formal training programs. A short time in a library may reveal that, in companies with more than 50 employees the average executive receives 41.4 hours of training per year while the average office secretarial worker gets 18.8 hours of training per year. Additional information about the types of training, use of computers in training, industry differences in training, used and the like may help clarify the issues that need to be researched. If the problem is to determine the reasons for a sales decline of an existing product, the manager’s situational analysis might begin with an analysis of sales records by region and by customer or some other source of internal data.

10. Experience Survey Means the survey of people who had practical experience with the problem to be studied. The objective of such a survey is to obtain insight into the relationships between variables and new ideas relating to the research problem. For such a survey people who are competent and can contribute new ideas may be carefully selected as respondents to ensure a representation of different types of experience, then the respondents will be interviewed. Interviewers should be flexible , in the sense that the respondents should be allowed to raise issues and questions which the investigator has not previously considered

11. Experience Survey For example, a chain saw manufacturer received from its Japanese distributor a recommendation to modify its product with a drilling attachment on the sprocket (replacing the chain and guide bar) and use it as a mushroom-planting device. The distributor indicated that many such units had been sold in Japan. However, an experience survey with only one individual, the president of the Mushroom Growers Association, indicated the product was not feasible in the United States. Americans consume a white cultured mushroom grown in enclosed areas or caves rather than the variety of mushrooms grown on wood in Japan.

12. Experience Survey Exploratory research during the situational analysis may be quite informal. Discussions with knowledgeable people, both inside and outside the company may not be much more than conversations. This activity, intended only to get ideas about the problem, may be conducted by the line manager rather than the research department. The financial research analyst may have within an industry many contacts that he or she relies on for information. Exploratory information from an experience survey is not expected to be conclusive.

13. Comprehensive Case Methods The purpose of the case study method is to obtain information from one or a few situations that are similar to the researcher’s problem situation. For example, a bank in U.S.A. may intensively investigate the computer-security activities of an innovative bank in California. An academic researcher interested in doing a nation wide survey among union workers-may first look at a few union locals to identify the nature of any problems or topics that should be investigated. A business research manager for Atlas bicycles used observation techniques to conduct an exploratory case study analysis.

14. Comprehensive Case Methods The primary advantage of the case study is that an entire organization or entity can be investigated in depth and with meticulous attention to detail. This highly focused attention enables the researchers to carefully study the order of events as they occur or to concentrate on identifying the relationships among functions, individuals, or entities. A fast-food restaurant may test a new store design, a new operating procedure, or a new menu item in a single location to learn about potential operational problems that could hinder service quality.

15. Comprehensive Case Methods Conducting a case study often requires the cooperation of the person whose history is being studied for example, a franchisee who allows the franchiser access to the former’s records and reports. Again, intensive interviews or long discussions with the franchisee and his or her employees may provide an understanding of a complex situation. Researchers, however, have no standard procedures to follow. They must be flexible and attempt to glean information and insights wherever they find them. The freedom to search for whatever data an investigator deems important makes the success of any case study highly dependent on the alertness, creativity, intelligence, and motivation of the individual performing the case analysis.

16. Focus Group Discussions Business executives have been hearing a lot about the focus group interview lately. The focus group interview, is so popular today that many research agencies consider it to be the “only” exploratory research tool. A focus group interview is an unstructured, free-flowing interview with a small group of people. It is not a rigidly constructed question-and-answer session, but a flexible format that encourages discussion of, say, a labor issue, reactions toward a political candidate, or a new-product concept. Participants meet at a central location at a designated time. The group consists of an interviewer or moderator and six to ten participants who discuss a single topic.

17. Focus Group Discussions The participants may be women talking about maternity leave, petroleum engineers talking about problems in the “oil patch” or patients talking about health care. The moderator introduces the topic and encourages the group members to discuss the subject among themselves. Focus groups allow people to discuss their true feelings, anxieties, and frustrations, and to express the depth of their convictions in their own words. Ideally, the discussion proceeds at the group’s initiative.

18. Advantages of Focus Group Discussions The primary advantages of focus group interviews are that they are relatively brief, easy to execute, quickly analyzed, and inexpensive. In an emergency situation, three or four group sessions can be conducted, analyzed, and reported in less than a week at a cost substantially lower than that of other attitude-measurement techniques. It must be remembered, however, that a small discussion group will rarely be representative sample, no matter how carefully it is recruited. Focus group interviews cannot take the place of quantitative studies. The flexibility of group interviews is an advantage especially when compared with the rigid format of a survey

19. Analysis of Insight Stimulating Examples It is a fruitful method for suggesting hypothesis . It is particularly suitable in areas where there is little experience to serve as a guide. This method consists of the intensive study of selected instances of the phenomenon in which one is interested . For this purpose the existing records, if any may be examined. The unstructured interview may take place or some other approach may be adopted.

20. Analysis of Insight Stimulating Examples Attitude of the investigators, the intensity of the study and the ability of the researcher to drawn together diverse information into a unified interpretation are the main features which make this method an appropriate procedure for evoking insight. Example: Cases such as reactions of strangers, the reactions of marginal individuals, the study of individuals who are transition from one stage to another, the reaction of individuals from different social strata and the like

21. Conclusion Exploratory research study which merely leads to insight or hypothesis , whatever method or research design outlined above is adopted, the only thing essential is that it must continue to remain flexible so that many different facets of a problem may be considered as and when they arise and come to the notice of the researcher.

22. Reference Kothari, C. R. (2004).  Research methodology: Methods and techniques . New Age International. Bodla , B. S. INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION, GURU JAMBHESHWAR UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, HISAR