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Scuola estiva AiIG “Strategie e Gestione delle Operations nelle Reti di Imprese

“Ideazione e progettazione di una ricerca empirica”

15 settembre 2003

Prof.Ing. Guido CapaldoDIEG-Università di Napoli Federico II

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Bibliografia di riferimento

• K.Howard, J.A. Sharp- The management of a student research project, Gower Publishing, UK, 1983

• J.P. Sheppard, P.R. Nayyar, C.E. Summer - Managing your doctoral program: a practical orientation, Production and Operations Management,vol.9, n.4, 2000

• B.Sommer, R.Sommer - A practical guide to behaviuoral research.Tools and techniques, Oxford Universoty Press, New York, 1991

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Finalità della lezione

• Illustrare gli aspetti metodologici per la pianificazione e la realizzazione di un progetto di una ricerca empirica

• Aspetti introduttivi (classificazione delle tipologie di ricerca)• L’approccio sistematico al processo di ricerca• Gli elementi e le fasi di una ricerca empirica• La pianificazione del progetto di ricerca• La realizzazione del progetto di ricerca• Esercitazione in gruppi

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What is research?

• “We define research as seeking through methodological processes to add to one’ own body of knowledge and, hopefully, to that of

others, by the discovery of non-trivial facts and insights” (Howard, Sharp- 1983)

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Classifying Research

• Field (Aree di ricerca del SDS ING-IND 35)• Purpose• Approach• Nature

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The purpose of research

• To review existing knowledge• To describe some situation or problem• Construction of ‘something novel’(model or

outcome)• Explanation (causal relationships, statistical

relationships, generalizations)

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I fondamenti teorici• Una teoria esplicita:

– I concetti (variabili)– Le relazioni tra i concetti– L’ambito di validità di tali relazioni

• La sua verifica richiede:– La costruzione di misure (variabili ed indicatori empirici)– La formulazione di ipotesi – La creazione ed elaborazione di una base di dati attraverso cui determinare il grado

corrispondenza fra realtà empirica e ipotesi teoriche

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I fondamenti teoriciConcetti

(riferimento e definizione degli oggetti o eventi di interesse (comportamenti, practices, percezioni, etc.))

Proposizioni(affermazioni sulla relazione che intercorre tra concetti)

Teoria(insieme di proposizioni interconnesse)

Ipotesi(traduzione operativa delle proposizioni di ricerca)

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I quesiti di ricercaRicerca:

– Confirmativa – Esplorativa– Descrittiva

Ricerca Esplorativa

(Theory building)

Concetti e Proposizioni

Teoria

Ricerca Confirmativa

(Theory verification)

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The nature of research (Grinyer, 1981)

• Pure theory (high contribution to knowledge, low chance of successful)

• Testing of existing theory• Description of the state of the art• Field Research: Specific problem solution (low

contribution to knowledge, high chance of successful)

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The approach to field research

• Case study• Field experiment• Survey• Panel and Focus Group

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The approach to field research• Case Study o Case Survey: Studio di una specifica o di un

insieme limitato di unità di analisi

• Field Experiment: Studio dell’impatto sull’unità di analisi delle modificazioni indotte dal ricercatore (= esperimenti)

• Survey Research: Studio di un campione di unità di analisi attraverso questionari e/o interviste strutturate e predefinite

• Panel e Focus Group: Interazione strutturata tra un gruppo di persone (esperti) in relazione alla tematica oggetto di studio

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A research process model: The planning phase

4. Formulate the plan

3. Decide the approach

2. Selecting and justifying the research topic

1. Identifying a broad area of study

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A research process model: The effectuation phase

7. Present the findings

6. Analyse and interpret the data

5. Collect the data or information

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Initial selection of a topic

• Criterion to identify potential research areas:• Identify an apparently novel topic• Be able co convince himself and others (supervisor) of the

novelty of the topic

• Process of topic selection

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Initial selection of a topic

• Sources of research topics:• Communication with supervisor• Previous Doctoral Theses• Articles in academic and professional journey• Books and book reviews• Commmunication with experts in the field• Communication with potential users of the research findings

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Helping in generating research topics

• The ‘underfocused’ student• The ideas of topic is not specific enough to form the basis of a viable thesis• He need method useful to him to identify a researchable ‘nich’ which he is capable of

exploiting with the time and resoirces at his disposal

• The ‘overfocused’ student• He has a clear idea of the research he wish to do with the aim of pursuing a particular

topic. Possible risk: it has been already and he is anaware because of unfamiliarity whith the frontiers of the topic

• For both types of student methods capable of suggesting alternative themes could be useful

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Techniques for generating research topics

• Use of analogy • Perceived resemblance to particular subject area could suggest fruitful line of enquiry in other area• Methods of analysis devised for use in one field could be profitably be employed in another field

• Relevance trees• Useful for generating aternative topics or for fixing on some ‘niche’

• Morphological analysis• It relies upon a threefold process:• Definining the key factors of a particular subject• Listing the various attributes of the factor or ways it can occur• Defining all feasible combinations of the attributes

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Is the research feasible?

• 1. Availability of and access to data and information• 2. Opportunity to pursue a particular reserach design• 3. Time needed to complete the research• 4. Technical skills needed• 5. Financial support• 6. Risk involved

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Has the research sufficient value?

• How do the results add to the body of knoweldge in the specific field of the research?

• Have results implication at theoretical and managerial level?

• How do the results could be implemented practically?

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Is the research sufficiently symmetrical?

• If :• two or more outcomes may be possible;• hypothesis may be proved or disproved;• experiment may provide definite results or may be inconclusive;• each of the outcomes should represent acceptable

findings (high research symmetry)

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Examples of symmetrical reserach topic

• Research topic A: the effect on career progress of students attaining the degree of MBA

• If it were found that MBA had no effect on career progress this conclusion would be of considerable value as would the contrary finding……..

• Research topic B: is the leadership theory based on research in the private sector applicable also to management in the public sector?

• The hypothesis could be proved or disproved: either findings could be of considerable value

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Is there sufficient scope?

• Scope of the research: the opportunity to increase, reduce or even confirm current beliefs

• ScopeValue

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Developing a research proposal

• 1. Topic analysis• Useful to compare the various aspects of one or more

potentially acceptable topics

• 2. Structuring the research proposal• Useful to develop a realistic plan of action (clear objectives,

taking account of resources and constraints)

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The topic analysis• The hypothesis of the research• Hypothesis: “..a single statement that attemps to explain or to predict a single

phenomenon” (Simon, 1968)• Theory: an entire system of interrelated thought

• Novel hypothesis substantiatedaddition to the body of knowledgehigh value of research

• A risk: the purpose of the research lends itself to trivial hypothesis…….• A suggestion: to avoid too detailed specification of the research. It is

usually better to identify a single hypothesis with considerable potential for testing

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Il disegno della ricerca - Survey Research

– Fornisce indicazioni quantitative

– Utilizza principalmente questionari

– Riguarda in genere un campione della popolazione di riferimento

– Viene classificata in base al tempo (cross-sectional o longitudinale) e allo scopo (esplorative, descrittive o confirmative)

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La raccolta dei dati • Identificazione

– dell’Unità di analisi (= oggetto da osservare)

– della Popolazione di riferimento (= Insieme totale delle entità che hanno in comune almeno una caratteristica di interesse)

– del Campione (= sottoinsieme di elementi estratti da una data popolazione)

• Raccolta dati, utilizzando– Basi di dati già disponibili– Rilevazione sul campo

• Identificazione rispondenti• Scelta/Costruzione delle Misure • Predisposizione del Questionario / Check List• Verifica Pilota• Rilevazione• Data Entry

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L’analisi dei dati(in Forza, 2003)

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L’analisi dei dati: statistiche descrittive

In Forza (2002)

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Errori

In Forza (2002)

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The structuring of research proposal

• The student should immagine that he is tendering for a research contract through the medium of the research proposal

• Before embarking in the execution phase the student must be able to satisfy himself and his advisers that he is wholly familiar with previous and current work in the area of his planned study

• The final version of the proposal might be 10 to 15 pages in lenght. It will need to describe in sufficient detail the approach which the student will use.

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Provisional chapter details of research proposal (I)

• 1. Introduction• The general problem area, the specific problem, why the topic is important, prior

research, approach of the thesis, limitations and key assumptions,contribution to be made by the research

• 2. Survey of prior research• If there is extensive prior research, the results might be preferably be broken into two

or more chapters. • 3. Description of the research methodology• It is important to describe in depth how the research was conducted, which kind of

method was used and why

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Provisional chapter details of research proposal (II)

• 4. Research results• Data presentation, definition of the historical analysis, etc.

• 5. Analysis of the results• Explanation of the conclusion that can be drawn from the data, the

implication for the theory, etc.

• 6. Summary and conclusions• The thesis is summarised with emphasis upon the results obtained and the

contribution made by results. Suggestions for further research are outlined.