Incorporating Experimental Research Designs in Business Communication Research - Essay Example

?Introduction There are many kinds of potential research methods and among them are experimental methods. Experimental methods could be used in finding potential information about the target customers when applied in the business and economic context. In this paper, the proponent expounds experimental research methods applied in the business and economic context. Literature review Experimental designs from experimental research methods could be a source of market insight. In experimentation there is actual manipulation of one or more variables in order to observe the actual impacts on other variables (Wimmer & Dominick, 2011, p.239). For this reason, seeing the actual impact of manipulating variables based on the experimentation, on the part of an experimenter will eventually help in gaining insight. The actual application of this is not only confined in a single field, but in all related areas. This means that experimental research methods could be applied in the business context. For instance, in marketing, studying the human behavior in order to understand prevailing needs is very important prior to actual formulation of certain product or service offering. Experimental research methods have major advantages and these include evidence of causality and control (Wimmer & Dominick, 2011, p.239). As stated earlier, an experimenter could manipulate variables and understand the probable impacts of these to other variables. For this reason, there is a remarkable understanding of cause and effect relationship under a controlled situation. Due to a controlled condition, the researcher will have the opportunity to manage the environment, variables and subjects, leading to extensive understanding of the entire subjects considered. There is a high control of the external factors outside the experimental designs, allowing researchers to control extraneous influences and focus on the existing causal relationship (Fiske, Gilbert, & Lindzey, 2010, p.82; Muijs, 2010, p.19). Experimental research methods could also help solve the problem of the realism of the environment and will open a new door for another set of problems because of the associated replications of findings (Babbie, 2010, p.198). However, experimental research methods could somehow be vulnerable to employ actions that are entirely relevant with deception and ethical considerations (Denscombe, 2010, p.76). This is particularly clear when there is a need to employ control groups in the experiment, so there could be variation of treatments and even hiding something from the respondents just to be able to come up with the relevant and desired information, without any strong influence of extraneous factors. Experimental research methods could be incorporated in the business communication research particularly in finding causal and effect relationship through isolating and controlling variables in a scientific manner (Lam & Bauer, 2008). In today’s advancement of information and technology, there is an actual integration of information systems and business. Experimental research methods are also found to be relevant in information systems research with actual business perspective (Levy & Ellis, 2011). Among experimental research methods, field experiment is commonly employed in various research investigations in line with business concerns. So let us explore some actual applications of field experiments in the business context. Field experiments engaged actual real-life setting of experimental manipulations within a natural environment in which business, economics and management research usually has considerable engagement because of its external validity to identify causation (Elsevier, 2009). For instance, field experiment usually is used in test marketing of new products or evaluating alternative promotional programs (Al-Ubaydli & Boettke, 2011). In the actual context, field experiment is becoming popular. This research method has remarkable contribution in order to ensure achievement of good business management. To make it more productive, it is commonly used in studies that are business related. There are various studies that are conducted using field experiment as important component of their actual research methodologies. Field experiment could also be employed especially in performance measurement. This is the case of a study, employing random field experiment applied in a business team with remarkable ethnicity (Hoogendoorn & van Praag, 2012). From this study, relevant information concerning the implication of diversity in an organization was determined, creating significant information needed for the actual business management context. Also, the field of experimental methods, as shown in the study, has potential implication for future application especially with private entities, as one could potentially integrate it with socio-economic understanding (Elsevier, 2009). Considering the point that socio-economic concerns are what we usually encounter in the actual scenario, the field experiments, in this study have significant contribution in finding the appropriate information as they deal with actual manipulation of information from the actual external environment. Another study was initiated in order to find if laboratory trading actually mirrored behavior in real world market through framed filed experiment on e-Bay (Bolton & Ockenfels, 2011). Platforms like eBay have continuously received constant exposure, making them a remarkable environment for any marketing-related activities. For this reason, there were various studies initiated regarding marketing concern, most importantly in line with business management, including but not limited to obtaining competitive advantage. In this study, prior to obtaining information about competitive advantage, there is a remarkable consideration on understanding the actual pricing strategies prevailing on eBay, by taking actual field experiment on the said marketing platform. The result was promising, and this also has made possible because of the effective use of experimental field research. There is also a certain study that through the use of field experiments was able to successfully come up with investigating the validity of business process model similarity (Rittgen, 2011). This study was initiated in the actual business context, and testing the relevant similarity of consensus groups and business process model. When it comes to finding appropriate and valid business process model, this research primary employed field experiment, and after gathering the actual data, simulations have become possible, creating actual working model. This has been made possible because of the actual potential and usage of field experiment that based on this study, has remarkably generated actual data to cover the validity of the model, through comparison and other relevant testing activities. Another field study, initiating randomized field experimental research is able to find out school-based management and educational outcomes, revealing the necessary management functions (Blimpo & Evans, 2011). This study requires an actual field experiment, as it deals with relevant management activities that at some point are complex in the actual setting. To magnify a certain issue, the proponents of this study believed that it is quite reasonable to use a field experiment in order to answer hypothesis based on what can be visibly observed in the actual external environment. A field experiment pertaining to consumer demand for the fair trade label was conducted in order to find out consumers’ behaviors towards ethically certified products in major US grocery store chain (Hainmueller, Hiscox & Sequeira, 2011). This study shows the importance of field experiment for studying actual consumer behaviors. Regarding entrepreneurship research, business training was found to affect actual business knowledge and this information was generated using a field experiment finding the constraints to entrepreneurship in rural Pakistan (Gine & Mansuri, 2011). These are just some of the actual business-related studies that employed field experiment as important component of their research methodology. This research method strongly highlights the important emphasis of experiments in the actual context while integrating them within business applications. Analysis In most cases, when applied in the business context, the field experiment tries to consider the achievement of the associated information for business management. Essentially, as shown, field experiment has remarkable applications to almost all related aspects in business that have corresponding implications on the actual management setting. This also means that field experiment is not hopelessly underutilized as indicated in varying literature; there are considerable numbers of studies employing experimental methods in the actual environmental setting. Based on the above findings, the chosen studies all employed field experiment as part of the research methodology not only to gather data, but to help substantiate actual information that is based on what must be taking place in the actual external environment. In addition, based on the actual gathered literature on where to use field experiments it is clear that they have found their ways into the actual business management process and managerial decision making. As it might be clear, field experiment provides actual data that could provide remarkable information reflecting what really happens in the external environment. This also ensures achievement of appropriate information prior to actual decision-making process, for instance. In addition, this also would result in drawing valid conclusion, making field experiment, an effective approach in conducting investigation and research particularly in the business environment. Conclusion In this paper, the proponent was able to gather substantial number of academic studies showing the remarkable usage and advantage of a field experiment as important part of the experimental methods used in the business environment. This reveals that field experiment can be used in the business management and decision-making as it is considered for its ability to provide valid results, and potential contributions to formulating models for future prediction of valuable business-related information. Thus, field experiments are important components of experimental methods particularly in the business field. References Al, Ubaydli, O., & Boettke, P. (2011). Markets as economizers of information: field experimental examination of the “Hayek Hypothesis.” Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, 1-13. Babbie, E. R. (2010). The practice of social research (12th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Bolton, G. E., & Ockenfels, A. (2011). Does laboratory trading mirror behavior in real world markets? Retrieved from: http://ockenfels.uni-koeln.de/fileadmin/wiso_fak/stawi-ockenfels/pdf/ForschungPublikationen/BoltonOckenfelsEBay-11_02_24.pdf Blimpo, M. P., & Evans, D. K. (2011). School-based management and educational outcomes: lessons from a randomized field experiment. Retrieved from http://www.stanford.edu/~mpblimpo/BlimpoEvans2011.pdf Denscombe, M. (2010). The good research guide: for small-scale social research projects (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill International. Elsevier (2009). An introduction to field experiments in economics. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 70, 439-442. Fiske, S. T., Gilbert, D. T., & Lindzey, G. (2010). Handbook of Social Psychology, Volume 1 (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Gine, X., & Mansuri, G. Money or ideas? A field experiment on constraints to entrepreneurship in rural Pakistan. Retrieved from http://p31.itcilo.org/entdev/synergies/en/impact-assesments/money-or-ideas-a-field-experiment-on-constraints-to-entrepreneurship-in-rural-pakistan.x.gine-g.mansuri-2011 Hainmueller, J., Hiscox, M. J., & Sequeira, S. (2011). Consumer demand for the fair trade label: evidence from a field experiment. Retrieved from http://www.mit.edu/~jhainm/Paper/hhs.pdf Hoogendoorn, S., & van Praag, M (2012). Ethnic diversity and team performance: a field experiment. IZA, 1-27. Lam, C., & Bauer, M. (2008). Incorporating experimental research designs in business communication research. Association for business communication, 1-10. Levy, Y., & Ellis, T. J. (2011). A guide for novice researchers on experimental and quasi-experimental studies in information systems research. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, 6, 151-161. Muijs, D. (2010). Doing quantitative research in education with SPSS. London: SAGE. Rittgen, P. (2011). Business process model similarity as a proxy for group consensus. International Federation for Information Processing, 92, 12-24. Wimmer, R. D., & Dominick, J. R. (2011). Mass media research: an introduction (9th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Appendix – Research Articles Reference 1 http://businesscommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/08ABC2008.pdf Reference 2 http://www.ijikm.org/Volume6/IJIKMv6p151-161Levy553.pdf Reference 3 http://www.fieldexperiments.com/uploads/118.pdf Reference 4 http://ices.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Markets-as-Economizers-of-Information-Field-Experimental-Examinations-of-the-Hayek-Hypothesis-by-Al-Ubaydli-and-Boettke.pdf Reference 5 http://ftp.iza.org/dp6731.pdf Reference 6 http://ockenfels.uni-koeln.de/fileadmin/wiso_fak/stawi-ockenfels/pdf/ForschungPublikationen/BoltonOckenfelsEBay-11_02_24.pdf Reference 7 http://www.adm.hb.se/~pri/Rittgen-PoEM11.pdf Reference 8 http://www.stanford.edu/~mpblimpo/BlimpoEvans2011.pdf Reference 9 http://www.mit.edu/~jhainm/Paper/hhs.pdf Reference 10 http://p31.itcilo.org/entdev/synergies/en/impact-assesments/money-or-ideas-a-field-experiment-on-constraints-to-entrepreneurship-in-rural-pakistan.x.gine-g.mansuri-2011 Read More