Business Research Methodologies - Coursework Example

A research design encompasses procedures and methodologies that are employed to conduct research. The research design defines the type of study: such as descriptive, experimental, semi-experimental, correlation, and others. Research design is also considered a systematic and scientific search for precise information on a particular topic. One of the primary reasons for research is to find out the truth which was not revealed in due course of time. Each research has its objectives and purposes, but in general, the key objective of conducting research is to gain new insight and is also referred to as exploratory research. In addition, other forms of research are descriptive research, diagnostic research, and testing the casual relationship which is conducted in the process of hypothesis testing (Kothari, 2008, p.2). Research design with regards to the study of the management style of the supervisors to evaluate the performance of employees at Curry’s PC world is as follows:

Research Philosophy: The research philosophy adopted is realism. The realism theory of philosophy was adopted because of its independent nature and is quite similar to positivism and tends to assume a scientific approach. It is mainly used because it underpins the collection of data and thereby understanding of the gathered information (Collins, 2010, p.38).

Research Approach: The research approach chosen for the study is the inductive research approach. Here initial few observations are made and then it moves to broader theories and generalizations. It is also sometimes called the “bottom-up approach”. Conclusions are usually based on-premises and also tend to involve a certain degree of uncertainty. The reason for using such an approach is that the researcher will be able to draw many approaches on his own as per the convenience of the study and meet the challenges of the world (Anderson, 2004, p.103).

Research Strategy: Research strategy is referred to as a decision about the tactics of data collection for a given study (Walsh & Wigens, 2003, p.70). The research strategy chosen for the study is through survey approach and case study analysis.

Data collection methods: Data will be collected mainly through primary and secondary sources. Primary research will take into consideration the qualitative and quantitative approaches. In the case of primary research, data will be collected through questionnaires and interviews. For the secondary approach, case study analysis will be taken into consideration to analyze the impact of supervisors on the performance of the employees at Curry’s PC World.

The sampling method is of two types: probability sampling and non-probability sampling methods. The study will take into consideration the probability sampling method also known as random sampling (Kothari, 2009, p.60). The study will adopt the simple random sampling technique, to gather data for the questionnaire and thereby analyze the result. For the survey, the target group will be the employees of Curry’s PC World. The employees will be those under the supervision and guidance of a supervisor.

Data analysis Procedure: The data will be analyzed with the help of tools such as excel, and SPSS and processed information will be presented in the form of pie charts, bar diagrams, and others, which will help to interpret the data in a more systematic and composed manner.

One of the most possible/probable ethical issues is that of biasness, which most researchers tend to face. It is also the most common form of an ethical issue. Additionally, while conducting the research, the subject should not be harmed or inconvenienced, such as personal embarrassment, psychological stress or humiliation. Privacy is another ethical issue that needs to be dealt with properly in the process of conducting the research. Research is based on information obtained from the subject, and every subject has the right to keep private the fact that they participated in the survey or study (Morion, 2004). On the other hand from the perspective of a researcher from the academic domain, the first and primary expectation is a clear determination of what has been done and reports in the literature on the given topic. When the report is presented to the academic community, it is assumed that the work presented is new and is made after an extensive search. In addition, plagiarism is also an unethical factor and should not be done while conducting research.

Although the research study has managed to reach its aims and objectives, there were still certain unavoidable limitations. Like every study which faces limitations, the study on the management impact of supervisors on the performance of the employee also faced a few limitations. Since the random sampling technique was adopted, it is possible that many of the suitable respondents were missed out. Due to the time limit, the sample size was limited to 100 respondents, which is another limitation of the study as a large sample size usually enhances the research work and helps the researcher to derive accurate results.