Lecture 4

The Research Process – Literature Review

Theoretical Framework – (Stage 3 in Research
Process)

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 Recall the Research process:
1) Broad problem area

2) Problem statement

3) Theoretical Framework

4) Generation of hypotheses

5) Data collection:

6) Data analysis:

7) Report Writing( Interpretation of results)

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 Chapter Objectives
 Discuss how problem areas can be identified.
  State research problems clearly and precisely.
  Explain how primary and secondary data help the
researcher to develop a problem statement.
  Write a literature review on any given topic.
 Broad Problem Area
 The broad problem area refers to the entire situation where one sees a
possible need for research and problem solving. Such issues might
pertain to:
 Problems currently existing in an organizational setting that need to be
solved.
 Areas that a manager believes needs to be improved in the organization.
  A conceptual or theoretical issue that needs to be tightened up for the
basic researcher to understand certain phenomena.
  Some research questions that a basic researcher wants to answer
empirically.
 Examples of Broad Problem Areas that
Could be Observed at the Work Place
 Training programs are perhaps not as effective as
anticipated.
  The sales volume of a product is not picking up.
  Inventory control is not effective
  Some members in organization are not advancing in
their careers.
  The introduction of flexible work hours has created
more problems than it has solved in many companies.
 Preliminary Data Collection
 The nature of data to be gathered could be classified
under two areas:

 Background information of the organization (the

contextual factors).
 Prevailing knowledge on the topic (relevant findings
from previous research).
 Preliminary Data Collection
 The background details of the company can be obtained
from available published records, the web site of the
company.
  Company policies, procedures, and rules can be
obtained from the organization’s records and
documents.
 Data gathered through such existing sources are called
secondary data.
 Secondary data
 Secondary data, are data that already exist and do not
have to be collected by the researcher.
  Some secondary sources of data are statistical
bulletins, government publications, information
published or unpublished and available from either
within or outside the organization, library records, data
available from previous research, online data, web sites,
and the Internet.
 Primary Data
 Other types of information such as the perceptions and
attitudes of employees are best obtained by talking to
them; by observing events, people, and objects; or by
administering questionnaires to individuals.
 Such data gathered for research from the actual site of
occurrence of events are called primary data.
 Prevailing knowledge on the topic
 A literature review should help the researcher to identify
and highlight the important variables that are related to
the problem.
 Literature Survey
 Literature survey is the documentation of a
comprehensive review of the published and unpublished
work from secondary sources of data in the areas of
specific interest to the researcher.
 Literature Survey
 The library is a rich storage base for secondary data
 through books, journals, newspapers, magazines,
conference proceedings, doctoral dissertations,
master’s theses, government publications, and financial
marketing, and other reports.
 The computerized databases are now readily available
and accessible, which makes the literature search much
easier that can be done without entering a library
building.
 Reasons for the Literature Survey
 Helps to find the important variables that are likely to influence the
problem situation are not left out of the study.
 Helps the development of the theoretical framework and hypotheses for
testing.
 The problem statement can be made with precision and clarity.
 Testability and replicability of the findings of the current research are
enhanced.
  One does not run the risk of wasting efforts on trying to rediscover
something that is already known.
  The problem investigated is perceived by the scientific community as
relevant and significant.
 Conducting the Literature Survey
 The literature review needs to be done on the specific issues of
concern to the researcher and the factors identified during the
interview process.
 The first step in this process involves identifying the various
published and unpublished materials that are available on the
topics of interest, and gaining access to these.
 The second step is gathering the relevant information either by
going through the necessary materials in a library or by getting
access to online sources.
 The third step is writing up the literature review.
 Data Sources
  Academic and professional journals
  Textbooks
 Theses: PhD theses and Master theses.
  Conference proceedings
  Reports
  Newspapers
  The internet
 Writing Up the Literature Review
 The documentation of the relevant studies citing the
author and the year of the study is called literature
review.
  The literature review is a clear and logical presentation
of the relevant research work done thus far in the area
of investigation.
 Examples of Literature Surveys
Organizational effectiveness
  Organization theorists have defined organizational effectiveness (OE) in various ways.
OE has been described in terms of objectives (Georgopolous and Tannenbaum,
1957), goals (Etzioni, 1960), efficiency (Katz and Kahn, 1966), resources acquisition
(Yuchtman and Seashore, 1967). As Coutler (2002) remarked, there is little
consensus on how to conceptualize, measure, or explain OE.
Researchers are now moving away from a single model and are taking contingency
approaches to conceptualizing OE (Cameron, 1996; Wernerfelt, 1998; Yetley, 2001).
However, they are still limiting themselves to examining the impact of the dominant
factors in the organization’s life cycle instead of taking a broader, more dynamic
approach (Dahl, 2001).
What insights can be gained from the
above example?
 The literature review introduces the subject of study.
 Highlights the problem (that we do not have a good
conceptual framework for understanding OE).
 Summarizes the work done so far on the topic (by
reporting the citations in the body of the research by
mentioning the family names and the year of publication
only).
 Defining the Problem Statement
 After the literature review, the researcher is in position
to narrow down the problem from its original broad base
and define the issues of concern more clearly.
 What makes a good problem
statement?
 The problem statement introduces the key problem that
is addressed in the research project.

 Problem statement is a clear, precise, and short

statement of the specific issue that a researcher wishes
to investigate.
 What makes a good problem
statement?
 There are three key criteria to assess the quality of the
problem statement:
– It should be relevant

– It should be feasible

– It should be interesting
 From an academic perspective,
research is relevant if:
 Nothing is known about the topic.
 Much is known about the topic, but the knowledge is
scattered.
 Much research on the topic is available, but the results
are contradictory.
 Established relationships do not hold in certain
situations.
 A problem statement is feasible
 If you are able to answer the problem statement within
the restrictions of the research project.
  These restrictions are possibly related to time and
money and the expertise of the researcher (a problem
statement may be too difficult to answer).
  Thus, it is important that you develop a narrowly
defined question that can be investigated with a
reasonably amount of time and efforts.
The problem statement is interesting
 Because research is a time-consuming process and you
will go through many ups and downs before you present
a final version of your research report. It is therefore
vital that you are interested in the problem statement
that you are trying to answer, so you can stay motivated
throughout the entire process.
Examples of broad problem areas that a manager 
could observe at the workplace:

 Training programs are not as effective as anticipated.

 The sales volume of a product is not picking up.
  Minority group members are not advancing in their
careers.
  The newly installed information system is not being used
by the managers for whom it was primarily designed.
  The introduction of flexible work hours has created more
problems than it has solved in many companies
Examples of Well-Defined Research
Questions
 To what extent do the structure of the organization and type of
information systems installed account for the variance in the
perceived effectiveness of managerial decision making?
  To what extent has the new advertising campaign been
successful in creating the high-quality, customer-centered
corporate image that it was intended to produce?
  How has the new packaging affected the sales of the product?
  What are the effects of downsizing on the long-range growth
patterns of companies?
 Stage 3 :
Theoretical Framework
 A theoretical framework represents your beliefs on how
certain phenomena (or variables or concepts) are
related to each other (a model) and an explanation on
why you believe that these variables are associated to
each other (a theory).
 Thus, there are three parts within theoretical framework:
– Variables (affecting the problem)
– Model ( to make logical sense of the several factors identified)
– Theory (driven from previous studies in problem area)

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 Basic steps:
– Identify and label the variables correctly
– State the relationships among the variables:
formulate hypotheses
– Explain how or why you expect these
relationships

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 Variable
 Any concept or construct that varies or changes in
value

 Main types of variables:

– Dependent variable
– Independent variable

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 (In)dependent Variables

 Dependent variable (DV)

– Is of primary interest to the researcher. The goal of the research
project is to understand, predict or explain the variability of this
variable.

 Independent variable (IV)

– Influences the DV in either positive or negative way. The variance
in the DV is accounted for by the IV.

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 EXAMPLE
Cross-cultural research indicates that managerial values
govern the power distance between superiors and
subordinates. Here, power distance is the subject of
interest and hence the dependent variables. Managerial
values that explain the variance in power distance
comprise the independent variable.

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 Examples
 Identify the Dependent variable (DV) & Independent
variable (IV)?......research studies indicate that…..
– Successful new product development has influential impact on
the stock price of the company.
– A manager believes that good supervision and training would
increase the production level of workers.
– Calcium consumption and bone density.
– Inflation rate in Kuwait is increasing overtime due to global food
prices and high workers’ wages.
– High blood pressure might be identified due to overweight , age,
family history, and stress.

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 MODERATING VARIABLES
 One that has a strong contingent effect on the
independent variable dependent variable relationship.
 The variable modifies the original relationship between
the independent and the dependent variables.

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 EXAMPLES
 It has been found that there is a relationship between the
availability of reference manuals that the manufacturing
employees have access to, and the product rejects.
 When workers follow the procedures laid down in the manual,
they are able to manufacture products that are flawless.
 Those who have interest and urge to refer to manual will
produce flawless product.

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 MODERATORS
 Moderating variable
Moderator is qualitative
(e.g., gender, race, class)
or quantitative (e.g., level
of reward) variable that
affects the direction
and/or strength of relation
between independent and
dependent variable.

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 MEDIATING VARIABLE
 Intervening variables
 Surfaces between the time the independent variables start
operating to influence the dependent variable and the time
their impact is felt on it.
 Help to model a process.
 Help to conceptualize and explain the influence of the
independent variable on the dependent variables.

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 EXAMPLES
 Where workforce diversity (IV) influences the organizational
effectiveness (DV), the mediating variable that surfaces as a
function of the diversity in the workforce is “creative synergy”.
 “Creative synergy” results from a multiethnic, multiracial, and
multinational workforce interacting and bringing together their
multifaceted expertise in problem solving.

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Diagram of the relationship among the independent, mediating, moderating and dependent
variables.
Time: t1 t2 t3
CREATIVE
ORGANIZATIONAL
WORKFORCE SYNERGY
EFFECTIVENESS
DIVERSITY (Mediating (DV)
(IV) Variables)

MANAGERIAL
EXPERTISE
(Moderating
Variable)

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 HYPOTHESIS
 A proposition that is empirically testable. It is an empirical
statement concerned with the relationship among
variables.

 Good hypothesis:
 Must be adequate for its purpose
 Must be testable
 Must be better than its rivals

 Can be:
 Directional
 Non-directional
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 EXERCISE
Give the hypotheses for the following framework:

Customer
Service quality
switching

Switching cost

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 EXERCISE
Give the hypotheses for the following framework:

Customer satisfaction Customer

Service quality
switching

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 ARGUMENTATION
 The expected relationships / hypotheses are an
integration of:
– Exploratory research
– Common sense and logical reasoning

– https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writin
g/rhetorical_situation/index.html

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 Writing the Literature Review
Guidelines are adapted primarily from Galvan (2006). Galvan
outlines a very clear, step-by-step approach that is very useful
to use as you write your review.
Step 1: Identify the literature that you will review
Step 2: Analyze the literature
Step 3: Summarize the literature in table or concept map
format
Step 4: Synthesize the literature prior to writing your review
Step 5: Writing the review

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Step 1: Identify the literature that you will review

 Familiarize yourself with online databases, identifying

relevant databases in your field of study.
 Using relevant databases, search for literature sources
maybe using Google Scholar as a start point;
 Import your references into a separate sheet.

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 Step 2: Analyze the literature
Once you have identified and located the articles for your
review, you need to analyze them and organize them before
you begin writing:
Overview the articles: Skim the articles to get an idea of the
general purpose and content of the article (focus your reading
here on the abstract, introduction and first few paragraphs,
and the conclusion of each article).
Group the articles into categories (e.g. into topics and
subtopics and chronologically within each subtopic).

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 Take notes

1-Identify major trends or patterns: As you read a range of

articles on your topic, you should make note of trends and
patterns over time as reported in the literature.

2- If necessarily, select useful quotes that you may want to

include in your review: Important: If you copy the exact
words from an article, be sure to cite the page number as
you will need it (THOUGH; I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT
AT ALL).

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 Take notes
3- Identify gaps in the literature:, and reflect on why these
might exist (based on the understandings that you have
gained by reading literature in this field of study). These
gaps will be important for you to address as you plan and
write your review.
4- Keep your review focused on your topic: make sure that the
articles you find are relevant and directly related to your
topic.
5- Evaluate your references : you have to decide at what point
you are finished with collecting new studies so that you can
focus on writing up your findings.
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 Step 3: Summarize the literature in table or
concept map format
 It is recommended to build tables as a key way to help you
overview, organize, and summarize your findings of such
literature survey, THUS including one or more of the tables
that you create may be helpful in your literature review.
 You can create the table that may be relevant to your review
to include:
• Definitions of key terms and concepts and
investigation.
• Time frame
• Research methods
• Summary of research results
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 Step 4: Synthesize the literature prior to writing
your review
 Consider your purpose before beginning to write.
 Consider how you reassemble your notes.
 Create a topic outline that traces your argument.
 Within each topic heading, note differences among studies.
 Within each topic heading, look for obvious gaps or areas
needing more research.

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 Step 4: Synthesize the literature prior to writing
your review
 Plan to describe relevant theories.
 Plan to present conclusions and implications.
 Plan to suggest specific directions for future research near
the end of the review.
 Flesh out your outline with details from your analysis.

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 Step 5: Writing the review
 Identify the broad problem area, but avoid global
statements.
 Early in the review, indicate why the topic being reviewed is
important.
 Indicate why certain studies are important
 If citing a classic or landmark study, identify it as such
 If a landmark study was replicated, mention that and
indicate the results of the replication
 Discuss other literature reviews on your topic

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 Step 5: Writing the review
 Refer the reader to other reviews on issues that you will not
be discussing in details.
 Avoid long lists of nonspecific references (working papers,
unpublished papers, conference papers. …others).
 If the results of previous studies are inconsistent or widely
varying, cite them separately
 Cite all relevant references in the review section of thesis,
dissertation, or journal article.

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 Step 5: Writing the review
 Remember, each literature should include:
• Definitions of key terms and concepts and
investigation.
• Time frame
• Research methods
• Summary of research results

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