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 Capaldo
DIEG-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
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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
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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 teorici
Concetti
(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 ricerca
Ricerca:
– Confirmativa
– Esplorativa
– Descrittiva
Concetti e Proposizioni
Teoria
Ricerca
Esplorativa
Ricerca
Confirmativa
(Theory building)
(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
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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
1 . Id enti fying a bro ad a rea o f study
2. Sele cti ng a nd j usti fying the resea rch topi c
3. Deci de the a pproa ch
4. Form ulate th e pl an
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A research process model: The
effectuation phase
5. Collect the data or information
6. Analyse and interpret the data
7. Present the findings
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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
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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
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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?
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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
• ScopeValue
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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 substantiatedaddition to the body of
knowledgehigh 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
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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.
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