Module 1 Flashcards
(12 cards)
Research
The systematic gathering and interpretation of information. The purpose of obtaining information and facts is so that one can use the information and facts to determine cause and effect relationships.
Personnel research
In order to manage people effectively. Managers need to understand how humans think and work. The managers must take the actions and capabilities of employees into consideration so that effective decisions can be taken.
Reasons for conducting research
Staff selection
Training and development
Reward management
Employee relations
Separation / termination of employment
Research methods
Basic or exploratory research is concerned with the discovery of knowledge for its own sake, and is often the basis of theories.
Operational or applied research takes place when information that has already been obtained is used to solve a particular and specific problem.
Research designs
Historical studies
This is when information from existing files and documents is used for a specific purpose. Information from files or documents is called primary data and it can be internal or external.
Research designs
Case studies
Verbal or written descriptions of real-life situations. In an organisation, these can be used to evaluate real life problems.
Research designs
Field studies
Conducted by:
Administering questionnaires or gather information.
Directly observing and incident as it occurs
Obeserving an employee’s behaviour over a period
Research designs
Experiments
An experiment compares two situations to test whether an idea is true or not. This requires setting up:
A control grouo
An experimental group
The steps in a research projects
Step 1: define the problem
Step 2: Describe the objective for the research
Step 3: decide which research method will be used and who will participate
Step 4: collect the information
Step 5: Analyse and process the data
Step 6: interpret the data
Step 7: compile a report
Step 8: purpose ways to solve the problem
Steps involved in conducting a survey
Step 1: Identify the specific objectives of the survey
Step 2: decide on specific procedures
Step 3: decide on the sampling technique that will be followed
Step 4: Develop the survey instrument.
Step 5: conduct a pilot test
Step 6: execute the survey
Step 7: Analyse and process the data
Step 8: communicate the results
Trends
Indicators of the general direction on which graph is going. Trends are often seasonal or cynical and forecast medium to long term changes
Regression
Means that we use the known variable to predict the unknown variable. This means that a point on the x-axis us taken as a given and the value of the independent variable must be determined.
