Quantitative Research Methodology

Quantitative Research Methodology

1. Research problem is the foundation of the whole research process and is also basis for the selection of the research design and research project. The very first statement in any research project or paper is the research problem, which defines the area of research in the paper; this is why the research problem needs to be specific and to the point (Defining a Research Problem - What exactly should you investigate?.2017).

Poor Research Problem – Which state has the highest population? This problem statement has simple answer and can also be answered in merely one sentence.

Solid Research Problem – Why does Mexico have the highest population in the country? This statement does not have easy answer and leads to numerous other questions, which is why it becomes researchable (Good vs. Bad Research Questions. 2017).

2. The first peer reviewed journal article is the “Impact of training and development on employee’s productivity and performance at United Bank Limited” (Tahir, N.,et.al2014). and the second article is “The impact of training and development on employee performance at Accra Polytechnic” (Eric, E. O. 2012). The first article utilised the quantitative approach, in which questionnaires were utilised for conducting survey, and the sample size was 80. In the second research article as well research has been done by the means of conducting survey, having sample size of 50. First research article was easy to understand as everything was in structured manner and was precise as well, which helped in understanding what is going on.

3. Definition of the problem – In the contemporary world, the environment is dynamic and changes rapidly, which leads to the need of skilled workforce in the organisation, so that it can outperform other competitors in the market. Thus employees should be given appropriate training, so that productivity and performance of the employees can be increased. Training and development have significant impact upon the performance and productivity of the employees (Borràs, E. 2017).

Significance of the problem – The problem will be able to identify the impact of the training and development on the employees’ performance in an organisation. It will conduct quantitative research, in order to support the outcomes and relations that exist amidst theemployee’s performance and training (Marafioti, N. 2006).

Research Questions

What is the effect of skilled workforce on the overall performance of the organisation?

What is the effect of training and development on the employee’s performance?

What outcomes are anticipated from the training and development?

How the performance effectiveness of the employees is related with the activites of training and development?

Respective Hypotheses

H1: There is significant impact of training and development upon the performance of the employees.

H0: There is no impact of training and development on the performance of the employees.

4. Correlational Research – Correlational research is utilised for identifying the relation that exists amidst the two or more variables.

Correlational Direction – Correlation has direction, which means that it can either be positive or negative.

Positive Correlation refers to that relation amidst the two variables, when increase in one variable also lead to increase in the other. For eg; increase in temperature also increases the amount of water consumed by a person.

Negative correlation refers to that relation amidst the two variables where increase in one variable leads to decrease in the other variable. For eg; the more you smoke, the less will be the health.

According to the research topic of my interest, correlation amidst the employee performance and training and development can be done. Finding out the correlations amidst the training and development and employee training will be helpful for the organisations to know that whether or not the employee’s performance is dependent upon the training. Precisely, whether there is positive correlation or negative correlation amidst the two.

5. Survey Statements:

Tick the appropriate box: Poor Fair Good Very good Excellent

1. Significant importance is given to Induction training. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
2. Well planned training programs are there. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
3. Regular reviews and enhancements are done in the training programs. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
4. Technical Skills and knowledge are acquired by employees via training. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
5. Training and development enhance the employee’s skills. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
6. Collection of data is the procedure of measuring and gathering the data and information on the selected variables in a systematics manner, which enables the researcher to find out answers to various research related questions and analyse the results. The main aim of data collection is to capture the evidence that will be helpful in the construction of the credible answers to research questions (Casley, D. J., & Kumar, K. 1988).

Challenges that can be faced in the collection of data:

It is possible that people might hesitate to give information related to the training and development that is being provided in the organisation.

People might provide wrong information to the researchers, which will lead to wrong analysis and results (Sandelowski, M. 2000).

People might leave the questionnaire incomplete which will lead to problems while the interpretation of data.

Determination of the sample size, it might be less as compared to the overall population that is under research. This will not provide exact results that are needed by the researcher.

Self-selection bias is that people have the choice that they want to participate in the research or not, this restricts the usefulness of the data.

Strategies to overcome the challenges

It is necessary to gain trust of the people that are participating in the research, so that they do not hesitate to provide relevant information.

It is also necessary to maintain the secrecy of the data given by the participants, so that they do not hesitate to provide the relevant information (Cooper, D. R., Schindler, P. S., & Sun, J. 2006).

While selecting the sample size it is necessary that the researcher determines the sample size which must be enough for representing the population under research.

Research instrument selected by the researcher should be formulated with due care, while addressing the research questions, which will be helpful in gathering relevant data.

All the information regarding the research should be shared with the sample population, so that they do not hesitate to participate in the research.

7. Data Collection for the impact of training and development on the Employees performance

Population Description

Population refers to the overall population which will be studied in the research. It consists of characteristicsof the population such as educational and occupational backgrounds and other characteristics of population. Population is the totality and aggregate of the all the members, subjects and objects which fit in particular set of specifications. In this research the population that have been selected for the research are all the employees of River Island, irrespective of their educational and occupational background, socio economic status, age and cultural backgrounds (Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. 1984).

Sampling Size and access to participants

Sample refers to the subset of the overall population, which have been selected for taking part in the study. Sample is a part of overall population which is selected for participating in the research. In order to undertake the research on the impact of training and development on the performance of the employees, sample size of 60 employees of River Island have been selected. As a rule it is necessary to for using the largest possible sample. Larger will be the sample, it will be more representative of the overall population. Sample size which aresmall will produce less accurate outcomes as smaller sample size is less likely to represent the overall population (Johnson, B., & Turner, L. A. 2003).

Instrument Selection

Generally instrument refers to the measurement device, which the researcher uses for the data collection, in the research. Appropriate selection of the instruments need to be done so that the results of the research are effective and efficient and can be relied on. In this research the research instrument which will be used is questionnaire having five point rating scale. This will be helpful in increasing the usability of the instrument, which means the data collected through the instrument will be easy to analyse and interpret (Neuman, L. W. 2002).

Validity

Validity is referred to as the measurement of truth and falseness of the information that is collected with the help of research instrument, selected by the researcher for conducting the research. It refers to the capability of a research instrument to measure for what it has been designed to measure. It is the appropriate measurement of the idea under research. Validity is done basically for investigating and giving answers for the research questions that have been set earlier at the beginning of the research (Kimberlin, C. L., &Winetrstein, A. G. 2008).

Validity also measure whether or not answers are measured through suitable procedures and methods. In the present study research is being conducted for measuring the impact of training and development on the performance of the employees. Validity can be of two types, first is the internal validity and other is external validity. Internal validity refers to analyses of the accuracy of the results that will be obtained from the research instrument. External validity is referred to as analyses of the results respective of the situation and whether or not they have been generalised (Guion, R. M 2002).

Reliability

Reliability refers to the degree of uniformity with which the research instrument measures a particular characteristic. Moreover reliability also refers to degree of independent administration gives similar results in similar conditions with the usage of the same research instrument. If variations are less while measuring particular attribute through the same instrument in other conditions, then it will mean that the reliability of the instrument is high. Reliability and validity are interrelated with each other. Any research instrument which is not valid will also not be reliable. In order to ensure the reliability of the instrument, questionnaire has been designed taking into account the issue undertaken for the research(Golafshani, N. 2003).

Data Collection

Data collection refers to information and data that will collected during the course of the research with the help of various primary and secondary resources. In this research paper data and information will collected with the usage of questionnaire having five point scale secondary data will also be used for completing the research. In order to ensure that there is no biasness in the outcomes and for good representation of the data collected, sampling theory has been used in the research (Neuman, L. W. 2002).

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REFERENCES

Abdulahi, B., & AYKAN, E. (2016). Effects of Human Resources Training on Employee Perceived Performance: Comparison of Somalia-TurkiyeTelekommunicationBussinesses. Archives of Business Research, 4(6).

Arneson, J., Rothwell, W., &Naughton, J. (2013). Training and development competencies redefined to create competitive advantage. Training & Development, 67(1), 42-47.

Borràs, E. (2017). How to Write a Research Paper. Research-publishing.net.

Casley, D. J., & Kumar, K. (1988). The collection, analysis and use of monitoring and evaluation data.The World Bank.

Cooper, D. R., Schindler, P. S., & Sun, J. (2006). Business research methods(Vol. 9). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Defining a Research Problem - What exactly should you investigate?.(2017). Explorable.com. Retrieved 28 August 2017, from https://explorable.com/defining-a-research-problem