The purpose of this paper is to propose a draft quantitative proposal for a research study in management. The paper will begin with a selection and justification of the research method. The paper will then (a) describe a survey design (b) rationale for the survey design (c) evaluate data collection method (d) evaluate the sample size (e) evaluate the survey instruments (f) evaluate the research variables and lastly check on the data analysis and interpretation of quantitative data.
Hypothesis and Research questions
The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the hypothesis that “Many medium and small-sized companies have not put in place measures that can adequately serve as crises management plans.”
Research questions
- How many companies have well-established crisis management plans?
- What is the frequency of crises in the companies that have put in place crisis management plans and teams as compared to those that do not have the plans in place?
- Depending on the size of the company, what is the ideal size of an effective crisis management team?
Experimental design
The hypothesis can be tested on several experimental designs since it shall contain quantitative data. This study will use the Independent Measures methods of design. There are two separate groups of companies to be investigated and hence this method. The design also increases the quality of responses from respondents. According to Creswell (2008), the value for quantitative studies resides the worldview that organizations consist of empirical and observable factors that can be known and analyzed. As such, quantitative research can be useful in explaining the cause and effect of the dependent and the independent variables (Creswell, 2008).
Target population
The target population is 30 companies: Ten big companies (companies with more than 200 employees) and 20 in a small and medium scale enterprises (companies with less than 200 employees). The identification of companies shall be based on the information obtained from the media and from post-doctoral about companies that are doing well in terms of growth and profitability as well as those that are on the decline.
Data collection methods
The data collection methods to be used are questionnaires and literature reviews. The study will comprise of self-administered internet questionnaire, which is easy to administer and is cheap. Literature reviews will comprise of searching the internet for company issues and news on the selected companies about their handling of the crisis. The study shall borrow from post-doctoral studies that are laden with information on crisis management in companies (Boud, & Tennant, 2006). The combination of the two methods improves the quality, and credibility of data obtained. The methods are consistent with the methods previously used to obtain qualitative data for the research. These data collection methods will obtain quantitative as well as qualitative data and as such, and the qualitative aspects will explain issues about the quantitative results obtained.
Ensuring quality and reliability of the data
The quality of data obtained shall be ensured by obtaining the relevant business associations and authorities to approve of the study. Approval by the relevant authorities gives the respondents more trust, and they divulge more credible and reliable information about crisis management in their organizations. The questions to be asked in the survey shall also be close-ended in order to capture the accuracy of the quantitative date that is to be obtained (Creswell, 2008). Moreover, correspondence and willingness to take part in the study shall be sought from the potential respondents.
Analyzing the data
The researcher shall analyze the data obtained from the study using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software from IBM. The software can confidently predict the outcomes of the study and helps researchers to makes smarter and more reliable conclusions. A study by Modeus et al (2012) on crisis management showed that the software is easy to use and can be used to analyze data from complex and simple studies. The data variables to be analyzed in this study are the number of companies that have put in place crisis management teams and those that do not have the teams, as an independent variable. The size of the teams and the frequency of crisis in the companies shall be considered the dependent variables.
Target audience
The target audiences for this study are the company managers, owners, business executives, and business students. Each target group has a direct or indirect interest in the quantitative study on how companies (both large and small) manage crises in their companies. The outcomes help each group to evaluate its contribution to the establishment of effective crisis management plans for differently sized companies.
References
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Boud, D., & Tennant, M. (2006). Putting doctoral education to work: Challenges to academic practice. Higher Education Research & Development, 25(3), 293–306. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.Modeus et al, (2012) Crisis management in social media. Linneus University, School of Business and Economics. Retrieved 10 Oct 2014 from http://www.divaportal.org/smash/get/diva2:530491/FULLTEXT01.pdf
