I’m working on a management question and need an explanation to help me understand better.

Prompt- DUE SATURDAY 12/19/20 – 4 pages- APA format

Understanding Results in Quantitative Research Studies

Once you have read how researchers analyzed quantitative data, you are ready to read the results of the study. The results are the actual products obtained from all statistical calculations that researchers made during the data analysis process. While you may not be using primary data for your final research project, it is important to recognize that researchers often report three types of results as part of their studies. Analyze each type of results found in chapter 8 of Understanding Research and evaluate the various strategic business decisions a manager may make from the research results. Based on the research results, create your conclusion that include your interpretation with consideration of any possible biases and make actionable recommendations for managerial decision making.

When evaluating the potential strategic business decisions based on the research results, be sure to follow these guidelines:

Your paper should be 4 pages in length. Include at least four scholarly references in addition to the course textbook.

Reading–

The relationship that is established between the researchers and participants in both qualitative and quantitative business studies can raise a range of different ethical concerns. Researchers face dilemmas such as respect for privacy, establishment of honest and open interactions, and avoiding misrepresentations (Sanjari, Bahramnezhad, Fomani & Shoghi, 2014). Ethically challenging situations may emerge if researchers have to deal with contradicting issues and choose between different methodological strategies in the study. In such cases, disagreements among different components, such as participants, researchers, the organization, and the society, may be inevitable (Sanjari et al. 2014). Important ethical concerns that should be taken into account while carrying out research include anonymity, confidentiality, and informed consent (Sanjari et al. 2014).

This is especially important when children and other vulnerable individuals are study participants. Children and vulnerable individuals should have access to an advocate who is present during initial phases of the study, and ideally, during data-gathering sessions. It is sometimes necessary for the researcher to clarify in writing which persons can have access to the initial data/information and how the data/information might be used (Sanjari et al. 2014). Informed consent has been recognized as an integral part of research ethics in fields, such as business research.

For business researchers, it is of the utmost importance to specify in advance which data/information will be collected and how the data/information will be used (Sanjari et al. 2014). The principle of informed consent stresses the researcher’s responsibility to completely inform participants of different aspects of the research in comprehensible language. Clarifications need to include the following: the nature of the study, the participants’ potential roles, the identity of the researcher, the financing body or organization’s management, the objective of the research, and how the results will be published and used by the organization or management (Sanjari et al. 2014).

Informed consent naturally requires ongoing negotiation over the terms of agreement as the research study progresses. Many people consider it necessary to participate in research that may benefit their peers, their community, and/or society in general. Therefore, qualitative business researchers need to clarify that the research they carry out will benefit the organization, society, or the community in the form of improved products and services, employee morale, and/or reduced turnover.

Given the difficulties of working with human subjects, some researchers turn to existing data sources in order to address their research questions. Review the following video to learn more:

2. Analyzing Results in Qualitative Research Studies

Qualitative data analysis should be a systematic and rigorous process that researchers use to find patterns and themes (Creswell, 2014). Students can envision the major activities in the qualitative data analysis process by examining the bottom-up approach to qualitative data analysis in Figure 11.1 (Chapter 11 of your Understanding Research textbook). This is a bottom-up, or inductive process because the business researcher works from all the detailed data; for instance, from a mass of typed interviews or observational field notes up to a few general patterns. Review Figure 11.1 for a discussion about the major procedures in the collection and analysis of qualitative research data.

After qualitative business researchers collect information, they implement several activities to inductively build meaning and understanding up from the data. These activities include preparing the data for analysis, developing a general sense of the data, coding the data, developing findings in the forms of descriptions and themes from the codes, and using strategies to ensure the accuracy of the findings (Plano-Clark & Creswell, 2015).

3. Analyzing Results in Quantitative Research Studies

At this stage of the course, you know how to design a research problem, examine and gather literature for review, draft a research purpose, design a research methodology, and collect qualitative information and/or quantitative data for analysis.

Page II describes qualitative data analysis techniques. Analyzing quantitative data involves some use of statistics. To better understand how business researchers use statistics, it may be helpful to know about the process of quantitative data analysis. You can envision the major activities in the quantitative data analysis process by examining the top-down approach, also known as the deductive approach:

The Top-Down Approach

The quantitative data analysis process also unfolds in a linear fashion. This means that the business researcher generally finishes one step before moving to the next, as illustrated in Figure 8.1 (Chapter 8 of your Understanding Research textbook). See this section in the textbook for a detailed discussion of the major steps in quantitative research data analysis.

No matter the research approach or design used, business researchers end their studies with statements that convey their conclusions based on a broader interpretation of the data or information. After this, they draw conclusions and make actionable recommendations for managerial decision making.

However, business researchers do more than simply interpret or summarize the results in their final discussion about what management should do to address an organizational problem. They also relate the results to the larger body of literature. Recall that one of the objectives of a research study is to add to the knowledge about the organizational problem under investigation. One way in which business researchers conclude that their study adds to the knowledge is by interpreting how their results are similar to, different from, or extend ideas already found in related theories or literature. As you read the conclusion section of a research study, identify places where the researcher interprets the findings in view of past research and discusses how the findings support and/or contradict results from prior studies. For example, in a quantitative study of the relationship between organizational learning and job satisfaction within a company, researchers may contradict or affirm prior studies on the subject (Plano-Clark & Creswell, 2015).