1 Outline the advantages and disadvantages of Mo Cheng's decision to pilot her questionnaire with her friends.

2 Critically review Mo Cheng's approach to sampling and her subsequent data collection strategy. Can Mo Cheng meet her stated objective?

3 What advice would you give as Mo Cheng's project tutor to improve the quality of her study data? Give reasons for your answer.


the Case

I'm doing really well Mum, you don't have to worry about me. I've lots of friends here. We'll be working hard together. Besides, I have at least three months to complete the research project. No big deal. I will phone again soon . . .' Mo Cheng put her mobile phone down and walked to the window by her desk. She looked out, scratching her head absentmindedly: I know I've told Mum not to fuss, but I am worried myself. My first meeting with my project tutor this morning didn't go as planned. Although Dr Smith agreed that my proposed research topic is interesting and doable, he was insistent that I come back to him with a clearer research design and methodology. In particular, he said my sampling section is weak and will need greater attention. I am not sure what he means and I have no idea how to improve things.' Her concern was well-founded as she did not attend all of the research methods lectures and tutorials. Mo Cheng had struggled to work her way through the numerous module reading lists. A pragmatist at heart, she had arranged with a small number of her friends to take turns attending classes, thus creating time to catch up with the reading for their assignments whose deadlines seemed to be always just around the corner. At the time, she was sure that all she needed was to work her way through her friends 'notes and read the module text, Research Methods for Business Students. Now she had doubts as she couldn't quite read her friend's handwriting - no doubt made in haste as the lecturer always spoke quickly as she explained the topic for that session. Sighing, she put the notes down and picked up the module text instead. She turned to the index at the back of the book (something she had learnt from her English tutor) and began looking for the word sampling'. . . Her project tutor also spoke of the need to establish access ahead of firming one's research design and to conduct a pilot study if not using a validated instrument. As her proposed study was to look at problems of implementing strategic change initiatives for mid-ranking officers in the Army, Mo Cheng was positive that access would not be a problem, given her father's position as a senior general. Mo Cheng was pleased that she had already ‗piloted' her questionnaire with 20 of her friends straight after the project proposal was submitted, but in view of her project tutor's critique of her proposed methodology chapter, she decided not to say anything yet. She was sure that once she had made the necessary changes to her proposal, Dr Smith would not mind her having gone ahead with her pilot study. A week in the university library thumbing through numerous research methods texts and journals articles (e.g. Scandura and Williams 2000; Sekaran 2003; Saunders et al. 2007) and reading through past research projects produced mixed results for Mo Cheng. She felt she had a greater appreciation of the research process and was certain that her survey-based research strategy was appropriate for her stated objective. She was exploring the factors underlying the apparent reluctance or failure of project personnel to capitalise on the lessons learned from previously completed strategic change projects (Balogun and Hailey 2004). Mo Cheng was certain from her reading that a ‗population' involves all the people or sub- jects under investigation, while a ‗sample' consists of a smaller number of people within the population in question. Importantly, those chosen needed to be representative 'of the population in their characteristics, attributes or values in order for her study findings and conclusions to be generalizable 'from the sample to the population. Her population would be the mid- ranking officers in the armed forces. She also understood that sampling techniques refer to how a researcher would select respondents from the population. That is, Mo Cheng knew she could not possibly survey all of the mid-ranking officers and would therefore have to select a sample to approach - but that was the extent of her knowledge. Overwhelmed by the research methods texts 'and articles 'references to sampling frames, sample size calculations and sampling design, she tried discussing her problem with her friends but found that they were as confused and unsure as she was. She was beginning to fear that she would have to admit her shortfall to her project tutor - something she was really reluctant to do as she would have to own up to the missed lectures. Later that week, she discovered a past research project in the library. Mo Cheng decided that, as long as she followed faithfully the steps taken in this project all would work out - after all, if it was in the library, it must have been good. She photocopied the entire method chapter and took it back to her room. She checked the sample size formula used in the project against her module text and notes that she had found on the Internet. She was still confused about references to levels of confidence and margins of error but recalled seeing many of the completed projects in the library having sample size estimations at a 95 per cent level of certainty. Most did not even raise the matter of the margin of error. She instinctively knew that a larger sample (although what that would be she still had no idea) would overcome the threat of a large error. From a conversation with her father, she knew that there were about 200 middle-ranking officers in her city alone. She reasoned, As we have pretty standardised processes for recruitment and promotion in the armed forces, officers' attributes from any single geographical location should be representative of the overall population. With my father's help, I will have access to the right category of officers in my locality'. A friend, who is a statistician, advised that she should aim for at least 100 responses. Taking into account the tight lead-time between issuing the questionnaires and getting them back, she decided to be realistic and to assume an actual response rate of 80 per cent. Although tempted to use the formula used in the past project (which was the same as the one she found on the Internet but differed from that in the text- book), Mo Cheng proceeded to work out the minimum number of study respondents required using the formula: na = n * 100 re% (n represented the 100 minimum responses (as advised by her friend and which represented a 50 per cent sample of the estimated number of officers in the area) and re% was the estimated response rate of 80 per cent.) Mo Cheng whooped for joy when the result showed she needed 125 eligible respondents. She rang her father immediately. Naturally, the General was keen to help his daughter. He instructed Mo Cheng to email him the questionnaire and he would get his adjutant to ‗do the rest'. He agreed to collect ‗at least 125 responses 'and said he would send the completed questionnaires back to her by courier in 10 days. Putting the phone back on its rest, Mo Cheng smiled to herself, ‗What a stroke of luck to have found my friend's completed project and now I can start my data collection without further delay. In the meantime, I will make the necessary changes to my proposal and submit that before seeing my project tutor. If all goes well, I will be finished well before the submission deadline. That should please my parents and I can go home earlier for that long-awaited holiday.'

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1 The advantages of Mo Chengs decision to pilot her questionnaire with her friends is that she will ... View the full answer