Page 146 - [Uma_Sekaran]_Research_methods_for_business__a_sk(BookZZ.org)

130 THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Correlational studies done in organizations are called field studies. Studies
conducted to establish cause-and-effect relationship using the same natural envi-
ronment in which employees normally function are called field experiments.
Here, as we have seen earlier, the researcher does interfere with the natural
occurrence of events inasmuch as the independent variable is manipulated. For
example, a manager wanting to know the effects of pay on performance would
raise the salary of employees in one unit, decrease the pay of employees in
another unit, and leave the pay of the employees in a third unit untouched. Here
there is a tampering with or manipulating of the pay system to establish a cause-
and-effect relationship between pay and performance, but the study is still con-
ducted in the natural setting and hence is called a field experiment.
Experiments done to establish cause and effect relationship beyond the possi-
bility of the least doubt require the creation of an artificial, contrived environ-
ment in which all the extraneous factors are strictly controlled. Similar subjects
are chosen carefully to respond to certain manipulated stimuli. These studies are
referred to as lab experiments. Let us give another example to understand the
differences among a field study (a noncontrived setting with minimal researcher
interference), a field experiment (noncontrived setting but with researcher inter-
ference to a moderate extent), and a lab experiment (a contrived setting with
researcher interference to an excessive degree).

Example 6.15 FIELD STUDY
A bank manager wants to analyze the relationship between interest rates and
bank deposit patterns of clients. She tries to correlate the two by looking at
deposits into different kinds of accounts (such as savings, certificates of deposit,
golden passbooks, and interest-bearing checking accounts) as interest rates
changed.
This is a field study where the bank manager has merely taken the balances
in various types of accounts and correlated them to the changes in interest rates.
Research here is done in a noncontrived setting with no interference with the
normal work routine.

Example 6.16 FIELD EXPERIMENT
The bank manager now wants to determine the cause-and-effect relationship
between interest rate and the inducements it offers to clients to save and deposit
money in the bank. She selects four branches within a 60-mile radius for the
experiment. For 1 week only, she advertises the annual rate for new certificates
of deposit received during that week in the following manner: the interest rate
would be 9% in one branch, 8% in another, and 10% in the third. In the fourth
branch, the interest rate remains unchanged at 5%. Within the week, she would
be able to determine the effects, if any, of interest rates on deposit mobilization.
The above would be a field experiment since nothing but the interest rate is
manipulated, with all activities occurring in the normal and natural work envi-
ronment. Hopefully, all four branches chosen would be more or less compatible