In addition, each student will respond to at least two classmates with 450–600 words, incorporate at least 2 scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles, 1 biblical application/integration, and include substantive analysis and insights. Citations and references must follow current APA style.
Discussion: A Gem of a Study
Cesar Martinez
Liberty University
Business 600: Business Research Methods
Mr. Edwin Quinn
Word Count: 806
January 20, 2022
What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) aims to measure the relationship between governmental policies, including cultural, economic, physical, and political factors and economic growth measured as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Governmental policies and programs make up the independent variable in the study. The policies’ impact on economic growth is the dependent variable. A moderating variable exists, however. The moderating variable would be increased entrepreneurial activity. The study was designed to prove or disprove what policies lead to increased entrepreneurial activity and that the increased entrepreneurial activity will lead to increased economic growth. Therefore, the hypothesis in the study reflects the following: Governmental policies will have an impact on economic growth, especially if they affect entrepreneurial activity. When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan (Proverbs 29:2, English Standard Version).
What are some of the intervening, extraneous, and moderating variables that the study attempted to control with its 10-nation design?
The study attempted to control for variable economic frameworks, differences in entrepreneurial sectors, business dynamics, and overall economic growth. By including countries with varying degrees of extraneous variables, the researchers mitigated the probability that the extraneous variables were a significant predictor of the criterion. Specific attributes such as equity and legal and banking systems could not be considered the sole predictors. The various degrees of favorability towards entrepreneurial activity would rule out that possibility.
Can you do a causal study without controlling intervening, extraneous, and moderating variables?
Adequate control is necessary when conducting research. Control is only achieved when researchers are confident that manipulating the independent variable rather than extraneous variables is responsible for the results (Kennedy & Bush, 1985). Complete control of every extraneous, moderating, or intervening variable is not required. Researchers can undertake several measures to mitigate the effect of extraneous variables, such as random assignments or implementing statistical controls when extraneous variables cannot be deleted in their entirety (Street, 1995). Complete control of all extraneous or other variables was not eliminated in the GEM study. Instead, the researchers designed and implemented a method to allow the extraneous variables to be part of the experiment but mitigated their significance when measuring causality.
What is the impact on study results of using national experts (key informants) to identify and weigh entrepreneurial framework conditions?
People can provide valuable insights to researchers when used as a resource. The value-based view of knowledge suggests that it is socially constructed and is a product of human interpretations shaped by the interactions of knowledge, environmental conditions, and political actions (Tamtik & Sá, 2012). National experts can give interpretations of the local entrepreneurial framework from value-based insights (Schindler, 2021). Researchers may find government-sponsored entrepreneurial programs and the legal and banking framework to promote entrepreneurial activity. However, the reality may be quite different. By interviewing national experts, researchers can discover if bribes are prevalent in the business culture of a particular country. Perhaps, cultural norms do not support or facilitate women as business owners and, therefore, exclude half of the population. Interviews with national experts are necessary to understand the economic conditions and accurately gauge the capacity and motivation for entrepreneurship as seen through the eyes of a local. Otherwise, researchers may finalize their study, and extraneous variables may impact results without knowledge. Researchers may not build controls to mitigate their impact or filter them out through research design as they are not aware of them.
Can you do a causal study when much of the primary data collected is descriptive opinion and ordinal or interval data?
The GEM study, to an extent, is behavioral research. The study considers the perception of opportunity, capacity, and motivation, among many factors. Perception of opportunity is not a construct that can be observed or measured directly. Instead, researchers may have to rely on concepts to measure what makes up a person’s perception of opportunity and how it can be measured. For some concepts, a descriptive statement of attitude towards the concept is the best that a researcher can do as there may be no other way to quantify or qualify the data. However, the inability to measure the data concept through means other than descriptive opinion does not invalidate the research. This is especially true when the subject of the research question is abstract itself.
Whether studies can rely solely on ordinal or interval data is dependent on the research question. Some fields, such as psychology, where surveys responses are limited to nominal and ordinal data, do not lend themselves to studies based on other types of data. There are specialized analysis methods to reduce bias when relying on nominal or ordinal data (Verhulst & Neale, 2021).
References
Kennedy, J. J., & Bush, A. J. (1985). An introduction to the design and analysis of Experiments in Behavioral Research. University Press of America.
Schindler, P. S. (2021). Business research methods (14th ed.). MCGRAW-HILL.
Street, D. L. (1995). Controlling extraneous variables in experimental research: A research note. Accounting Education, 4(2), 169–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639289500000020
Tamtik, M., & Sá, C. M. (2012). The role of experts in the European Union’s research policy. Review of Policy Research, 29(4), 449–466. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-1338.2012.00571.x
Verhulst, B., & Neale, M. C. (2021). Best practices for binary and ordinal data analyses. Behavior Genetics, 51(3), 204–214. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-020-10031-
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