I usually state three Primary Objectives in my research, then followed by Secondary Objectives, if any. I have
three questions for you, which may help you in writing your introduction.
(1)
Why is your HRM issue studied important?(2)
How does your study relate to previous research in HRM and how does it differ from other studies on the same issue?(3)
What are the hypotheses and objectives of your study and how do they relate to relevant theory (if they do)?Adequately testing a theory requires using both confirmational and disconfirmational hypotheses. Usually, you will pursue a
confirmational hypothesis when a theory is fresh and relatively untested. The objective during this phase of testing is to determine whether the theory can predict or explain the phenomena within its domain with reasonable precision.
If the theory survives these tests, you will eventually want to pursue a
disconfirmational hypothesis. The objective during this phase of testing is to determine whether outcomes that are unexpected from the point of view of the theory nevertheless happen. If unexpected outcomes do occur, it means that the theory is, at best, incomplete. It will have to be developed further so that it can account for the previously unexpected outcome, or it will have to be replaced by a better theory.
An advantage of the
Cross-Sectional Design is that it permits you to obtain useful developmental data in a relatively short period of time. You do not have to follow the same participant for 10 years in order to assess age-related changes in behavior. Generation effects are a major problem when you use a cross-sectional design to evaluate age-related changes in behavior of participants of quite disparate ages. The design may be more appropriate when the participants are closer in age.
In
Longitudinal Design, a single group of participants is followed over some time period. For example, you could obtain a group of participants and give them cognitive & behavioral tests at 10-year intervals over a 50-year span. In one respect, the longitudinal design circumvents the problem of generation effects that plagues cross-sectional designs. Because you are studying people from the same age group, you need not worry about generational effects when drawing conclusions about that group.
A disadvantage of the cross-sectional and longitudinal designs is their relative inability to determine whether factors other than age are influencing the observed changes in behavior. The
Cohort-Sequential Design, described by Schaie (1965), combines the two developmental designs and lets you evaluate the degree of contribution made by factors such as generation effects. However, the cohort-sequential design does not eliminate generation effects. It simply lets you detect them and consider them in interpreting your data.
Thanks for the enlightenment. Good one