Exploring Pilot Study as a neglected part of Research Process in Quantitative Survey Research

Abstract

Every research activity wants to achieve its goals. Research serves as a process for acquiring new knowledge and expanding existing knowledge. Therefore, pilot study is part of the research process in management sciences. Pilot study is the pre-investigation of the identified problem using the research instrument administered to a small sample size. The paper explored pilot study in management sciences quantitative survey research as a neglected part of research process. Qualitative research approach was adopted with exploratory research design. The research instrument was observation to gather the opinions of the past studies on the subject matter and qualitative content analysis was used to establish a position. The study identified the purpose of pilot study, the limitations of pilot study and develop eight (8) steps or stages involved in conducting pilot study in the field of management sciences. The paper therefore concluded that the developed eight steps or stages are fundamental to appropriate conduct of pilot study in management sciences field. Also, 10% of the determined sample size for the main study is more appropriate for pilot study sample size. The paper is restricted to survey research and pilot study is the focus without capturing other areas of research designs. The paper will be useful to present and prospective researchers in the field of management sciences on the importance of pilot study. The paper demonstrated the purpose, limitations and steps in conducting pilot study which is lack in most past literature