Business Research (e-book)
This introductory text situates business research within the framework of scientific discipline and methodology. While many texts overlook the fundamental scientific principles behind empirical business research, this book ensures students comprehend the rationale behind each research method they apply. It assumes no prior experience with the research process, statistical analysis, or proposal writing. The focus is on practical application, guiding students through the core elements of business research, including proposal development and conducting empirical studies. Each chapter concludes with case study exercises designed to reinforce and expand the learner's grasp of the material.
Content
Chapter 1: Methods of business research: an introduction
• Business research defined
• Systematic research versus common sense
• The nature of business and management research
• Types of business research strategies
• Qualitative and quantitative approaches
• Scientific and non-scientific approaches
• Ethical issues in business research
Chapter 2: The research process: how business research is conducted
• Research ideas
• The mechanics of doing a literature review
• Research designs • Data collection methods
• Levels of measurement • Measurement scales
• Sampling
• Sample size
Chapter 3: Techniques for data analysis in business research
• Basic elements of data analysis
• The number of groups in the study
• Data preparation
• Data presentation
• Measures of central tendency: mean, median and mode
• The measurement of variability: variance and standard deviation
• Measures of location
• Graphical representation of data
• measures of relationship (correlation and regression)
• Inferential statistics
• Statistical testing procedures
• Tests of significance
• Some common non-parametric methods
• Further multivariate statistical approaches
• Concluding remarks on statistical tests and their uses
• The use of qualitative data in research
Chapter 4: Communicating business research methods
• The research proposal
• Communicating research results
• The research report
• Focus on research report writing
• Formal referencing in reports and dissertations
• Some style rules for report and dissertation writing
• Assessment criteria for dissertations
Interest / Benefit to
- Undergraduate students who have to acquire an understanding of the nature of scientific research in business studies and the business research process itself
- Postgraduate students, such as first year MBA students, who are required to conduct research and produce a written dissertation as part of the curriculum
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