Chapter 1

1. 3 characteristics of research:
There is a clear purpose: to find things out
Data are collected systematically
Date are interpreted systematically
Why systematically?
That suggests that research is based on logical relationships and not just beliefs.
METHODS refer to techniques and procedures used to obtain and analyze data.
METHODOLOGY refers to the theory of how research should be undertaken.
2. Basic and applied research

Basic research

Purpose

Context

o
o
o

Applied research

Expand knowledge and processes of

business and management
Results in universal principles relating
to the process and its relationship to
outcomes
Finding of significance and value to
society in general

Undertaken by people based in

universities
Choice of topic and objectives
determined by the researcher
Flexible timescales

o
o

3. The research process

Formulating and clarifying a topic

Reviewing the literature
Understanding research philosophies and approaches
Designing the research
Negotiating access and research ethics
Collecting the data
Analyzing the data
Writing report
Submitting report and give presentation

Improve understanding of par

business or management prob
Results in solution to problem
New knowledge limited to pro
Finding of practical relevance
value to manager in organizat

Undertaken by people based i

variety of setting ,including
organizations and universities
Objectives negotiated with
originator
Tight timescales

Chapter 2
1. Generating & Refining Ideas
Rational thinking
Examining your own strengths and interests
Looking at past project titles
Discussion
Searching the literature
Scanning the media
Creative thinking
Keeping a notebook of ideas
Exploring personal preferences using past projects
Relevance trees
Brainstorming--The Delphi technique
Brainstorming
Refer to as a problem-solving technique and be used to generate and refine research
ideas.
1. Define your problem
2. Ask for suggestions, relating to the problem
3. Record all suggestions, observing the following rules.
- No suggestion should be criticized or evaluated in any way before all ideas
have been considered.
- All suggestions, however wild, should be recorded and considered.
- As many suggestions as possible should be recorded.
4. Review all the suggestions and explore what is meant by each
5. Analyse the list of questions and decide which appeal to you most as research
ideas and why

2. Delphi technique is an additional approach that our students have found

particularly useful in refining their research ideas
Delphi technique is the tool to refining the research ideas, we can use a group of
people to generate and choose more specific research ideas. It is useful in moulding
groups into a cohesive whole.
Processes!!!!
3. SMART test

Specific what you want to achieve from the research

Measurable - how do you measure whether you have achieved your objectives
Achievable - is it possible to achieve it, no matter the constraints
Realistic - will you have time enough to complete your research
Timely - will you have time to achieve everything in the time frame you have
set?
Why we should set up objectives through smart test?
For example smart objective : we have to make marketing plan for XXX company
in three months. According to timely
4. The purpose of the research proposal

Organising your ideas

Structuring your research process
Quality control during research process
Convincing your audience of the feasibility of your plan
Contracting with your client

5. Criteria for evaluating research proposals

The extent to which the components of the proposal fit together

The viability of the proposal
The absence of preconceived ideas

6. from idea to product [or theory]

Idea
Research Question
What do you want to find out?
A question forces you to find an answer
Research Objective
What is the result of your research?
A description, analysis, an exploration, explanation
Purpose of the research
What you offer your contractor and what the planned to do with the outcomes
of your research

7.Writing research questions

What is the differences between why and what question?

What, how, how much, when, by whom - questions

Descriptive answer, a description
Why-questions
Explanation, a link, relationship between two variables

Chapter 3
1. The purpose of the critical review

To generate and refine research ideas

Part of your project
Current state of knowledge of the subject
Its limitations
Your subject in a wider contact

Why?
Current opinions about your subject
Recommendations for further research
Avoid repeating work that has already done
Discover and get insight in methods, strategies, approaches that might be
appropriate
2. The content of the critical review

Key academic theories about your subject

Trends
Background of your subject
Show that your knowledge of the subject is up to date

Through clear referencing, enable those reading your project report to find
the original publications you cite.

3. Critical
-

Critique
Critique
Critique
Critique

of
of
of
of

rhetoric
tradition
authority
objectivity

4. Primary, secondary and tertiary literature

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Difference

First occurrence of
a piece of work

Subsequent
publication of
primary literature.

Example

Reports, e-mails

Books,
newspapers,
internet

Increasing level of detail

Tertiary sources
Also called search
tool, are designed
either to help to
locate primary and
secondary literature
or to introduce a
topic.
Indexes,dictionaries

increasing time to publish

5. Planning your literature search strategy

Have clear questions and objectives

Define the parameters of your search
- Language publication -- English
- Publication period -- at least 10 years
- Subject area -- accountancy
- Geographical area -- Europe
- Business sector -- manufacturing
- Literature type reference books
Generate key words
Choose the search engines and databases
Define criteria to select the relevant and useful material discuss your ideas as
widely as possible

7. Evaluating the literature

Assessing relevance and value

Assessing sufficiency

Chapter 4
1. Research philosophy

How do you view the world?

influences the choices of a strategy
There is no better philosophy

2. Pragmatism

Starts with a research question

A practical approach
Integration of different perspectives to collect and interpret data

3. Objectivism Subjectivism

Objectivism: you count, you describe, you portray the reality, phenomena
without judgment.
Subjectivism: your give a meaning, a value to what you count, describe,
portray - understanding the meanings of phenomena.

4. Positivism

You prefer collecting data about an observable reality and search for
regularities and causalities in your data to create law-like generalizations.
You work in a value-free way
You often use a structured methodology to facilitate replication
The emphasis will be quantifiable observations

5. Deduction: testing theory ; theory -----collect data

It involves the development of a theory that is subjected to a rigorous test
-

Deducing a hypothesis from a theory

Expressing the hypothesis in operational terms
Testing this operational hypothesis
Examining the specific outcome of inquiry
If necessary ,modifying the theory in the light of the findings

Start with a theory of hypothesis

[= a testable proposition about the relationship between two or more
concepts or variables]
Testing with data by verifying or falsifying
Modifying the theory [if necessary]
6. Induction: building theory

; collect data -----theory

Collection data about a [given] topic

Structuring, understanding, interpreting data
A cause-effect relation?
Theory [to be tested]

Analyzing data and the result of this analyzing would be formulation of a theory.

Chapter 5
1. Research design: it will be the general plan of how you will go about answering
your research questions
By formulating
the purpose and
the strategy of your research
2. Exploratory studies:

Finding out what is happening

To seek new insights
Ask questions and to assess phenomena in a new light
Clarify understanding of the nature of a problem

Three principal ways of conducting exploratory research:

A search of literature
Interviewing experts in the subject
Conducting focus group interviews

3. Descriptive studies
To portray an accurate profile of persons, events or situations.
What, how, where, how much, how frequent, how large, which aspects, etc..
Often a part of explanatory research
4. Explanatory studies

To establish and to EXPLAIN CAUSAL relationship - correlation - between

variables [parameters]
This happens because of that.

5. Research strategy

Experiment
- Natural sciences [medicine] and psychology
- Testing theories and hypotheses

Survey
- Popular and common strategy
- To answer who, what, where, how much, how many - questions
- Exploratory and descriptive research
- Collecting a large amount of data from a sizable population

Case study
- Studying a phenomenon in its real life context
- Understanding the context
- Using multiple sources
- What and why - questions

Action research
Grounded theory
Ethnography
Archival research

6. Quantitative Qualitative

Quantitative data collection techniques such as questionnaires that generates

numerical data, facts, figures, stats, graphs
Qualitative data collection techniques such as interviews, observations that
produces non-numerical data: stories, pictures, video clips
Quantitative data

Based on meanings derived from

numbers
Collection results in numerical and
standardized data
Analyses conducted through the
use of diagrams and statistics

Qualitative data

Based on meanings expressed

through words
Collection results in nonstandardized data requiring
classification into categories
Analyses conducted through the
use of conceptualization

Triangulation
The use of
different data collection techniques
within one study
to ensure that the data are telling you what you think they are telling you.
Check on validity
7. Time horizons

8.

Cross-sectional study: the study of a particular phenomenon at a particular

time [a snapshot]
E.g. A set of 1000 annual income values for year 1995 for each household
Longitudinal study: is the capacity that it has to study change and
development [a film]
E.g. ?
Credibility of research findings

Reliability: refers to the extent to which your data collection techniques or

analysis procedures will yield consistent findings
Threats to reliability
- Participant error [different moment of the day [week], different picture]
- Participant bias [gives politically correct answers]
- Observer error [different ways of asking questions]
- Observer bias [different interpretations]

Validity: is concerned with whether the findings are really about what they
appear to be about.
Threats to validity
- History: what happened before the measurement [e.g. product recall]
- Mortality: participants dropping out of study
- Testing:
- Instrumentation
- Maturation
- Ambiguity about causal direction

9. Generalizabilityexternal validity

Are research findings applicable to other research settings, e.g. other

organisations?
Is it possible to generalise a theory or outcome to other members [elements]
of the population?

Logic leaps and false assumptions

Have 1 chosen the right population?

Identification of the research population
Does my data collection method produce valid data?
Data collection
Is the way of interpreting data logical, transparent, and accurate?
Data interpretation
Do my conclusions stand up to a critical study?
Development of conclusions

Chapter 6
1. Different forms of access

Physical access = gaining entry to an organisation AND to intended

participants
Cognitive access = to get as close as possible to find out valid and reliable
data
Continuing access = to carry out further parts of your research or do it in
other parts of the organisation

2. Strategies to gain access

Ensuing familiarity with and understanding of the organisation

Allowing yourself sufficient time
Use existing and developing new contacts
Be clear about the purpose and type of access
Overcoming organisational concerns
Highlight benefits for the organisation
Use suitable language
Facilitate replies
Establish credibility
Developing access incrementally

3. Research ethics
Ethics: Norms and standards of behaviour that guide moral choices about our
behaviour and out relationship with others
-

The appropriateness of your behaviour in relation to the rights of those who

become the subject of your work, or are affected by it.
Carrying out the whole research process [all stages!!] in a responsible way

Research ethics issues

Privacy of participants
Voluntary nature of participation, the right to withdraw
Permission and possible misleading of participants
Maintenance of confidentiality of data provides
Anonymity
Reactions of participants about the way you seek to collect data
[embarrassment, stress, discomfort]
Effects on participants of the way you use, analyse, report you data
Behaviour and objectivity

4. Participant Information Sheet

Inform intended participants about:
The nature of the research
The requirements of taking part
The implications of taking part and the participants rights
The use of data collected and the way in which it will be reported
Whom to contact if there are any questions about the research

Chapter 8
1. Secondary Data---- Descriptive & Explanatory research
already been collected, [processed] , stored
by others
for some other purposes
Types of secondary data:

Quantitative data: numeric data, facts figures

Qualitative data: opinions, case studies, observations, stories, pictures
Raw data [not processed]
Compiled data [processed, selected, summarized by others]

How to find secondary data:

Two interlinked stages:
Establish that the data you want are available
Locate the precise data you require
2. Advantage and disadvantage
Advantages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

May have fewer resource requirements

Unobtrusive
Longitudinal studies may be feasible
Can provide comparative and contextual data
Can result in unforeseen discoveries
Permanence of data

Disadvantages:
1.
2.
3.

May be collected for a purpose that dose not match your need
Access may be difficult or costly
Aggregations and definitions may be unsuitable

3. Evaluating secondary data sources

The data will enable you to answer your research question and to meet your
objectives
Benefits are greater than the costs
You will be allowed access to the data
Overall suitability
- Measurement validity
- Coverage and unmeasured variables
Precise suitability
- Reliability and validity
- Measurement bias
Costs and benefits
- The final criterion for assessing secondary data is the comparison of
the costs of acquiring them with the benefits they will bring.