Course Title: Research Methodology
Course Code: MGT-701
Credit Hours: 3 + 0
Course Instructor:
Prerequisites: Business Research Methods
COURSE DESCRIPTION/OBJECTIVES:
This course develops an understanding of the importance of research in Management
Sciences.
It provides training and insight in an organized process for conducting inquiry
into the issues related to business, economics, management, finance, marketing
and leadership.
This course provides students with the knowledge and skills which they need
to solve complex problems and help them in effective decision making,
irrespective of the nature of their area of special interest in the field of
management sciences.
The focus of the course at our institution is on ‘doing’ rather than ‘reading’
research methods.
In every lecture, class participation is required in terms of their progress made in the
topics of their interest. The instructor builds critical and analytical skills in the
students and enables them to produce publishable research paper or at least
sound research proposal of 20-30 pages through motivations, guidance and
practical examples of his own research work which is internationally recognized.
INTENDED COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, the students will be able to:
Use digital library and conduct hands on research.
Understand the importance of literature and use of literature review for collecting
relevant and important information to start research.
Learn how to identify variables and create relationship among variables. The students
will be able to understand about research methodology.
RECOMMENDED TEXT BOOK
a) Sekaran, U. (2010) Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach
(4thedition), John Wiley & Sons (Asia).
REFERENCE BOOKS
a) Donald, K. C, and Pamela, S. S. (2007) Business Research Methods (9thedition) Tata
McGraw Hill, India.
b) Mark, S, and Philip, L. (2006) Research Methods for Business Students Adrian
Thornhill, Perason Education
c) Jennifer Mason, Quality Researching, 2nd Edition
ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT WITH WEIGHTS
S.NO Items Marks
1. MidTerm Exam 30
2. End Term Exam 50
3. Internal Evaluation Breakdown
Quiz(s) 10
Assignements(s) 5
Class Participation 5
Presentations
Case Discussion
LabWork/Practical Project
AnyOther
Total 20 20
Grand Total 100
COURSE CONTENT
Week Lecture TOPICS TO Status Mode of
BE COVERED Teaching
Introduction to Business Covered
research: What is
business research?
Various aspect of
definition.
Types of research, Pure Covered
research, Applied
research. Management
and research. Scope of
1 research, scope of
research in business. In
house research centre
and outsourcing
research. Research
through digital library,
download a research
paper from digital
library, read it and
submit.
2. Scientific Business Covered
Research. Scientific
investigation, Hallmarks
of scientific research,
the Building blocks of
scientific research,
research concepts
the hypothetico research Covered
methods, induction and
deduction methods
inbusiness research,
Other types of research;
case study etc.
Review of Literature; Covered
Importance of literature
review. What are the
major components of
literature review?
3.
Why literature review is Covered
essential for research
and research scholars?
What do you get out of
literature review?
4. The Research Process I: Covered
The research process for
applied and basic
research, Broad problem
area, Preliminary data
collection, Background
of information about
organization,
Perceptions, Attitudes,
and behavioral
responses
Literature survey, Covered
Problem definition, and
Managerial
implications. Search
through various broad
areas as provided by
instructor, Make a
tentative list of your
topics, discuss these
with instructor. Then
select the final topic
with consultation of
instructor. Students will
work on those and write
a proposa
5. The Research Process Covered
II: The need for a
theoretical framework,
Variables and types of
variables, Moderating
and intervening
variables, The concepts
of the theoretical
framework.
Hypothesis Covered
development: definition
of hypothesis, Statement
of hypotheses, and
hypothesis testing with
qualitative research.
Further research will
undergo on the selected
topics, And then after
gaining information
students will work on to
proceed to write
introduction section of
the proposal.
The Research Process Covered
III: The research design,
The purpose of the
study: Exploratory and
descriptive research,
Hypothesis testing, case
study analysis,
exploratory study,
descriptive study.
section will be further
refined as per discussion
6.
Types of investigation: Covered
Causal versus Co-
relational, Study
setting: Contrived and
non-contrived. Time
horizon: Cross-
sectional versus
Longitudinal studies.
Introduction section will
be discussed with the
instructor.
7. Experimental Designs: Uncovered Zoom Class
The laboratory
experiment control,
Manipulation of the
independent variables,
Controlling the
contaminating
exogenous orNuisance
variables, Internal
validity, external
validity or
generalizability of
Laboratory experiment,
The field experiment,
trade off between
internal and external
validity.
Factors affecting Uncovered Zoom Class
internal validity,
identifying threats to
internal validity.
Students will continue
to work on introduction
section; side by side
students will start
working on literature
review through research
papers. Proposal
introduction will be
finalized by the end of
this week
MID TERM EXAMs
MID TERM BREAK
8. Measurement of Uncovered Zoom Class
Variables: Operational
definitions and scales.
How variables are
measured? Operational
definition, dimensions
and elements, Basic
measuring scales:
Nominal scales,
Ordinal scales, Interval
scales, Ratio scales,
International dimensions
of operational definition
and scaling.
Literature review will be Covered
completed by the end of
10thweek. Introduction
as well as literature
review will be
completed in following
the American
Psychological
Association (APA)
research format.
9 Measurement continued: Uncovered Notes & Slides
Scaling, Reliability and
validity. Rating scales,
Dichotomous scale,
category scale, Likert
scale, semantic
differential scale,
Numerical scale,
Itemized rating scale, Uncovered Notes & Slides
Ranking scales, paired
comparison,
comparative scale,
Goodness of measure,
Item analysis,
Reliability, stability of
measure, Validity,
Content validity,
Criterion related
validity, construct
validity. Contribution
and significance of the
study will be completed.
10 Data Collection Covered
Methods: Sources of
data, Primary sources
of data, Focus
groups, Secondary
sources, data collection
methods,
Part I; Interviewing,
structured and
unstructured interviews,
questioning techniques,
face to face and
telephonic interviews.
Part II: Questionnaires;
personal administered
questionnaires, mail
questionnaires,
guidelines for
questionnaires
Part III: Other Covered
methods of data
collection, review of
the advantage and
disadvantages of
different data
collection methods and
when to use. Issues in
data collection, Ethics in
data collection. In this
week objectives of the
study will be laid down
in line with the research
format. The students
will learn to set crystal
clear and specific
objectives of the study.
11 Sampling: Population Uncovered Notes & Slides
Element, Population
frame, Sample, and
subject. Reasons for
sampling,
representativeness of
sampling, Normality of
distribution, Probability
and non-probability
sampling.
Probability sampling: Uncovered Zoom Class
unstructured or simple
Notes & Slides
random sampling,
restricted or complex
probability sampling,
review of probability
sampling design. Non-
probability sampling,
convenience sampling,
purposive sampling,
review of non-
probability sampling
designs.
12 Data analysis and Uncovered Notes & Slides
interpretation: Getting
data ready for
analysis, coding
categorization, entering
data. Data analysis:
Basic objectives in data
analysis, Feel for the
data, testing goodness of
the data.
Data analysis and Uncovered Notes & Slides
interpretation: Some
preliminary steps,
checking the reliability
of measures, cronbach’s
alpha, obtaining
descriptive statistics,
Inferential Statistics:
Pearson correlation,
hypothesis testing,
overall interpretation
and recommendations to
the CEO or President.
Some Useful Software
Packages: Use of
SPSS software
packages, Visual
Partial Least Square
(VPLS) and Structural
Equation Modeling.
Dead line for the
project: The proposal
submission date
The Research Report: Uncovered Zoom Class
The Research Proposal,
The Report, The written
report, The written
report and its purpose
13. The written report and Uncovered Notes & Slides
its audience,
Characteristics of a
well-written report,
Contents of the research
report
14 Components of the Uncovered Zoom Class
research report: The title
page, Table of contents,
The research proposal
and the authorization
letter, The executive
summary or synopsis,
The introductory
section, the body of the
report, the final part of
the report,
Acknowledgment.
Various sample reports.
Revision and Problem Zoom
Discussion Class
END TERM EXAMS
