BUSINESS RESEARCH

OCTOBER 3, 2020
Introduction to Business Research
Business Research
 A systematic Inquiry whose objective is to provide information to solve managerial
problems.
Why Study Research?
 Research provides you with the knowledge and skills needed for the fast-paced decision-
making environment.
Why Managers need Better Information?
 Global and domestic competition is more dynamic.
 Organizations are increasingly practicing Data Mining and Data Warehousing.
The Value of Acquiring Research Skills
 To gather more information before selecting a course of action.
 To do a high-level research study.
 To understand research design.
 To evaluate and resolve a current management dilemma.
 To establish a career as a research specialist.
Types of Studies used to do Research
1. Reporting
2. Descriptive
3. Explanatory
4. Predictive
Different Styles of Research
1. Applied Research
2. Pure Research/Basic Research
What is Good Research?
- Following the standards of the scientific method.
 Purpose clearly defined.
 Research process detailed.
 Research design thoroughly planned.
 Limitations frankly revealed.
 High ethical standards applied
 Adequate analysis for decision-makers’ needs.
 Findings presented unambiguously.
 Conclusions justified.
 Researcher’s experience reflected.
The Manager-Researcher Relationship
1. Manager’s obligations
 Specify problems
 Provide adequate background information.
 Access to company information gatekeepers.
2. Researcher’s obligations
 Develop a creative research design.
 Provide answers to important business questions.
Manager-Researcher Conflicts
 Management’s limited exposure to research.
 Manager sees researcher as threat to personal status.
 Researcher has to consider corporate culture and political situations.
 Researcher’s isolation from managers.
When Research should be Avoided?
 When information cannot be applied to a critical managerial decision.
 When managerial decision involves little risk.
 When management has insufficient resources to conduct a study.
 When the cost of the study outweighs the level of risk of the decision.

METHODS OF RESEARCH
Why do Business Research?
 Reasons for conducting business research include:
 There is a gap in the literature.
 There is inconsistency amongst studies.
 There are unresolved issues.
 Societal development prompts a research question.
 To understand a topic or phenomena better.
Influences on Business Research

Business Research in Context

- The following factors affect the context within which research takes place:
 Academic theories
 Existing knowledge
 Researcher’s assumptions and views regarding the research process.
 Researcher’s assumptions regarding the nature of social phenomena.
 Quality criteria used to evaluate research.
 Values of research community.
 Political context of research study.
 Training and personal researcher values.
The Role of Theory in Research
 Which comes first, theory or research?
- Should we examine a problem, and then try to work out how it is caused, and how it might be
solved? – Inductive Reasoning
OR
- Should we take a generally accepted theory of how things work and find evidence for it in
the problem we examine? – Deductive Reasoning
Relevance of Research to Practice
 An applied field understanding organizations and solving problems?
 Has management research lost touch with the concerns of practitioners (Tranfield and
Starkey, 1998)?
 A resource for managers to make inform decisions based on scientific evidence (Rousseau,
2006:256)?
 Can dynamic and changing nature of organizations challenge generally applicable best
practices (Reay, et al, 2009)?
Evidence-based Management
 Evidence-based management is the systematic use of the best available evidence to improve
management practice (Reay, Berta and Kohn 2009).
 The concept was developed to reduce variation in (clinical) practice.
 Information comes, in part, from the expertise and judgement of managers working in
individual firms.

Knowledge is ‘produced’ in Two Modes

Mode 1 Mode 2
Traditional, university-based Involves academics, policy-makers, and
practitioners
Academic audience Trans-disciplinary
Pure and applied Related to context (and therefore not easily
 replicated)
Built upon existing knowledge
More linear process Less linear process
Limited emphasis on dissemination More emphasis on dissemination and
exploitation
The Process of Business Research
1. Literature Review
 What is already known about the topic?
 What concepts and theories have been applied to it?
 What research methods have been applied in studying it?
 What controversies exist about the topic and about how it is studied?
 What clashes of evidence (if any) exist?
 Who are the key contributors to research on the topic?
2. Concepts and Theories
 Concepts are the way that we make sense of the social world.
 Concepts are labels that we give to aspects of the social world that seem to have significant
common features.
 Choice between deductive and inductive approaches
3. Research Questions
- Types of research question (Denscombe, 2010)
 Predicting an outcome (does y happen under circumstances a and b?)
 Explaining causes and consequences of a phenomenon (is y affected by x or is y a
consequence of x?)
 Evaluating a phenomenon (does y exhibit the benefits that it is claimed to have?)
 Describing a phenomenon (what is y like or what forms does y assume?)
 Developing good practice (how can we improve y?)
 Empowerment (how can we enhance the lives of those we research?)
4. Sampling
 E.g. in survey research, or case study research.

5. Data Collection
 E.g. Structured interview or participant observation.
6. Data Analysis
 Transcriptions, coding, thematic analysis, secondary analysis.
7. Writing Up
 Generally, to include the literature review, research methods, results, discussion, and
conclusion.
The Messiness of Business Research
 The process of business research is not always so linear in reality – it can be much messier.
 Flexibility – is important as you navigate the research process.
 Your own research community (i.e. classmates and/or supervisor, etc) is important to support
you through the process.
Key Points
 Business research and business research methods are embedded in wider contextual factors.
 Business research practice comprises elements that are common to all (or at least most) forms
of business research.
 Attention to these steps is what distinguishes academic business research from other kinds of
business research, such as market research conducted by private companies.
 Although we can attempt to formulate general principles for conducting business research,
we must recognize that things do not always go entirely to plan.
Business Research?
 Cooper and Schindler (2001, p. 15): “A systematic enquiry that provides information to
guide business decisions.”
 Zikmund (1997, p.6): “The systematic and objective process of gathering, recording,
analyzing data for aid in making business decisions.”
 Research is systematic, disciplined and focused on gathering information to understand a
phenomenon, answer questions or solve research problems.
Pure vs. Aplied Research
1. Pure Research – also known as basic research. Research that is done for the sake of
knowledge or to develop and extend understanding of specific phenomena within a field of
study. There is no immediate managerial decisions and implications to be made.
2. Applied Research – has a practical problem-solving emphasis. Directed much more to
making immediate managerial decisions.

Purpose of Research
1. Reporting – the most elementary level to provide an account or summation of some data or
to generate some statistics.
2. Descriptive – to discover or verify answers to the questions who, what, when, where, and,
sometimes, how. Does not have the potential for drawing powerful inferences.
3. Explanatory – goes beyond description and attempts to explain the reasons for the
phenomenon that the descriptive study only observed. Grounded in theory and theory is
 created to answer why and how questions. Provide a plausible explanation for an event after
it has happened.
4. Predictive – rooted in theory as explanation to predict when and in what situations the event
will occur.
What is a Good Research? (Cooper & Schindler, 2001, pp.16-19)
 Purpose clearly defined
 Research process detailed
 Research design thoroughly planned
 High ethical standards applied
 Limitations frankly revealed
 Adequate analysis
 Findings presented unambiguously
 Conclusions justified
 Researcher’s experience reflected
 Ethics in Business Research
Ethical Issues at all Stages of the Research Process

Ethical Treatment of Participants

 Explain study benefits
 Explain participant rights and protections
 Obtain informed consent
Components of Informed Consent
 Identify researchers
 Describe survey topic
 Describe target sample
 Identify sponsor
 Describe purpose of research
 Promise anonymity and confidentiality
 Give “good-faith” estimate of required time commitment
 State participation is voluntary
 State item non-response is acceptable
 Ask for permission
Characteristics of Informed Consent
 Competence
 Knowledge
 Voluntary
 Informed

Ethical Responsibilities
- Special guidelines apply to children.
 Informed consent means parental approval.
Deception
 Disguising non-research activities
 Camouflaging true research objectives
Debriefing
 Explain any deception
 Describe purpose
 Share results
 Provide follow-up
Participant Confidentiality
 Obtain signed nondisclosure.
 Non-disclosure of data subsets.
 Minimize instruments requiring ID.
 Reveal only with written consent.
 Restrict access to ID.
Right to Privacy
 Right to refuse
 Prior permission to interview
 Limit time required
The U.S. Safe Harbor Agreement
 Notice
 Choice
 Access
 Security
 Onward Transfer
 Data Integrity
 Enforcement
Confidentiality
 Sponsor Nondisclosure
 Purpose Nondisclosure
 Findings Nondisclosure
What to do if Coerced?
 Educate on purpose
 Emphasize fact-finding role
 Explain problems
 Terminate relationship
Effective Codes of Ethics
 Enforceable
 Regulate
 Specify Behavior
 Protect
Key Terms
Code of ethics Nondisclosure
- Findings
- Purpose
- Sponsor
Confidentiality Right to privacy
Debriefing Right to quality
Deception Right to safety
Ethics
Informed consent