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Summary Business Research Methods
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This is the summary of chapter 1 - 14 + 18 for the 4th Edition of the book Business Research Methods.
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Samenvatting Business Research Methods, ISBN: 9780077157487 Fourth Edition Boris Blumberg
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InhoudChapter 2 ...........................................................................................................................................2
Chapter 3 .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Chapter 4.......................................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 5 ......................................................................................................................................... 12
Chapter 6......................................................................................................................................... 17
Chapter 7 ......................................................................................................................................... 23
Chapter 8......................................................................................................................................... 30
Chapter 9......................................................................................................................................... 33
Chapter 10 ....................................................................................................................................... 36
Chapter 11 ........................................................................................................................................39
Chapter 12....................................................................................................................................... 40
Chapter 13 ....................................................................................................................................... 44
Chapter 14 .......................................................................................................................................50
, Chapter 2
Management research question hierarchy:
1. Research dilemma: What symptoms cause management concern? What
environmental stimuli raise the researcher’s or manager’s interest?
2. Management question: How can management eliminate the negative symptoms?
How can management capitalize fully on an opportunity?
3. Research questions: What plausible courses of action are available to management to
correct the problem or take advantage of the opportunity, and which should be
considered?
4. Investigative questions: What does the manager need to know to choose the best
alternative from the available courses of action?
5. Measurements questions: What should be asked or observed to obtain the
information the manager needs?
6. Decision: What is the recommended course of action, given the research findings?
Management research question hierarchy:
1. Discover research dilemma (This may be either a problem or an opportunity. At this
stage you may even have identified symptoms rather than problems or opportunities).
, 1A. Exploration: At this stage you review published sources and interview information
gatekeepers to understand the true management dilemma, not just its symptoms.
2. Define management question ( Using collected exploratory information, you word
the dilemma or the correction of the symptom in question form, usually starting with
‘how can the organization ….?’.
2A. Exploration: the purpose of this stage is to clarify the possible management actions
that might be taken to solve the management dilemma. This stage usually involves
interviews with information gatekeepers, brainstorming with experts, and other qualitative
research techniques.
3. Define research question(s): Several research questions may be formulated at this
stage. Each question Is an alternative action that management might take to solve the
management dilemma. Usually the most plausible action, or the one that offers the
greatest gain using the fewest resources, is researched first.
Example on page 49
You must move from management/research dilemma to management question in order
to proceed with the research process.
Management question: the management dilemma restated in question format; categorizes as
‘choice of objectives’, ‘generation and evaluation of solutions’, or ‘trouble-shooting or control
of a situation’.
You can categorize the management question as followed:
- Choice of purpose or objectives;
o General question is: ‘what do we want to achieve?’.
o Example: ‘what goals should MetalWorks Corporation try to achieve in its next
round of labour negotiations?’.
- Generation and evaluation of solutions;
o General question is: ‘How can we achieve the ends we seek?’.
o Example: ‘How can we achieve our five-year goal of doubled sales and net
profit?’.
- Troubleshooting or control situation.
o This class includes questions such as, ‘Why does our department incur the
highest costs?’.
Exploration: The process of collecting information to formulate or refine management,
research, investigative, or measurement questions; loosely structures studies that discover
future research tasks, including developing concepts, establishing priorities, developing
operational definitions, and improving research design; a phase of a research project where the
researcher expands understanding of the research dilemma, looks for ways other have
addressed and/or solved problems similar to the research dilemma or research question, and
gathers background information on the topic to refine the research question.
Data: facts collected from respondents or observations plus published information;
categorized as primary and secondary.
Research question: The choice hypothesis that best states the objective of the research; the
answer to this question provides the desired information necessary to make a decision with
respect to the research dilemma.
Fine-tuning the research question, in one of two ways:
1. It is apparent that the question has been answered and the process is finished;
, 2. A different question from that originally addressed has become apparent.
In addition to fine-tuning the original question, other research question-related activities
should be addressed in this phase in order to enhance the progress of the project. These are as
follows:
1. Examine the concepts and constructs to be used in the study. Are they defined
satisfactorily? Have operational definitions been employed where appropriate?
2. Review the research questions with the intent of breaking them down into specific
second- and third- level questions.
3. If hypotheses are used, ensure that they meet the quality criteria mentioned in the
preceding chapter.
4. Determine what evidence must be collected to answer the various questions and
hypotheses.
5. Set the scope of the study by stating what is not part of the research question. This will
establish a boundary that will help to separate contiguous problems from the primary
objective.
Investigative questions: these questions reveal the specific pieces of information that one
needs to know in order to answer the research question. To formulate them, the researcher
takes a general research question and breaks it into more specific questions about which to
gather data. This ‘fractionating’ process can continue down through several levels of increasing
specificity.
Measurement questions: should be outlined by completion of the project-planning
activities, but usually await pilot testing for refinement. There are two types of measurement
question:
1. Pre-designed or pre-tested questions; → are those that have been formulated and
tested by previous researchers, are recorded in the literature, and may be applied
literally or adapted to the project at hand.
2. Custom-designed questions. → tailored to the investigative questions.
Research dilemma: a symptom of a problem or an early indication of an opportunity. A
problem or opportunity that requires a decision based on a systematic inquiry. While a
management dilemma refers to a problem or opportunity managers face, research dilemma
can include issues beyond the interest of managers, e.g. societal issues or academic puzzles.
Research design: is the blueprint for fulfilling objectives and answering questions. Selecting a
design may be complicated by the availability of a large variety of methods, techniques,
procedures, protocols and sampling pans.
Sample: part of the target population, carefully selected to represent that population. When
researchers undertake sampling studies, they are interested in estimating one or more
population values and/or testing one or more statistical hypotheses.
Pilot testing: a trial collection of data to detect weaknesses in design and instrumentation and
provide proxy data for selection of a probability sample.
Data analysis: Editing and reducing accumulated data to a manageable size, developing
summaries, looking for patterns, and applying statistical techniques.
At a minimum, a research report should contain the following:
- An executive summary consisting of a synopsis of the problem, findings and
recommendations;
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