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Complete summary of book 'Research methods in business studies' by Ghauri, Gronhuag & Strange
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Research skillsLecture 1. Section 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6 and 2.8 & Ch.3 (section 3.4 is excluded)
Chapter 2. Research in business studies
2.1
Explain what knowledge is, how we acquire it, and how we differentiate between ‘knowledge’ and
‘mere opinion’.
The theory of knowledge is called epistemology (knowledge & theory and explanation).
Is the source and the limit and the nature of knowledge.
Ontology: the nature of reality.
Scepticism: you cannot be certain that an individual knows what he claims to know.
Methods of acquiring knowledge and explanations take a prominent role in the nature of knowledge
development.
Knowledge has three components: justification, truth and belief.
‘a priori’ knowledge: knowledge based on sense.
‘a posteriori’ knowledge: knowledge based on experience (knowledge acquired after experience).
2.2
Business these days are doing systematic research to handle their day-today activities.
They are beginning to develop a strategic monitoring program to identify and understand
competitors’ strengths, weaknesses and overall business strategies.
The fundamental purpose of research: to improve social life.
The business purpose of research: to understand how and why things happen.
2.3
Managerial decision making or problem solving should lead to better decisions and results than those
decisions made exclusively through intuition or personal likes and dislikes.
Trans-disciplinarity in research: the boundaries of a single contributing discipline can be crossed. The
production of knowledge is thus not restricted to academic research.
Difference researcher and observer is: observations made by the researcher should be systematic,
arguable and challengeable. The observer has to explain and convince the reader of the purpose and
methods of observation so that the reader can make a judgement about the validity of the results.
Common sense: influenced by our background, education and beliefs (is thus the most uncommon
thing).
The difference between a scientific observation and a layperson’s observation is that scientific
research is done systematically and is based on logic and not beliefs: therefore we stress a logical
relationship between cause and effect.
Belief, science and common sense differ in several ways:
, 1. Laypersons use concepts and theories loosely. They often accept explanations that fit easily
with their beliefs and values. Scientists, they believe that the concepts they are using are
human-made terms that may or may not exhibit a close relation to reality.
2. Laypersons often select theories and test hypotheses, but their evidence comes from their
own hypotheses. Scientists, test their assumptions and hypotheses systematically and tend
to be more careful in their selection and drawing of conclusions.
3. Laypersons do not try to control external influences and they accept those assumptions that
are consistent with their preconceived biases. Scientists are constantly looking for relations
among different phenomena. They try to study and control these relations.
4. Laypersons often believe in metaphysical explanations (some people are poor because God
wants them to be poor). Scientists, they do not accept that. They are concerned with things
that can be observed and studied. And therefore they can be falsified.
2.5
Induction: based on empirical evidence (draw conclusions from our empirical observations > Mostly
qualitative research). Observing facts to generate a theory.
Deduction: based on logic (draw conclusions through logical reasoning > often quantitative research).
Look at the consequences of the theory.
The difference is that in induction facts acquired through observations lead us to theories and
hypotheses, while with deduction we accept or reject these theories and hypotheses.
Abduction: refers to a theoretical interpretation of an empirical problem than can lead to
development of new theories. It is a continuous process that takes place in all phases of the research
process where the researcher’s observations are confronted with theoretical assumptions and
generate a new view of the phenomenon.
Brings flexibility and allows to direct research towards theoretical insights and learning.
2.6
When doing research, interactions between theory and data take
place.
When you get an unexpected finding during a survey, it shows that
the hypothesis (theory) may be wrong and thus forces the
researcher to rethink prior belief.
2.8
Researchers coming after us, working on the same topic, will start where we left off. When classifying
their problem they will review earlier knowledge, including our study.
, Chapter 3. The research process
3.1
Empirical measurements relate to theoretical,
unobservable constructs (concepts).
3.2
All research requires activities at the conceptual level (theoretical). Bypassing such activities and
jumping to the ‘raw empirical data’ is seldom very successful.
3.3
Research is done to create new insights.
Knowledge can be classified in various ways:
o Theories/models
o Concepts
o Methods/techniques
o Facts
Any research should have an intended contribution, that is to bring or add something new.
3.5
Concepts: are the building blocks of any theory or model.
Cost, income, market share and business strategy are examples of common concepts in business and
management disciplines.
o The foundation of communication
o Introduce a perspective
o Means of classification and generalization
o Serve as components of theories (models) and thus of explanations and predictions
Concepts are the most critical element in any theory because they direct what is captured.
Concept of market: all the potential customers sharing a need or want who might be willing and able
to engage in exchange to satisfy that need or want.
Concept of industry: the group of firms producing products that are close substitutes for each other.
Concepts should:
o Point out unique attributes or qualities of whatever is defined.
o Not be circular, must not contain any part of the thing being defined.
o Be stated positively
o Use clear terms
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