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Research skillsLecture 1, 11.04.2022
Deductive approach (start from theory). Start from practice (theory supported inductive approach).
Deductive: theory, hypothesis, observation, confirmation. Inductive: observation, pattern,
proposition, theory. So with deductive, you test the theory. With inductive, you develop a theory.
Inductive is easier when you’re with a company. You are expected to contribute to existing theory.
You will not only use empirical data to look for patterns, but you will also study literature about
equivalent /similar problems already studied by other SCM researchers.
It’s often with case studies (qualitative + quantitative data).
Steps in a theory supported inductive research project:
1. Problem definition
2. Research design
3. Building a theoretical framework
4. Data collection
5. Data analysis – results
6. Solutions (recommendations)
7. External validity
What’s a good research topic?
Good match between you and your research topic (knowledge, skills, personal preferences,
MSC student of a specific MSc program).
It fits with standards Uvt
Research objectives are clear
Research questions are clear
Relevant literature available
Resources are available (data, time, etc.)
It is relevant
Leads to fresh insights
Whatever the outcome, the project is useful
Companies often come with a poor problem description, or is just a task (not a research topic).
A research proposal describes what you will research, why this is interesting and relevant, how you
will conduct your research, and why this is the adequate way to conduct your research.
Lecture 1
Deductive research is most commonly associated with quantitative research like: use academic
literature to define a problem and to define hypotheses collect data to test the hypotheses
(quantitative data and methods) test the hypotheses. You study the average behaviour of a large
population. For instance: companies in a certain industry, employees in a large company.
For your master thesis, you do theory supported
inductive research. You need to contribute to
existing theory. You use both empirical data and
literature about similar problems that are already
studied.
1
, Theory supported inductive research is most commonly associated with case study research. So,
define a problem study literature about similar problems already investigated use literature to
collect relevant data (qualitative and quantitative + methods) data collection and analysis data
and literature is used to understand the problem and draw conclusions and give recommendations.
You study a specific situation (no average behaviour).
This lecture is specifically about problem definition. Feasibility is and important issue: do you have
access to the data you need, do you have enough time, are the costs reasonable?
A research proposal describes what you will research, why this is interesting and relevant, how you
will conduct your research, why this is the adequate way to conduct your research. A research
proposal is important to structure and guide your research + to evaluate the feasibility of your
research. This is how it should be structured:
Lecture 2
The academic literature (theory) provides the research concept validity. Within the research, you
need to make sure that there’s reliability. The data collection methods, sampling and reliability needs
to come from the real business problem to the research. The research needs to provide internal
validity to the real business problem. You can also provide external validity: from research to other
cases than the real business problem AND external validity from research back to academic
literature.
First, you need the problem identification
- WHAT is the topic of your research (the problem of the organization)
- WHY is this topic interesting: motivation of empirical relevance / urgency (why important to the
organization) and motivation of theoretical relevance (less important, more important in
deductive studies)
- What is the main objective to achieve what does the organization want
- Connection to theory via conceptual model.
So the first step to take is the description of the empirical problem, after which you do the
conceptualization (connection to the theory). That leads to the conceptual model. The description of
the empirical problem should be the story in the ‘language of the company’. It should be told
systematic from broad to narrow (market, organization, department …). Introduction should cover
40%, problem 60%.
you should also describe the company and the process you want to research.
Describe symptoms of the problem (how can the company see that there is a problem). Also there
should be one clear objective. In the empirical problem there should be (almost) no literature study.
2
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