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Lecture (week 1-6) summary BRM I
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Lecture notes for BRM I at the VU Amsterdam
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Lecture 1 IntroductionBusiness Research
is a series of well-thought-out and carefully executed activites that enable the manager to
know how organizational problems can be solved, or at least considerably minimized.
What should business researchers do for a good business research?
- They specify the information necessary to address these issues
- They design the method for collecting information
- They manage and implement the data collection process
- They analyze the results
- They communicate the findings and their implications
Why should future managers know about research?
To be able to perform business research
e.g. undertake research yourself to solve the smaller problems you encounter
To be able to steer business research
e.g. interact effectively with researchers/research agencies
To be able to evaluate business research
e.g. to discriminate between good and bad research proposals of researchers/research
agencies
Myths - Researches are NOT:
“There is no need to study business research for a future manager”
“Business research ends up in the bottom drawer”
“Business research is only for the wealthiest organizations”
“Business research is only useful when you have a major decision to make”
“There is just one best way of researching a business problem”
Business research
“A series of well-thought-out and carefully executed activities that enable the manager to
know how organizational problems can be solved, or at least considerable minimized”.
- Business researcher specifies the info necessary to address the issue
- Designs the method for collecting info
- Manages and implements the data collection process
- Analyses the results
- Communicates the findings and their implications
HALLMARKS of scientific research
Purposiveness: knowing “the why” of your research (e.g. dissatisfied employees, weak stock
market, traffic to our website is low)
Rigor: Ensuring a sound theoretical base and methodological design
Testability: being able to test logically developed ideas based on data
Replicability: finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances
Precision & confidence: drawing accurate conclusion with a high degree of confidence
Objectivity: drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
Generalizability: being able to apply research findings in a wide variety of different settings
Parsimony: shaving away unnecessary details, explaining a lot with a little
Research process
,Stage 1: Problem definition; identify problem area, define problem statement
Problem definition through the eyes of manager or researcher
- Manager is more focused on decision problem: A and B have merged. Several
former employees of B have taken an unmotivated attitude and have become less
productive
- Researcher more focused on research problem: To what extent does executive
communication impact the productivity of the former employees of B through
increasing their morale, and does this depend on employee skills?
Stage 2: Research approach development; theoretical framework, hypotheses, and model
theoretical framework consists of:
- Description of all relevant variables and their definitions (motivate why these are important)
- Hypotheses – expected relationships between variables (based on existing theory, testable, and
unambiguous – provide a logical justification based on theory)
- Conceptual model (e.g. a graphical representation – covers all variables and relationships)
Stage 3: Research design development; determine nature of research, measures, sampling..
It details the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure or solve
research problems (two types: exploratory and conclusive design) see below
Stage 4: Field work or data collection; data collection
Stage 5: Data integrity and analysis; data preparation and data analysis
Stage 6: Communicate research findings; data interpretation
EXPLORATORY DESIGN – Qualitative and Quantitvative exploration
a design flexible and evolving approach to understand phenomena that are inherently
difficult to measure. This design is often required when prior theory is absent and an in-depth
understanding is required. Aim: develop new theory. So results bring us new theory.
Qualitative exploration Quantitative exploration
Smaller sample (10 respondents) Larger sample (1000 respondents)
One-to-one interviews (when interaction Group discussion (when interaction helps,
hurts, i.e. by sensitive topics) i.e. when people can build on each others
answers)
In-depth interviews (when detailed answers Broader interviews (when respondents can
are needed, like for complex topics and say what is relevant in less than 10 minutes)
expert respondents)
CONCLUSIVE DESIGN – Descriptive and causal research
a conclusive design is characterized by clearly defined phenomena that can be measured
by means of quantitative data. So well-known theory brings us new results!
Descriptive research: testing the correlation relationship between two or more variables
Causal research: testing the causal relationship between two or more variables
Exploratory vs Conclusive research
,Research design
“A framework or plan for conducting a … research project. It details the procedures
necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure or solve … research problems.”
Define the information needed
Decide on nature of research
Decide on techniques and measurement
Construct and pre-test the research
Decide on sampling process and sample size
Develop a data analysis plan
Lecture 2 Measurement, scales and survey design
Sources of error (do not discuss non-response errors)
, Response errors: error that arises from participants who do respond but who give inaccurate
answers or whose answers are mis-recorded or mis-analyzed.
Response errors
Researcher errors Interviewer errors Respondent errors
Surrogate information Respondent selection Inability
Measurement Questioning Unwillingness
Population definition Recording
Sampling frame Cheating
Data analysis
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