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Research Skills Summary
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Lectures for both the quantitative and qualitative parts are provided. Tutorials are also included for the qualitative part.
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Research Skills325086-M-6
2021/2022
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
Lecture 1 - Research process and literature review revisited
Chapter 2 - Research in business studies
Research Philosophies
● Ontology and epistemology together form research philosophies
● Ontology is concerned with the nature of reality
○ Scientists take an ontological position: is reality affected by the actions of the researcher
or not?
○ The positivist position maintains that reality exists and can be measured
● Epistemology is the theory of knowledge
○ Knowledge should have three components: justification, truth and belief
○ Knowledge is a justified true belief
○ Post modernism maintains that truth depends on contextual factors
Knowledge and common sense
● Common sense is the belief of a group of people about a certain thing
○ Knowledge based on sense is called “a priory” knowledge
○ Knowledge based on experience is called “a posteriori” knowledge
● When we do research, we work systematically and learn critically to analyze issues/matters
before believing in them or acting upon them
Managerial problem solving and the role of the researcher
● Research in business studies and managerial problem solving are not much different from each
other
● Managers must have the capability to analyze their situations and to use investigative approaches
to decision making and problem solving
● The researcher explains how information is collected, argues for methods used to obtain results
and explains their limitations: they work systematically
● The researcher has to explain and convince the reader of the purpose and methods of
observation
Originality in research
● Originality is a basic condition for a scientific study
● Originality describes studies that create a new dimension to already existing knowledge
○ Some novel twist, fresh perspective
○ New hypothesis or assumption
○ New and innovative methods of handling an existing topic/knowledge
1
,Different research orientation
1. Induction
● Induction is based on empirical evidence
● Through induction we draw general conclusions from our empirical observations
● The process goes from observations → analysis → findings → theory building
● This type of research is often associated with the qualitative type of research
2. Deduction
● Deduction is based on logic
● The research builds/deduces hypotheses from the existing knowledge (literature), which can be
subject to empirical scrutiny (testing) and thus can be accepted or rejected
● This type of research is often associated with the quantitative type of research
Induction vs Deduction
● Deductive reasoning: the logical process of deriving a
conclusion from a known premise or something known as
true
● Inductive reasoning: the systematic process of establishing a
general proposition on the basis of observation or particular
facts
● Questions from picture:
○ Which process represents deduction? Deduction on
the left side
○ Which process represents induction? Induction on the
right side
3. Abduction
● Not just a combination of induction and deduction. Different ways of combining theory and data
● A theoretical interpretation of an empirical problem that can lead to development of new
theories. Because as you collect more data you can get new theories development
● The original framework and theoretical assumptions of the researcher are continuously
modified as a result of empirical findings
Translation to master thesis
2
, ● Deductive studies use quantitative methods and start with the development of hypotheses, based
on theory
● Abductive studies use qualitative methods and use the literature to identify concepts that might
be relevant to the problem and situation under study
● Inductive studies are not used, mainly because of time constraints
● Which of these three is more consistent with positivism?
○ Deductive x
○ Abductive
○ Inductive
Different ways of knowing
● Method of tenacity, where we hold firmly to the truth or the truth we know to be true, as we have
always known it to be true
● Method of authority, where it has been established that this is the case
● A priori method or method of intuition, where knowing is based on propositions that are self
evident or ‘agreeable to reason’
● Method of science, where we find a way of knowing, where everybody’s final conclusion is the
same
○ The most objective one
Research never stops
The researcher’s moral responsibility
● The moral responsibility of the researcher deals with social guidelines and constraints upon
research techniques and measurements
● Research findings might lead to action that is against the principles of the researcher or the
funding organization
● The results might influence an important decision to be made by policy makers (e.g., regarding
mergers and acquisitions, anti-trust measures or standards setting for a particular industry)
3
, Chapter 3: the research process
Research process
● Research is often thought of as a process, that is a set of activities
unfolding over time
● A process has a few distinct stages, as different stages entail
different tasks
● In reality, however, the process is not so orderly and sequential
Research progress (steps 1 and 2)
● The starting point is the research topic, that is the phenomenon or theme to be studied
● In a subsequent step, a more specific question is addressed
Research progress steps 2a-8)
● Any problem must be captured or represented. This is done by a set of interrelated concepts, or
a ‘model’, implicit or explicit (2a)
● Research design relates to the choice of strategy to collect the data needed to ‘answer’ the stated
research problem (3)
● Good measurements are a prerequisite for high-quality empirical research (4)
● Choice of data and how to collect them, from whom, and in what way, are important (5)
● Data must be handled, analyzed and interpreted (6)
● Most research efforts are reported in written form (7)
● In business the outcome of research efforts often results in or influences actions (8)
Levels of research
● All research requires activities at the conceptual level
● So called “theoretical studies” deal only with this level
● An empirical study requires efforts at the conceptual level
Translation to master thesis
● A master thesis is an empirical study and requires efforts at the conceptual level as well as efforts
at the empirical level
4
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