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Summary Business Research 1 Chapters: 2,6,9,11,12,13,14
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Business research 1 First year at AMSIB
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Chapter 2 The scientific approach and alternative approaches toinvestigation
Introduction
Scientific research focuses on solving problems and pursues a step-by-step logical, organized, and
rigorous method to identify the problems, gather data, analyze them, and draw valid conclusions from
them.
Thus, scientific research is not based on hunches, experience, and intuition (though these may play a
part in the final decision making), but is purposive and rigorous.
scientific investigation tends to be more objective than subjective, and helps managers to highlight the
most critical factors at the workplace that need specific attention so as to avoid, minimize, or solve
problems.
The hallmarks of scientific research
The hallmarks or main distinguishing characteristics of scientific research may be listed as follows:
● Purposiveness, the manager has started the research with a definite aim or purpose
● Rigor, connotes carefulness, scrupulousness, and the degree of exactitude in research
investigations
● Testability, a scientific hypothesis must be testable. Scientific research lends itself to testing
logically developed hypotheses to see whether or not the data support the educated
conjectures or hypotheses that are developed after a careful study of the problem situation.
● Replicability, is the extent to which a re-study is made possible by the provision of the design
details of the study in the research report.
● Precision refers to the closeness of the findings to “reality” based on a sample. In other words,
precision reflects the degree of accuracy or exactitude of the results on the basis of the sample,
to what really exists in the universe.
and confidence, refers to the probability that our estimations are correct.
● Objectivity, they should be based on the facts of the findings derived from actual data, and not
on our own subjective or emotional values. The more objective the interpretation of the data,
the more scientific the research investigation becomes. Though managers or researchers might
start with some initial subjective values and beliefs, their interpretation of the data should be
stripped of personal values and biases.
, ● Generalizability, refers to the scope of applicability of the research findings in one organizational
setting to other settings.
● Parsimony, economy in research models is achieved when we can build into our research
framework a lesser number of variables that explain the variance far more efficiently than a
complex set of variables that only marginally add to the variance explained. Parsimony can be
introduced with a good understanding of the problem and the impor- tant factors that influence
it
The Hypothetico-Deductive Method
The seven-step process in the hypothetico-deductive method:
1. Identify a broad problem area.
2. Define the problem statement.
3. Develop hypotheses, variables are examined to ascertain their contribution or influence in
explaining why the problem occurs and how it can be solved
4. Determine measures, look at measurement of variables in chapters 11, 12
5. Data collection, data with respect to each variable in the hypothesis need to be obtained.
6. Data analysis, the data gathered are statistically analyzed to see if the hypotheses that were
generated have been supported.
7. Interpretation of data, you must decide whether our hypotheses are supported or not by
interpreting the meaning of the results of the data analysis
Review of the Hypothetico-Deductive Method
Deductive reasoning is to test a theory (recall that, to a scientist, a theory is an organized set of
assumptions that generates testable predictions) about a topic of interest. In deductive reasoning, we
work from the more general to the more specific.
We start out with a general theory and then narrow down that theory into specific hypotheses we can
test. We narrow down even further when we collect specific observations t o test our hypotheses.
Inductive reasoning works in the opposite direction: it is a process where we observe specific
phenomena and on this basis arrive at general conclusions. Hence, in inductive reasoning, we work from
the more specific to the more general.
,Some obstacles to conducting scientific research in the management area
In the management and behavioral areas, it is not always possible to conduct investigations that are
100% scientific, in the sense that, unlike in the physical sciences, the results obtained will not be exact
and error-free.
This is primarily because of difficulties likely to be encountered in the measurement and collection of
data in the subjective areas of feelings, emotions, attitudes, and perceptions.
Thus, it is not always possible to meet all the hallmarks of science in full.
- In a positivist view of the world, science and scientific research is seen as a way to get at the truth .
Positivists believe that there is an objective truth out there to understand the world well enough so that
we are able to predict and control it.
-Constructionism. Constructionism criticizes the positivist belief that there is an objective truth.
Constructionists hold the opposite view, namely that the world (as we know it!) is fundamentally mental
or mentally constructed. For this reason, constructionists do not search for the objective truth.
Instead, they aim to understand the rules people use to make sense of the world by investigating what
happens in people’s minds. Constructionism thus emphasizes how people construct knowledge; it
studies the accounts people give of issues and topics and how people get to these accounts.
-Critical realism is a combination of the belief in an external reality (an objective truth) with the rejection
of the claim that this external reality can be objectively measured; observations (especially observations
on phenomena that we cannot observe and measure directly, such as satisfaction, motivation, culture)
will always be subject to interpretation.
The critical realist is thus critical of our ability to understand the world with certainty.
-Pragmatists do not take on a particular position on what makes good research. They feel that research
on both objective, observable phenomena and subjective meanings can produce useful knowledge,
depending on the research questions of the study.
The focus of pragmatism is on practical, applied research where different viewpoints on research and
the subject under study are helpful in solving a (business) problem. Pragmatism describes research as a
process where concepts and meanings (theory) are generalizations of our past actions and experiences,
and of interactions we have had with our environment.
Pragmatists thus emphasize the socially constructed nature of research.
, Chapter 6 Elements of research
A research strategy will help you to meet your research objective(s) and to answer the research
questions of your study.
In this section we will discuss the following research strategies: experiments, surveys, ethnography,
case studies, grounded theory, and action research:
Experiments:
● Are usually associated with a hypothetico-deductive approach to research.
● Study causal relationships between variables.
● The researcher manipulates the independent variable to study the effect of this manipulation on
the dependent variable.
Survey:
● Is a system for collecting information from or about people to describe, compare, or explain
their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.
● Very popular in business research.
● Allows the researcher to collect quantitative and qualitative data on many types of research
questions.
● Are commonly used in exploratory and descriptive research to collect data about people, events,
or situations.
● Other survey instruments are interviews and structured observation
Ethnography:
● Is a research strategy that has its roots in anthropology.
● It is a strategy in which the researcher “closely observes, records, and engages in the daily life of
another culture and then writes accounts of this culture, emphasizing descriptive detail”
● Ethnography involves immersion in the particular culture of the social group that is being
studied, observing behavior, listening to what is said in conversations, and asking questions.
● It thus aims to generate an understanding of the culture and behavior of a social group from an
“insider’s point of view.”
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