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Research Methodology Summary
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This summary covers all the subjects from the course Onderzoeksmethodologie, lectured by Bart Cambré. By studying this summary, I received a 14/20.
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SAMENVATTING ONDERZOEKSMETHODOLOGIEHelena Kwaspen
1: Introduction
Research methodology provides us with a set of rules and procedures to design and evaluate research on
its reliability and validity.
Business research refers to “academic research on topics related to questions that are relevant to the field
of business and management and have a social science orientation.”
We must therefore be aware and accepting of the fact that a certain level of bias (and thus errors) will
always be present in any research. Bullshit is easy to create and spread. “falsehood flies and truth comes
limping after it” (Swift, 1710)
Research stages: Design - Data collection - Data analysis - Report
3: Turtle head: research orientation and strategy
1) Research strategy
2) Problem statement and research question
1) Research strategy: paradigms in research
Ontology: what is reality?
Objectivism constructionism
- Social phenomena
o Objectivist ontology = social actors external to observer
o Constructionist ontology = constructed by humans
- Objectivism = you have to remain objective
- Constructionism = presenting one specific version of social reality
Epistemology: how can we know reality?
Positivism interpretivism
- Nature of knowledge
- Positivism = knowledge created by following science, objective measure of social facts, explaining
human behaviour
- Interpretivism = subjective meaning of social action, understanding human behaviour, how and why,
looking for meanings behind actions
Theory in relation to research?
Deductive inductive
- Theory means:
o Middle-range theory = explanations for social phenomena studied by empirical data
o (or) Literature background a researcher uses to study a phenomenon (existing academic
literature)
- Relationship between theory and research is threefold (ways to relate to theory)
o Deductive = starting with problem/existing knowledge and start to research for a solution
(theory testing)
o Inductive = starting with general wonderments and raw data, theory emerges from data
(theory developing)
o Abductive = starting with puzzle or empirical phenomena with no existing theories to back it.
Looking for explanations for phenomena.
Methodology: how can we find out?
Quantitative qualitative
, - How can we do research
o Quantitative: collection and analysis of data
o Qualitative = words and images
- Types of research
o Fundamental research = create new knowledge or insights, divided in disciplines with
specific theories and methods (e.g. marketing, strategy, and logistics)
Discipline based
o Applied research = develop insights which are useful and applicable in everyday
(management) settings, regardless of their contribution to science
Policy research
o Phenonmenon-based = applying inductive or deductive (or abductive) reasoning to shed
light on an industry (e.g. banking industry, aviation industry, or e-commerce). Phenomenon-
based research focuses on identifying and reporting on new or recent phenomena of
interest and relevance to management and organization science. Rigorous phenomenon-
based research tackles problems which are relevant to management practice and fall outside
the scope of existing theories or disciplines. It usually bridges epistemological and
disciplinary divides to unite scholars around a phenomenon. Examples of phenomenon-
based research are (the rise and shine of) transnational corporations, the environmental
impact of firm-level conduct, and the rapid diffusion of social networking.
Industry-based
Values come in to play. Researchers are people and can’t be fully objective. Be transparent on how values
are affecting the research process.
Objectivism constructionism
Positivism interpretivism
Deductive inductive
Quantitative qualitative
2) Problem statement and research question
A research problem or problem statement is the topic you would like to address, investigate, or study,
whether descriptively or experimentally.
The research question is in essence: what you want/have to research, academically formulated.
- Focused
- Specific
- Researchable
Types of research questions
- Frequency: ‘how many…’
- Difference: ‘what are the differences among…’
- Relationship: ‘to what extent does … have an impact on …?’
Bad RQ leads to bad research. A good RQ doesn’t necessarily lead to a good research.
4: Body of knowledge
Existing literature review
- You are almost never the first person to investigate a topic
- Don’t reinvent the wheel
- Finding literature is not difficult, but making sense of all that’s available can be challenging
- Types of literature review
o Narrative: selective review, broad cover of the topic, no systematic methods
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