Summary

BRM I Lecture Summary

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Course
Business Research Methods

Institution
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)

Complete summary of all lectures of Business Research Methods I (Quantitative) of IBA year 2 at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The summary also includes notes taken during the lectures. Possible exam questions are included!! ----------- PLUS Book Summary: https://www.stuvia.nl/bundle/18801/business-...

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brm i
business research methods
iba 2
business research methods i
iba
vu

Institution
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
Education
International Business Administration
Course
Business Research Methods

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Business Research Methods I - Quantitative
Lecture summary
Content
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2
Chapter 1, 2, and 3 .................................................................................................................. 2
Measurement, scales and survey design ..................................................................................... 3
Chapter 12 and 13 ................................................................................................................... 3
Multi-item scales, reliability and validity .................................................................................. 7
Chapter 12 and 13 ................................................................................................................... 7
Factor analysis ............................................................................................................................ 9
Chapter 22 and 24 ................................................................................................................... 9
Sampling................................................................................................................................... 12
Chapter 14 and 15 ................................................................................................................. 12
Hypothesis testing .................................................................................................................... 18
Chapter 20 and 21 ................................................................................................................. 18
Regression analysis .................................................................................................................. 21
Chapter 22............................................................................................................................. 21
Moderation ............................................................................................................................... 26
Mediation ................................................................................................................................. 29

1

,Introduction
Chapter 1, 2, and 3
Future managers and research
 To be able to perform business research
 E.g. undertake research yourselves 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
 To discriminate between good and bad research proposals of researchers/research agencies
 To discriminate between good and bad published research studies

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 considerably minimized” - Sekaran &
Bougie (2016, p. 2)
 A business researcher:
 Specifies the information necessary to address these issues
 Designs the method for collecting information
 Manages and implements the data collection process
 Analyzes the results
 Communicates the findings and their implications
 Hallmarks
1. Purposiveness; Knowing “the why” of your research
2. Rigor; Ensuring a sound theoretical base and methodological design
3. Testability; Being able to test logically developed ideas based on data
4. Replicability; Finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances
5. Precision and confidence; Drawing accurate conclusions with a high degree of confidence
6. Objectivity; Drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
7. Generalizability; Being able to apply research findings in a wide variety of different
settings
▪ Applied research: to solve a current problem faced by a manager; applies to a
specific company; within firms or research agencies
▪ Fundamental (or basic) research: to generate new knowledge about how problems
that occur in several firms can be solved; applies to several organizational
settings; mainly within universities and knowledge institutes
8. Parsimony; Shaving away unnecessary details, explaining a lot with a little

Marketing research process
Step 1: Problem definition
 Identify problem area; define problem statement
 Decision problem: manager focused – Ahold and Delhaize have merged. Several former
employees of Delhaize have taken on an unmotivated attitude and have become less
productive.
 Research problem: research focused – To what extent does executive communication impact
the productivity of the former employees of Delhaize through increasing their morale, and
does this depend on employee characteristics?
 What is employee productivity; what is the effect of mergers on employees’
productivity? Etc.

2

, Step 2: Developing a research approach
 Theoretical framework consists of:
 Description of all relevant variables and their definitions
Define all variables and motivate why these are important
 Hypotheses
Based on existing theory, testable, and unambiguous and provide a logical
justification
 Conceptual model (i.e. a graphical representation)
Covers all variables and relationships

Step 3: Research design
 Determine nature of research, measures, sampling etc.
 Define the information needed
 Decide on nature of research
 Exploratory: a flexible and evolving approach to understand phenomena that are
inherently difficult to measure; often required when prior theory is absent and an in-
depth understanding is required; aim is to develop new theory since phenomenon is
new or previously not investigated; results  theory.
▪ Qualitative: small(er), one on one, in-depth.
▪ Quantitative: large(r), one to many, broader.
 Conclusive: clearly defined phenomena that can be measured by means of quantitative
data; theory  results.
▪ Causal: testing the causal relationship between two or more variables by
means of a (laboratory or field) experiment.
• Correlation vs causality
▪ Descriptive: testing the correlational relationship between two or more
variables (e.g. by means of a survey or archival data).
• Longitudinal design
• Cross-sectional design
o Single cross-sectional
o Multiple cross-sectional
 Decide on techniques and measurement
 Construct and pre-test the research
 Decide on sampling process and sample size
 Develop a data analysis plan

Step 4: Fieldwork or data collection
Data collection
Step 5: Data analysis
Data analysis
Step 6: Communicating findings
Data interpretation

Measurement, scales and survey design
Chapter 12 and 13
Sources of error
 Total error: Variation between true mean value in the population of the variable of interest and the
observed value.
o Random sampling errors: Error because the selected sample is an imperfect
representation of the population of interest.

3

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