LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT 354 SUMMARIES
Business Research Methods, Bryman & Bell, International 4th Edition
CHAPTERS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
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,CHAPTER 1: BUSINESS RESEARCH STRATEGIES
CHAPTER OUTLINE
This chapter shows that a variety of considerations enter into the process of doing
business research
The distinction that is commonly drawn among writers on & practitioners of business
research between quantitative research & qualitative research is explored in relation to
these considerations
INTRODUCTION: THE NATURE OF BUSINESS RESEARCH
Business research is situated in the context of social science disciplines, i.e. sociology,
psychology, anthropology & economics which inform the study of business & its specific
fields, which include marketing, HRM, strategy, organisational behaviour, accounting &
finance, industrial relations & operational research
According to Collis & Hussey (2013:2) there is general agreement that research is:
- A process of inquiry & investigation (research problem & question)
- Systematic & methodical and
- Increases knowledge (at various levels)
… theories can also be viewed as a “body of knowledge”
The practice of business research does not exist in a bubble
- The methods of management & business research are closely tied to different visions
of how organisational reality should be studied
o Methods are not simply neutral tools; they are linked to how social scientists
envisage social reality & how it should be examined
- There the question of how business research methods & practice connect with the
wider social scientific enterprise
o Research data are invariably collected in relation to something – the something
may be a pressing organisational problem for example
Whatever the stimulus, research data become significant & contribute to knowledge
when they are viewed in relation to theoretical concerns
It is NB to remember that research is a process
- It is not just a singular activity
- There are 6 steps
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,THEORY & RESEARCH
Understanding the nature of the link between theory & research is complex
There are several NB issues, but 2 stand out:
1. The link depends on what form of theory is being referred to
2. There is the question of whether data are collected to test or build theories
(deductive vs inductive respectively)
What type of theory?
The term ‘theory’ is used in a variety of ways – but its most common meaning is as a way
of explaining observed regularities (phenomena)
However, theories do not in themselves constitute a theoretical perspective, which is
characterised by a higher level of abstraction in relation to research findings
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, Social scientists are sometimes dismissive of research that has no obvious connections
with theory – such research is often dismissed as naïve empiricism
- The term empiricism is used to refer to:
o an approach to the study of reality that suggests that only knowledge is gained
through experience & the senses is acceptable
in other words, ideas must be subject to the rigours of testing before they can
be considered knowledge
o a belief that the accumulation of ‘facts’ is a legitimate goal in its own right
naïve empiricism
Theories at different levels, a distinction is made between:
Low level theories explanatory, descriptive or empirical theory
Theories of the middle range Imposes meaning on events & issues
- Middle-range theories are intermediate to general theories of social systems which
are too remote from particular classes of social behaviour, organisation & change to
account for what is observed & to those detailed orderly descriptions of particulars
are not generalised at all
- Middle-range theories are much more likely to frame empirical enquiry
- Middle-range theories unlike grand ones, operate in a limited domain
o i.e. they sit between grand theories & empirical findings
- they represent attempts to understand & explain a limited aspect social life
Grand theories operate at a more abstract & general level
- Grand theories do not help researchers to think about how they collect empirical
evidence – so if someone wanted to test a theory or to draw an inference from it
that could be tested, the level of abstraction is so great that the researcher would
find it difficult to make the necessary links with the real world
- It is not grand theory that typically guides management & business research
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, As Figure 1.1 implies, research is guided by theoretical ideas & the aim of research is to
make a contribution to theory
- However, researchers frequently come to an investigation with particular intellectual
preferences
Figure 1.1: The process of induction
This brings the next question: insofar as any piece of research is linked to theory, what
was the role of that theory?
- Theory guides & influences the collection & analysis of data
o In other words, research is done to answer questions posed by theoretical
puzzles
- An alternative position is to view theory as something that develops after collection
& analysis of data
There is a second factor in considering the relationship between theory & research –
whether we are referring to deductive or inductive theory
Deductive & inductive theory
Deductive theory is the most common view of the relationship between theory &
research
- Using existing theory
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, - Is a study in which a conceptual & theoretical structure is developed & then tested
by empirical observations; thus, particular instances are deduced from general
inferences
- For this reason, the deductive method is referred to as moving from the general to
the particular.
- For example, you may have read about theories of motivation & wish to test them in
your own workplace. This will involve collecting specific data of the variables that the
theories have identified as important
The researcher, on the basis of what is known about a domain & the theoretical
considerations within it, deduces a hypothesis (or hypotheses) that must be subjected to
empirical scrutiny
- Embedded within the hypothesis will be concepts that need to be translated into
researchable entities
- There is a need to specify how data can be collected in relation to the concepts that
make up the hypothesis
The last step involves a movement that is in the opposite direction form deduction – it
involves induction, as the researcher infers the implications from his or her findings for
the theory that prompted the exercise
- In other words, the findings are fed back into the stock of theory
A researcher’s view of theory or literature may change as a result of analysis of collected
data for several reasons:
- New theoretical ideas or findings may be published before the researcher has
generated his or her findings
- The relevance of a dataset for theory may become apparent only after data have
been collected
- Data may not fit with the original hypotheses
The deductive process appears very linear – one step follows the other in a clear, logical
sequence
- However, in some research, no attempt is made to follow the sequence outline in
Figure 1.1 (deduction)
Some researchers prefer an approach to the relationship between theory & research
that is primarily inductive
- With an inductive stance, theory is the outcome of research
o In other words, the process of induction involves drawing generalizable
inferences out of observations
- Want to build theory; data will drive theory
- Is a study in which theory is developed from the observation of empirical reality;
thus, general inferences are induced from particular instances, which is the reverse
of the deductive method
- Since it involves moving from individual observation to statements of general
patterns or laws, it is referred to as moving from the specific to the general
- For example, you may have observed from factory records in your company that
production levels go down after 2 hours of the shift & you conclude that production
levels vary with the length of time worked.
Deduction entails a process in which:
- Theory observations/ findings
With induction, the connection is reversed:
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