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Research methods for Business and Economics summary
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- Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
Summary of the course "Research methods for business and economics" based on lectures
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RESEARCH METHODSINTRODUCTION: BUSINESS RESEARCH
What is research?
The process of finding answers or solutions to a problem after study and analysis of a specific
phenomenon
Carried out in a scientific way:
organized, systematic, data-based, critical and objective investigation
Research aims at:
• building theory (generalization about a specific topic)
• testing a theory
• describing a situation/phenomenon
if you would like to apply research, first : have to check if previous research has been
done, even when it’s a recent topic you have to look at what has been searched
before ; e.x: coronavirus impact on class attendance -> you can search for other special
events on class attendance
there is always a range of theories related to the subject that can be used and must be
reviewed
Theory: a set of ideas that intends to explain a phenomenon, a causal relationship,…
Research is the result of analysis of:
• primary data = gathered first-hand (samples, interviews,…)
• secondary data = already available (company, industry, country level, etc.) databases
that already exists
Data can be:
• quantitative (numbers – ex. through surveys) -> research methods
• qualitative (words – ex. through interviews) -> research methods
• or a combination of both
Applied and basic research
Applied
Examples
“A study into the ways of improving job satisfaction at Uber”
“Development of diversification strategies in the pharmaceutical industry in view of market
expansion”
Purpose
• Driven by practice
• To improve understanding of specific business problem
• To apply the results of research by solving specific problems, e.g. in an organization
Problem of generalizability (it’s maybe not true for other industries like factoring industry or
biotechnology)
Set by clients
Conducted by academics, practitioners, policy makers who assign such research to a
consulting company for example or representative of a certain industry
(= bachelor paper will be based on applied research, with a specific problem statement and
aim and research question, you will adapt the theory that you need towards a specific focus
and then you apply it to a subject such as a certain industry)
,Basic (or fundamental, or pure)
Examples
“A critical analysis of word of mouth as a marketing strategy”
“A study of factors impacting the platform economy”
Purpose
• Driven by curiosity (research based on curiosity)
• To create new knowledge (aim)
• To build theories that may serve as a foundation of further studies
• No commercial purpose (less important than in applied research), yet innovations or
practical implications may occur later
Problem of applicability (you start brainstorming based on what already exists, not always
good to apply those theories )
Self-initiated
Mainly conducted by academics
Managers and research
Why managers need to know about research
• To understand empirical research in the business domain
• To identify and solve problems (invest in China -> first check the studies)
• To get a feel for causal relationships
• To make the right decisions, based on facts rather than vested interests
• To help distinguish between good and bad studies
• To interact effectively with researchers or consultants
• To cope with increasing complexity and uncertainty
Example of study with relevance to managers.
“The challenges of doing business in emerging markets”
The hallmarks of scientific research*
1. Purposiveness
2. Rigor
3. Testability
4. Replicability
5. Precision and confidence
6. Objectivity
7. Generalizability
8. Parsimony
Example:
What explains employees’ commitment to an organization?
1.Purposiveness
Purpose with a specific focus: “increase commitment” -> why would we do research on
employees’ commitment to an organization? There should be a use to the research, we
would like to increase commitment by employees in an organization
2. Rigor
Good theoretical base and methodology -> it’s important to figure out, explore, what’s
already studied before -> you have to look at generalization in terms of conclusions and
theoretical frameworks
=> High degree of exactness
Assume (example): researcher asks to 10-12 employees to indicate what would increase
their level of commitment. Is this approach scientific? No, it’s subjective
,3. Testability
(more scientific)
Linking between participation an decision making and their commitment -> makes it +
objective, which doesn’t mean you cannot interfere and interact with people, you can collect
that information by interacting but the difference is made while asking the question
+ objective by checking the actions and activities, and also increase the number of
participants
Applies to the hypotheses of the study
What is a hypothesis? Testable statement:
• derived from theory
• which predicts what you expect to find in empirical data
• about “what will happen?”
Hypothesis – an example:
“Employees who actively participate in decision making will have a higher level of
commitment”
=> you always see a clear-cut direction of the relationship, higher or perhaps lower
=> up to you to check other factors, and you develop a statement, hypothesis -> you put it
before you start processing and gathering your data to see if the hypothesis can be accepted
or not
=> meaning of testability: through hypothesis we will be able to test if employees who are
actively participating in decision making will show higher commitment or not (hypothesis
should be tested)
4. Replicability
Findings and conclusions should be replicable in other studies.
Tests of hypotheses should be supported in other circumstances, increasing validity of the
study.
Explaining employees commitment in an organization will not only apply to the service
industry but also to the manufacturing industry; not only to Belgium but also to the
Netherlands etc
5. Precision and confidence
Findings are based on a model, a sample (small group of observation of the whole
population), differing from population.
Precision = about exactness, how correct we are.
Important to avoid that small errors from sample lead to big errors on a larger scale.
Confidence = how certain we are that estimates hold true for population.
=> when you apply statistics, confidence and precision are getting important
6. Objectivity
Conclusions drawn should be fact-based, derived from actual data, not subjective.
If hypothesis not supported by results => conclusion that higher participation would lead to
higher commitment would not make sense.
Involvement in decision making by employees will not lead to higher commitment, if it
would lead to higher commitment it would not make sense
Hypothesis – an example:
“Employees who actively participate in decision making will have a higher level of
commitment”
, 7. Generalizability
Applicability of findings in various settings, context.
The wider the applicability, the more useful the research. If only limited, it will be hard to
generalize towards other situations
Hypothesis – an example:
“Employees who actively participate in decision making will have a higher level of
commitment”
8. Parsimony (simplicity)
Simplicity is preferred over complexity.
Ockham’s razor
He was a philosopher in the middle ages, he was stressing the importance of keeping it
simple
He did not use the term razor, but it’s a metaphor; when we do analysis we need to
shave off everything that’s complex with the razor, and we move on with the most
simple
Writing your paper: make sure that you have the good research question (key)
following parsimony
“Three factors increasing commitment by 50%” more useful than “ten factors increasing
commitment by 55%” -> the choice of the first factor is always more appropriate than the
second one -> if you need to choose, make sure you have the 3 + important, rather than a
list of many factors that are minimal in terms of importance and commitment of employees
Best: greatest possible empirical facts from smallest possible number of hypotheses
Research areas in business
Some examples :
Innovation
Sharing economy
Consumer behaviour
Human resource management
Entrepreneurship
Crowdfunding
Corporate strategy
Stakeholder management
Employee behaviour (performance, absenteeism,…)
Leadership
…
THE DIFFERENT STEPS OF THE
WRITING PROCESS
• BA paper
• MA thesis
• PhD (doctoral dissertation)
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