Samenvatting
Business research techniques summary (TISEM)
- Instelling
- Tilburg University (UVT)
Summary of all grasple modules (incl. examples)
[Meer zien]Voorbeeld 3 van de 23 pagina's
Voorbeeld 3 van de 23 pagina's
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Voorbeeld van de inhoud
Business research techniquesModule 1
What is sound business research?
2. What is business research? Business research can be defined as a series of well-thought-out
activities and carefully executes data analyses that are aimed to help a manager avoid, solve, or
minimize a problem. This definition contains three elements:
- Well-thought-out: problem should be defined, associated factors and the knowledge that is
already available should be clear.
- Entails gathering and analyzing data.
- Meant to help managers make better decisions.
3. Managerial intuition and experience. Intuition should never be a substitute for research. While
intuition definitely has its place in managerial decision making, it is as likely to lead to disaster as
success. The more unprecedented challenges you face, the less you should rely on intuition and the
more on evidence/research. This same count for experience.
4. Debunking myths about business research. The myths:
- Business research is only for the wealthiest organizations. In reality the expenses can be
diverse.
- There is no need to study business research for a future manager. Manager from Mars and
researcher from Venus. Reality is that managers with knowledge have an advantage.
- Business research ends up in the bottom drawer. In reality research don’t needs to be
intimidating.
- Business is only useful for bigger decisions. Reality it can be used for all (small) decisions.
- There is just one best way of researching a business problem. Reality is that there are
different ways to help you making decision.
5. How to evaluate whether business research is sound? Sound research is characterized by six
hallmarks.
- Purposiveness. Knowing the ‘why?’ of your research.
- Rigor: Ensuring a sound theoretical base and a sound methodological design.
- Objectivity: Drawing conclusions based on facts.
- Parsimony: Shave away unnecessary details.
- Replicability: Finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances.
- Generalizability: Being able to apply the research finding in a wide variety of different
settings.
The 7-step research process
1. The 7-step (deductive) research process. The seven steps form the guiding framework along which
this course is structured.
1. Define the business problem
2. Formulate the problem statement
3. Develop a theoretical framework (incl. hypotheses)
4. Choose a research design
5. Collect data
, 6. Analyze data: perform analysis
7. Write-up
2. Deductive vs. inductive research. Deductive and inductive research are two different approaches.
The main difference between the two is that inductive research aims at developing a theory while
deductive research aims at testing a theory.
- Inductive research: The researcher first makes observations (collects data). Then, tries to find
a pattern in these observations and develops a theoretical framework on the basis of this
pattern. It moves data to broad generalizations (a theory).
- Deductive research: A researcher first hypothesizes relationships between variables based on
theories. These hypotheses are then tested using data. It starts with a theory and then tests
this theory using data.
3. Quantitative vs. qualitative research. Quantitative researchers emphasize the importance of
formulating hypotheses based on previous work and well-supported theories. The reasoning is
largely deductive. Qualitative research adopt the opposite approach: They use observations as a
starting point and then seek explanations for their observations. The reasoning is largely inductive.
They can be used in combination, within a single research study.
Module 2
Step 1: defining a business problem
1. When does a business problem occur? Business problems occur when there is a gap between the
desired state of the company, and the actual state. There are two types of business problems:
- The actual situation is not seriously wrong but can be improved: Profit can be approaches
with better sales.
- The actual situation is seriously wrong and needs to be solved asap: Boycotting Unilever’s
products
2. What makes a good business problem? Follow the checklist:
- Feasibility: Is it doable? It should not be impossible to research.
o Is the problem demarcated? Not too big.
o Can the problem be expressed in variables?
o Are you able to gather the required data? (existing or new)
Examples of infeasible business problems: ‘ABN Amro would like to know how it can increase its
profitability.’ Too big, can’t be expressed in variables, the list of variables is large so data can’t be
obtained. ‘Philips would like to know whether running price promotions on its products can reduce
the profitability of its competitors’ new product’. Take sales instead of profitability.
- Relevance: Is it worthwhile? It should be important.
o Managerial relevance: Who benefits from having the problem solved?
Is it relevant for managers of a company or industries? Or end-users? Or public policy
makers?
o Academic relevance: Has the problem not already been solved in prior research?
Is it a completely new topic? Existing research but new context? Focusses on the
relative importance (Integrate scattered research)? Solves contradictions through
introducing one or more moderator (Reconcile contradictory)?
, Step 2: Formulating a problem statement & research questions
1. From business problem to problem statement. The business problem (manager-focused) needs to
be translated into a corresponding problem statement (research-focused). Preliminary research
helps you do so. It provides 1) organization/context and 2) extant literature. A good one is:
- Formulated in terms of variables and relations.
- Open-ended question: To what extent?
- Stated clearly/unambiguously: Can only be interpreted in one way.
- Is managerial and academically relevant (needs to be checked in business problem)
2. From problem statement to research questions. A problem statement captures what you are
going to research. This can be divided into multiple research questions. These can be seen as sub
questions. It is the outline in which you will eventually address your problem statement. They
determine the content but also the structure of your research. Should be:
- All the answers to these questions combined, should answer the problem statement.
- The first questions should be theoretical, after that the will be practical. Same order as your
research report.
- Stated clearly/unambiguously (not vague or open to more interpretation)
Theoretical research questions:
- Context questions: ‘What is the effect…’ Only if context needs elaboration.
- Conceptualization question: ‘What is .. , Which different’. For key variables that need
elaboration.
- Relationship questions: ‘Which variables, how does … affect’ All the relationships in the
problem should be covered.
Practical research questions: Refer to the theoretical questions.
- Relationship questions: ‘To what extent..’
- Implication question: How can practitioners implement your results? Open question. Always
needs to be included.
Variables (conceptually)
1. Variables can vary in two ways. They can vary across subjects or over time:
- Across subjects: The point in time stays the same but the subjects changes. Examples are
industry-type, product type.
- Over time: Vary over time within the same subject. Defined over the last years, over the last
weeks.
2. Variables should carry unambiguous names. You should avoid variable names that can be
interpreted in multiple ways (preference = product preference). At the same time, you should try to
make your variable names as short as possible, in the interest of readability. You often have to refer
to it so long names will become a nuisance (size of a firm = firm size)
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