Summary Research skills
Including: lectures, articles, book chapters and exam
questions
by Michel Dagli
,
,I NH O U D
Week 1 ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Lecture 1 Research process and literature review revisited ................................................................................................................. 4
Chapter 2 Research in business studies .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 3 The research process ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 4 Research problems ...................................................................................................................................................... 10
Tutorial 1 Literature review, conceptual framework and topic list ..................................................................................................... 12
Week 2 ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Lecture 2 Research design and data collection for qualitative research ............................................................................................. 16
Chapter 5 Research design ........................................................................................................................................................... 16
Chapter 7 Data collection for qualitative research ........................................................................................................................ 21
Tutorial 2 Semi-structured interviews ............................................................................................................................................... 30
Week 3 ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 34
Lecture 3 Qualitative data analysis ................................................................................................................................................... 34
Chapter 8 Qualitative Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 34
O'Neil, I., Ucbasaran, D., & York, J. G. (2022). The evolution of founder identity as an authenticity work process.......................... 41
Tutorial 3 Qualitative Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................................. 46
Week 4 ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 49
Lecture 4 Writing a (qualitative) thesis ............................................................................................................................................. 49
Chapter 14 Writing the final report .............................................................................................................................................. 49
Pratt, M. G. (2009). From the editors: for the lack of a boilerplate: tips on writing up (and reviewing) qualitative research. The
Academy of Management Journal, 52(5), 856–862 ....................................................................................................................... 53
Week 5 ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 55
Lecture 5 Quantitative Research: Much More than Statistics............................................................................................................. 55
Chapter 6 Measurements ................................................................................................................................................................. 64
Chapter 9 Data Collection for Quantitative Research ........................................................................................................................ 67
van Uden, A., Knoben, J., & Vermeulen, P. (2017). Human Capital and Innovation in Sub-Saharan Countries: A Firm Level Study....... 74
Week 6 ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 79
Lecture 6 Hypothesizing and testing moderation and mediation effects ............................................................................................ 79
Shapes and sizes of moderation effects ........................................................................................................................................ 79
Mediation effects ........................................................................................................................................................................ 90
Chapter 10 Description and Preliminary Analysis of Quantitative Data .............................................................................................. 92
Chapter 11 Multiple Regression ........................................................................................................................................................ 97
Week 7 ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 105
Lecture 7 Do I test what I claim to test? .......................................................................................................................................... 105
Barasa, L., Kinyanjui, B., Knoben, J., Vermeulen, P., & Kimuyu, P. (2021). Innovation and Exporting: The Case of Mediation Effects in
Sub-Saharan Africa. ........................................................................................................................................................................ 114
Ritter-Hayashi, D. Vermeulen, P., & Knoben, J. (2019). Is this a Man’s World? The Effect of Gender Diversity and Gender Equality on
Firm Innovativeness. ...................................................................................................................................................................... 116
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 119
Exam 2016 practise ........................................................................................................................................................................ 127
Practise exam of canvas ................................................................................................................................................................. 132
,WEEK 1
LECTURE 1 RESEARCH PROCESS AND LITERATURE REVIEW REVISITED
CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH IN BUSINESS STUDIES
2.1 Research philosophies
Ontology and epistemology together form research philosophies
- “Ontology” is concerned with the nature of reality
o Scientists take an ontological position: is reality affected by the actions of the
researcher or not?
o The positivist position maintains that reality exists and can be measured.
- “Epistemology” is the theory of knowledge
o Knowledge should have three components; justification, truth and belief
o Knowledge is a justified true belief
o Post modernism maintains that truth depends on contextual factors
2.1-2.2 Knowledge and common sense
Common sense is the beliefs of a group of people about a certain thing
• Knowledge based on sense (gevoel) is called “a priory” knowledge
• Knowledge based on experience is called “a posteriori” knowledge.
When we do research, we work systematically and learn critically to analyze issues/matters before believing in
them or acting upon them
2.3 Managerial problem solving and the role of the researcher
• Research in business studies and managerial problem solving are not much different from each
other
• Managers must have the capability to analyze their situations and to use investigative
approaches to decision making and problem solving
• The researcher explains how information is collected, argues for methods used to obtain
results and explains their limitations: they work systematically
• The researcher has to explain and convince the reader of the purpose and methods of
observation
2.4 Originality in research
Originality is a basic condition for a scientific study. ‘Originality’ describes studies that create a new
dimension to already existing knowledge, for example
• some novel twist, fresh perspective
• new hypothesis or assumption
• new and innovative methods of handling an existing topic/knowledge
,2.4 Different research orientations
2.5 Induction, deduction and abduction
Induction
• Induction is based on empirical evidence
• Through induction we draw general conclusions from our empirical observations
o Empirical = based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience
rather than theory or pure logic (google)
• The process goes from observations → analysis → findings → theory building
• This type of research is often associated with the qualitative type of research
Deduction
• Deduction is based on logic
• The researcher builds/deduces hypotheses from the existing knowledge (literature), which
can be subject to empirical scrutiny (testing) and thus can be accepted or rejected
• This type of research is often associated with the quantitative type of research
Induction vs. deduction
• Deductive reasoning – the logical process of deriving a conclusion from a known premise
(aanname / hypothese) or something known as true
• Inductive reasoning – the systematic process of establishing a general proposition on the
basis of observation or particular facts
Questions:
• Which process represents deduction? (1)
• Which process represents induction? (2)
,2.5 Abduction
• Not just a combination of induction and deduction
• A theoretical interpretation of an empirical problem that can lead to development of new
theories
• The original framework and theoretical assumptions of the researcher are continuously
modified as a result of empirical findings
Translation to master thesis
• Deductive studies use quantitative methods and start with the development of hypotheses,
based on theory
• Abductive studies use qualitative methods and use the literature to identify concepts that
might be relevant to the problem and situation under study
• Inductive studies are not used, mainly because of time constraints
2.7 Different ways of knowing
- Method of tenacity (vasthoudend), where we hold firmly to the truth or the truth we know
to be true, as we have always known it to be true. We may find ways to strengthen our
belief even if the proposition or new developments may show otherwise.
o For example, the world is flat.
- Method of authority, where it has been established that this is the case
o For example, the Bible states that there is a God. In fact, even if such knowledge
seems unsound in certain situations, we live our lives according to this
authoritative knowledge.
- A priori method or method of intuition (gevoel), where knowing is based on propositions
that are self-evident or ‘agreeable to reason’ However, something that is self-evident to one
person might not be self-evident to another.
o For example, is it self-evident that US education is inferior to European education –
is this ‘agreeable to reason’
- Method of science, where we find a way of knowing, where everybody’s final conclusion is
the same.
2.8 Research never stops
,2.11 The researcher’s moral responsibility (not mandatory, but in slides)
• The moral responsibility of the researcher deals
with social guidelines and constraints upon
research techniques and measurements
• Research findings might lead to action that is
against the principles of the researcher or the
funding organization
• The results might influence an important
decision to be made by policy makers (e.g.,
regarding mergers and acquisitions, anti-trust
measures or standards setting for a particular
industry)
Ethical issues
Ethical: well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of
rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues (google)
• Ethical issues arise particularly at the data collection stage
• Reporting your results objectively and honestly is the most important aspect of ethics
• Any misinterpretation of data will lead to misleading results and is ethically wrong
CHAPTER 3 THE RESEARCH PROCESS
3.1 Research process
Research is often thought of as a process, that is a set of activities
unfolding/developing over time. A process has a few distinct/clear stages, as
different stages entail/involve different tasks. In reality, however, the process is
not so orderly and sequential (opeenvolgend)
Research progress (steps 1 and 2)
• The starting point is the research topic, that
is the phenomenon or theme to be studied
• In a subsequent step, a more specific
question is addressed
Research progress (steps 2a-8)
• Any problem must be captured or represented. This is done by a set of interrelated
concepts, or a ‘model’, implicit or explicit (2a)
• Research design relates to the choice of strategy to collect the data needed to ‘answer’ the
stated research problem (3)
• Good measurements are a prerequisite for high-quality empirical research (4)
• Choice of data and how to collect them, from whom, and in what way, are important (5)
• Data must be handled, analyzed and interpreted (6)
• Most research efforts are reported in written form (7)
• In business the outcome of research efforts often results in or influences actions (8)
,3.2 Levels of research
• All research requires activities at the conceptual
level
▪ So-called ‘theoretical studies’ deal only
with this level (1)
• An empirical study requires efforts at the
conceptual level (2)
Translation to master thesis
- A master thesis is an empirical study and requires efforts at the
conceptual level as well as efforts at the empirical level
3.3 Research and knowledge
The main purpose of research is to produce insights or knowledge
New insights can be acquired in
• theories/models,
• concepts,
• methods/techniques or
• Facts
Any research should have an intended contribution
3.4 What comes first: theory or research?
1. Theory before research (context of justification) (deduction)
- identify relevant concepts, theories and so on, and to adjust the
concepts (theory) to the problem under scrutiny (investigation)
2. Research before theory (context of discovery) (induction)
- identify relevant factors and construct explanations (theory)
New observations and new questions may give rise to a search for new
explanations, methods or techniques
,3.5 Definitions of important elements of research
3.5.1. Concepts
A concept is an abstraction (ontleding) representing an object, a property of an object, or a certain
phenomenon
• Concepts are the foundation of communication
• Concepts introduce a perspective
• Concepts are means of classification and generalization
• Concepts serve as components of theories (models)
Concepts are the most critical element in any theory, because they direct what is captured
3.5.2. Definitions
Clarification and precision of concepts are achieved through definitions
- Definitions that describe concepts by using other concepts are conceptual definitions. A
useful definition is that concepts should:
o point out unique attributes or qualities of whatever is defined;
o not be circular, i.e. must not contain any part of the thing being defined; defining
‘market exchange’ as ‘exchange taking place in the market’ does not enhance
communication;
o be stated positively, i.e. contain the properties of the concept defined;
o use clear terms.
- An operational definition is a set of procedures that describe the activities to be performed
to establish empirically the existence or degree of existence of what is described by a
concept
When we move from the conceptual to the empirical level in research, concepts are converted into
variables (independent and dependent) by mapping them into a set of numbers (e.g. numbers for
regression analysis)
Reflect on the following description and discuss if this is true for all types of research:
- “When we move from the conceptual to the empirical level in research, concepts are converted into
variables by mapping them into a set of numbers”
This is not true for qualitative research, as it does not use variables and numbers.
3.5.3. Theory
A theory is a set of interrelated concepts, definitions and propositions that present a systematic
view of specifying relations among variables with the purpose of explaining and predicting
phenomena.
3.5.4. Methods
Research methods are rules and procedures and can be seen as tools to solve problems or ways of
proceeding
Roles of research methods:
• ‘logic’ or ways of reasoning to arrive at solutions
• rules for communication, i.e. to explain how the findings have been
achieved
• rules of intersubjectivity, i.e. outsiders should be able to examine and
evaluate research findings
, CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH PROBLEMS
4.1 Research ideas
The starting point of any research effort is some idea or observation that attracts attention and
initiates speculation.
Sources of research ideas are:
• The real world
• Academic literature
• Other people (e.g. lecturers of your courses)
It is essential to study existing literature
- To find out whether the intended research will contain an element of novelty (niewigheid)
- To create an opportunity to contribute, by presenting the existing literature as inadequate,
incomplete or ignoring a certain perspective
- The literature is used to
o identify a research problem,
o to plan sampling,
o formulate questions
o choose method of analysis
4.2 Wrestling with research problems
What is the actual problem? What is the best way to solve the problem?
Formulate your potential research problem as a question:
- about relationship(s) between two (or more) variables
o The advantage of expressing relationships between
variables is that they can be tested
- make clear that you understand what you ask
- use existing theory as the basis for your question
Which bias can you identify above?
- The first bullet point: Quantitative and deductive bias: research is about testing
relationships between variables
- E.g. research problem: How can ownership advantages create competitive advantages for
B2C shared mobility firms when internationalizing?
