INTRODUCTION TO

RESEARCH

The

WHAT
WHY and
HOW OF RESERACH

TYPES OF RESERACH

WHICH CRITERIA?
Basic and Applied research (Business research)
Exploratory, Descriptive, and Explanatory (based
on the objective of carrying out a study)
Positivism/quantitative and interpretivism
/qualitative (based on research paradigm)
Evaluation, action, analytical or statistical
researches etc.,

Activity: Being a Manager of business oriented company

aiming at profit maximisation which type of research
between Applied and Basic you will finance. Why?
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RESEARCH PRPOCESS (Howard

and Sharp, 1983 in Gill and Johnson, 2002)

IDENTIFY BROAD AREA

SELECT TOPIC
DECIDE APPROACH
FORMULATE PLAN
COLLECT INFORMATION
PRESENT FINDINGS
ANALYSE DATA

ACTIVITY: Research process is Linear. Discuss

Read Adam and Kamuzora (2008:18-20), and
Kothari (2004:10-12) for research process and
linearity arguments
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RESEARCH ETHICS

Pattern of behaviour expected from all research

participants (principal researcher, research
assistants, respondents, sponsors, community,
organisations where data is collected, etc.,)
Appropriate behaviour in relation to the rights of
stakeholders involved in a research or are affected
it (Saunders et al, 2004)
Moral principles or values that generally govern our
conducts (Aaker et al, 2002)
Ensure that respondents and other stakeholders do
not suffer physical harm, discomfort, pain,
embarrassment, or loss of privacy (Cooper and
Schindler, 2003).
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Factors for Successful

Research (Easterby-Smith et
al, 2008:13-24)

Motivation i.e., determination and

single-mindedness
Support and Supervision
Style and creativity
Skills and personal qualities of a
researcher

Discuss questions

How exploratory, descriptive and

explanatory research designs differ from
each other?
Why action research and evaluation research
important for organisation success?
Discuss the rights of respondents,
community, sponsors and organisations from
which information is obtained to be observed
by researchers.
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