Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Research Methodology
Session 1: Introduction
Senior lecturer: Asso.Prof. Le Thi My Linh (Phd., MBA., MA)
1
COURSE OBJECTIVES
2
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
3
Uma Sekaran and Roger Bougie (2013),
Research methods for business, John Wiley
and Sons, Ltd, Publication.
Reading materials and handouts: given in class
Research methods for business
5
Lectures
Exercises
Discussion in the whole class/in the groups
Individual and Group presentation
Research activities
6
GRADING
Type Items %
Individual Participation 10
assessment
Quiz 1 (class 3) , quiz 2 30
(class 7)
Indepth interview (pair) 20
Group Assignment Observation (presentation, 10
and written)
Oral presentation Research 15
proposal (class 11)
Written Research proposal 15
(one week after class 11)
Total 100
GROUP ASSIGNMENT
8
Chapter 1
Introduction to Research
9
Definition of Business Research
10
Applied versus Basic Research
11
Examples Applied Research
Scenario 1
Companies are very interested in acquiring other firms
even when the latter operate in totally unrelated realms
of business. For example, Coca-Cola has announced that
it wants to buy China Huiyuan Juice Group in an effort
to expand its activities in one of the world’s fastest-
growing beverage markets. Such acquisitions are
claimed to “work miracles.” However, given the
unpredictability of the stock market and the slowing
down of business, many companies are not sure
whether such acquisitions involve too much risk. At the
same time, they also wonder if they are missing out on a
great business opportunity if they fail to take such risk.
Some research is needed 15here!
It is Applied or Basic research?
Scenario 2
Effects of Service Recovery on Customer
Satisfaction
A research scientist wants to investigate the
question: What is the most effective way for an
organization to recover from a service failure?
Her objective is to provide guidelines for
establishing the proper "fit" between service
failure and service recovery that will generalize
across a variety of service
16 industries.
More Examples of Research Areas in
Business
Absenteeism
Communication
Motivation
Consumer decision making
Customer satisfaction
Budget allocations
Accounting procedures
(read page 4,5 in textbook for more detail)
17
Why managers should know about
research
Being knowledgeable about research and research methods
helps professional managers to:
Identify and effectively solve minor problems in the work
setting.
Know how to discriminate good from bad research.
Appreciate the multiple influences and effects of factors
impinging on a situation.
Take calculated risks in decision making.
Prevent possible vested interests from exercising their
influence in a situation.
Relate to hired researchers and consultants more effectively.
Combine experience with scientific knowledge while making
decisions.
18
The Manager–Researcher Relationship
19
Internal Researchers
Advantages:
Better acceptance from staff
Knowledge about organization
Would be an integral part of implementation and
evaluation of the research recommendations.
Disadvantages
Less fresh ideas
Power politics could prevail
Possibly not valued as “expert” by staff
20
External Researchers
Advantages
Divergent and convergent thinking
Experience from several situations in different
organizations
Better technical training, usually
Disadvantages
Takes time to know and understand the
organization
Rapport and cooperation from staff not easy
Not available for evaluation and implementation
Costs
21
Chapter 2
Scientific Investigation
22 22
Hallmarks of Scientific Research:
23
Purposiveness: the manager has started the
research with a definite aim or purpose. Focus:
increasing the commitment of employees
Rigor: a good theoretical base and a sound
methodological design add rigor to a purposive
study
Rigor connotes carefulness, scrupulousness, and
the degree of exactitude in research
investigation
24
Testability: researcher develop hypotheses,
then these can be tested by applying certain
statistical tests to the data collected for the
purpose
Replicability: the results of the tests of
hypotheses should be supported again and
yet again when the same type of research is
repeated in other similar circumstances
25
Precision and confidence
Precision : refers to the closeness of the
findings to ‘reality” based on sample or
degree of accuracy of the results on the basis
of the sample to what really exists in the
universe
Confidence: refers to the probability that our
estimations are correct
26
Objectivity: the conclusion drawn through the
interpretation of the results of data analysis
should be objective; not from our subjective
or emotional values
Generalizability: refer to the scope of
applicability of the research findings in one
organisational setting to other setting.
Parsimony: can be introduced with a good
understanding of the problem and the
important factors that influence it
27
Hypothetico-Deductive Research
The Seven-Step Process in the Hypothetico-
Deductive Method
Identify a broad problem area
Define the problem statement
Develop hypotheses
Determine measures
Data collection
Data analysis
Interpretation of data
28
Deduction and Induction
31 31
The Research Process
Step 1: Establish the Need for a Research
35
MANAGEMENT VS RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Management questions Research questions
36
WHERE THE RESEARCH IDEAS COME
FROM?
Sponsor, firms
Experienced researchers
Published literatures: academic articles, textbooks
(cautious with date)
Try different keywords to search on literature
databases (google scholars, google, science direct,
proquest,…)
37
Preliminary Information Gathering
38
The Problem Statement
Examples of Well-Defined Problem Statements
To what extent do the structure of the organization and
type of information systems installed account for the
variance in the perceived effectiveness of managerial
decision making?
To what extent has the new advertising campaign been
successful in creating the high-quality, customer-
centered corporate image that it was intended to
produce?
How has the new packaging affected the sales of the
product?
What are the effects of downsizing on the long-range
growth patterns of companies?
39
The Research Proposal
Key elements:
Purpose of the study
Specific problem to be investigated.
Scope of the study
Relevance of the study
Research design:
Sampling design
Data collection methods
Data analysis
Time frame
Budget
Selected Bibliography
40
Typical structure of a research
proposal
Proposed title
Rationale
Proposed research problem
Proposed research questions/ objectives or hypotheses
Preliminary literature review
Proposed research methodology
Theoretical framework
Sampling design
Methods and techniques to collect data
Methods and techniques to analyze data
Scope of study
Proposed time frame
Budget
Reference
41
Establish Research Objectives
Problem
42
Determining the research objectives
43
Summary
What is research?
Type of research
Topic in business research
Research process
Problem statement
Research objectives and questions
44