Steps in Writing Business Research Proposal

 
 

Solving a problem or taking advantage of an opportunity involves taking a decision

that is selected after performing series steps. The effectiveness of the decision is
based on how well the steps are followed, how well the criteria is set and how
adequately weightage have been assigned to different criteria on which the decision
is based.

Business Research process

A research design is the detailed blueprint used to guide a research study towards
its objectives. Business research, is a scientific investigation that involves set of
highly interrelated activities, if one activity is not performed properly it will have
damaging effects forthcoming activities. The article explains the steps involved in the
business research process

Step 1: Identification of Problem/Opportunity

The research process starts with the identification of the issues that needs to be
researched. In case of basic research conducted by academics an area of interest or
some new area is identified for purpose of research.

Step 2: Preliminary collection of literature/ consultation

After the identification of problem, the next Once the problem is identified, the next
step is to preliminary collection of relevant data/literature that can help develop an
initial understanding of the problem; in case of business problems/opportunity
consultation can help in comprehending the situation. In academic research this
stage can help in initial understanding of the issue to be researched, plus
identification of value it has in the field of business, gaps in existing research,
contribution the research can make.

Step 3: Statement of Problem

Although other authors haven’t included this step at an explicit step, but I find it
important to clearly state the problem, delineating the problem with a statement can
provide rich benefits. It can help in developing clear understanding of what issue
needs to be resolved, it is helpful in clearly laying out the objectives, attainment of
those would lead to the solution of problem. A problem statement is a clear, precise,
and succinct statement of question or issue that is to be investigated with the goal of
finding an answer or solution (Sekaran, 2003).

Step 4: Detailed Literature Review

An important part of academic research, literature review serves a soul of research.

It broadens the horizons of research, helps develop focus, provides direction and
reduces uncertainty. Literature review involves looking for relevant literature in the
body of knowledge that would help in not only the identification of relationship
amongst variables but also the direction of relationship, it would help in formulation
of hypotheses, further in the research it is useful in discussions. Not only does
literature review helps in gaining understanding of variables, it can help in identifying
the research design that may be followed for a particular study, the analytical
techniques, sample size and sampling technique. A critical literature review is not
summary of existing research, where author writes summaries of each article he/she
read, a critical literature review has critique, it goes away from the tide, you need to
cement an arguments by looking for its supporters, plus one has to look for those
who negated a particular argument in their research. A good literature review
identifies the significance of factors, evaluates the strength and weaknesses of a
particular issue concern, compares and contrasts information, gives reasons for
selecting a particular factor, links pieces of information and draws appropriate
conclusion. Literature review would have helped in gaining detailed understanding of
variables, their characteristics, their effects or how are they affected. Once we know
the list of variables and their nature, the next step is identification of key variable,
there relationship and then putting them into a diagrammatic view that would help in
easily identifying dependent, independent, mediating variables.

A theoretical framework should have the following ingredients

1. Identification of variables considered relevant to the study

2. Discussing on the direction of relationship between two or more variables
3. How and why a certain relationship is expected, these must be supported by
previous research findings.
4. A schematic diagram to understand the theoretical relationships.

Step 5: Research Hypothesis

A hypothesis is an educated guess; it is referred to as an educated guess because it

is based on the theoretical foundation laid down in the literature review and
theoretical framework. A good hypothesis must be predictable and testable. After
variables are identified, and relationship among them is established, we now need to
establish if the relationships hold true or not. This starts with the formulation of
hypothesis. A hypothesis is defined as a logically conjectured relationship between
two or more variables expressed in the form of a testable statement (Sekaran, 2003).
The book provides variety of examples on hypothesis, each of the tests in the book
is preceded by a hypothesis that is then tested using an appropriate statistical
technique.

Step 6: Research Methodology

During this step the researcher identifies how the study will be conducted. It is
important that this section should have ample information for the reader, so that if
he/she wants to replicate the study in their settings they can do it with ease (Huck,
2004).  There are few questions that a researcher needs to answer which drafting
research methodology.

1. What is the Unit of Analysis?

2. Who are the subjects in the research study?
3. What is the sampling technique for the study?
4. What is the sample size for the study?
5. What statistical techniques would be used for testing hypothesis?
6. Which instrument will be used for data collection?

Step 7: Data Collection

The next step after formulating the research methodology is the collection of data.
Data can be collected through variety of means that includes telephonic interviews,
personally administered questionnaire, mail questionnaires, face to face interview,
and observation. A few issues highlighted in data collection include timing of data
collection, individual collecting the data, and cost associated with the collection of
data.

Step 8: Data Entry and Screening & Cleansing of Data and

This steps starts with entering the data into any statistical software that can help in
timely analysis of data. This is discussed in detail in chapter 5. Once the data is
entered it is important to screen and clean the data for any anomalies, failure to do
so will result in incorrect results. For instance you record pay for the respondents,
and each one answers between 10000 100000, but by mistake you enter 1000
instead of 10000, this will result in wrong interpretation of results. How to do it is
discussed in detail in chapter 6.

Step 9: Data Analysis with Appropriate statistical techniques

Once the data is entered and cleaned, the next step is pursuing appropriate
statistical analysis based on the research hypothesis. There are number of
techniques that are applied to analyze the data. In order to understand if there exist
differences between groups (depending on the number of groups) we can use tests
to compare groups (T-Tests, ANOVA), to investigate relationship between variables
we can use correlation and for prediction we can use Linear, Multiple and Logistic
 Regression. All these techniques are discussed in greater detail in later chapters.
One of the problems with researchers is that they do not know what test to apply in
what situation, this has been taken care off by identifying the scenarios in which the
test are applicable, plus detailed examples in which the test is appropriate.

Step 10: Interpretation/Presentation of Results

Once the data is analyzed and you have the results on screen, the next step is to
interpret the results, followed by its presentation.one of the key issues most research
face is the interpretation of the results. The researcher has to determine if the results
are significant, does the hypothesis hold true, and then present the results in a
meaning full easy to understand manner. In order to facilitate the research, this book
after running each and every test, discusses in detail the interpretation of the results
and how shall they be presented in the thesis.

Step 11: Discussion

The Discussion section is a culmination of the research and the most important part
of the paper, but one that is mostly ignored. Most newbies in research simply
interpret the results but do not discuss the findings. Discussion involves reviewing
the research results in light of the existing research. This section involves comparing
and contrasting the research results with previous research studies, and it is seen if
the results are similar or contradictory to old studies. If they are contradictory the
researcher needs to look for reasons that are causing this change.

Step 12: Conclusion

Final step in a research study is providing a Conclusion. It provides an overview of

the entire thesis while highlighting the focal points of the discussion. This section
provides the findings of the research in a logical form. The conclusions can cite
references where they concur with results from other researchers. You could
summarize the main points of research, but do not just list points, try making it
interesting but providing an overall picture that helps in developing understanding of
your work. Conclude your paper by restating what you have found, acknowledge that
there is more to be explored on the topic and briefly describe the issues that remain.

References
 Huck, S. (2012). Reading statistics and research (6th ed.). USA: Pearson.
 Sekaran, U. (2006). Research methods for business: A skill building approach
(6th ed.). India: Wiley.
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