The importance of

research questions
 What is research?
• People undertake research in order to find
things out in a systematic way, thereby
increasing their knowledge.
• Business and management research seeks to
– advance knowledge
– provide a procedure for solving managerial
problems
• Research provides transferable skills of value
in the work place
 The Research Process
Formulate and clarify research topic

Critically review the literature

Choose research strategy

Negotiate access and consider ethical issues

Collect data

Analyse data

Write report
Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to
walk from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to
get to” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where”, said Alice
“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you
walk”, said the Cat.
Lewis Carroll. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
 Developing your ideas
• Examining own strengths and interests
• Looking at past research projects
Research • Discussion
Ideas • Searching the literature
• Keeping notebook of ideas
• Exploring personal preferences using past
research projects
• Brainstorming
Research • Important to direct your research
Question • Should be analytic not descriptive (at this level)
• Should not be too easy or too difficult
• Does your question raise fresh insights?

• More specific than research questions

Research • Indicate a clear purpose of the research
• Breaks down the research question into specific
Objectives activities
• Formal language
 Phrasing research questions as objectives
Team briefing schemes
Research question
1) Why have organisations introduced team-
briefings?
2) How can the effectiveness of schemes be
measured?
3) Has team briefing been effective?
4) How can the effectiveness of team briefing
be explained?
5) Can the explanation be generalized?
Research objectives
1) To identify organisations’ objectives for team
briefings
2) To establish suitable effectiveness criteria for
team briefing schemes
3) To describe the extent to which the effectiveness
criteria for team-briefings have been met
4) To determine those factors associated with the
effectiveness criteria for team-briefing being
met
5) To estimate whether some of those factors are
more influential than otters
6) To develop an explanatory theory that associates
certain factors with the effectiveness of team-
briefing schemes