Business Research: Definition, Areas, and Types

Business Research Definition

• An organized and systematic inquiry or investigation to find answers or solutions to a specific problem.
• Business research can resolve problematic issues in accounting, finance, management, and marketing.

Research Areas

• Accounting: The focus is on budget control systems, practices, and procedures.
• Finance: Focuses on operations of financial institutions, financial ratios, mergers, stock exchange behavior and the influence of psychology on financial practitioners.
• Management: Encompasses employee attitudes, behaviors, human resources, demographics' impact, production operations, strategy formulation, and information systems.
• Marketing: Addresses consumer decision-making, customer satisfaction, market segmentation, creating competitive advantage, product image, advertising and sales promotion.

Types of Research

• Applied research: Solves a manager's current work problem with a timely solution.
• Basic/fundamental/pure research: Generates knowledge to understand how certain problems in organizations can be solved.

Benefits of Research Knowledge

• Helps professional managers identify and solve minor work setting problems.
• Discriminate between good and bad research.
• Appreciates influences and effects of factors on a situation.
• Take calculated risks in decision making with full awareness of outcome probabilities.
• Prevents vested interests from influencing a situation.
• Relate to hired researchers and consultants effectively.
• Combines experience with scientific knowledge when making decisions.

Internal Consultants/Researchers Advantages

• Better accepted by staff.
• Less time needed to understand organizational structure, philosophy, and work systems.
• Integral to implementation and evaluation of recommendations.
• Lower cost than external teams for problem solving due to existing familiarity.

Internal Consultants/Researchers Disadvantages

• May have a stereotyped view of the organization and its problems.
• Fresh ideas and perspectives may be inhibited.
• Powerful coalitions can influence the team to distort or misrepresent facts.
• Recommendations may not be considered as expert.
• Team's bias may compromise objectivity and scientific validity.

External Consultants/Researchers Advantages

• Experience from working with different organizations facing similar problems.
• Ability to think divergently and convergently towards problems.
• Knowledge of current sophisticated problem-solving models.

External Consultants/Researchers Disadvantages

• High cost, unless problems are critical.
• More time required to understand the organization.
• Unwelcome by employees, and departments are likely to be affected negatively.
• Extra fees for the implementation and evaluation phases.

Ethics

• Ethics in business research refers to a code of conduct in business research.

Scientific Research

• Focuses on solving problems.
• Employs a step-by-step, logical, organized, and rigorous method.
• Identifies problems, gathers and analyzes data, and draws valid conclusions.

Characteristics of Scientific Research

• Purposiveness: Research has to have an aim or purpose.
• Rigor: Carefulness, scrupulousness, and exactitude with a good theoretical base.
• Testability: Scientific hypotheses must be testable through research.
• Replicability: Replication is made possible by a clear description.
• Precision and Confidence: Precision estimates are correct, confidence is the predictions are true.
• Objectivity: Conclusions based on facts from actual data
• Generalizability: Refers to the scope of applicability of research.
• Parsimony: Simplest explanation.

Hypothetico-Deductive Method

• Involves identifying a broad problem area, defining the problem statement, developing hypotheses, determining measures, data collection, data analysis, and interpreting data.
• Unless variables are measured, hypothesis cannot be tested.

Reasoning

• Deductive Reasoning: a general theory and the application of that theory to a specific test
• Inductive Reasoning: observes specific phenomena and arrives at conclusions

Alternative Research Approaches

• Positivism: Uses scientific research to get to the truth with experiment-based.
• Constructionism: Aims to understand the rules people use to make sense of knowledge, with qualitative methods.
• Critical Realism: Recognizes an external reality.
• Pragmatism: Focuses on practical, applied research to solve problems, using objective and subjective phenomena.

The Research Design

• Blueprint for data collection, measurement, and analysis based on the research questions.
• Decision-making must consider research perspective, problem definition, objectives, questions, rigor, and practical considerations.

Study Purpose

• Exploratory Study: Undertaken when little is known.
• Descriptive Study: Describes the characteristics of persons, events, situations.
• Causal Study: Tests whether one variable causes change in another.

Conditions for Causal Study

• The independent and dependent variables should covary.
• The independent variable should precede dependent variable.
• Possible alternate causes must be eliminated.
• A logical explanation must exist.

Extent of Interference

• Correlational study: Minimal interference in natural environment.
• Causal study: Researcher manipulates variables.

Study settings

• Contrived Setting: Artificial for cause studies.
• Non-contrived Setting: Natural environment for work and correlational studies.

Research Strategies

• Experiments: Uses manipulation to test hypotheses
• Survey Research: Collects knowledge, attitudes, and behavior
• Observation: Records and analyzes actions or behaviour.
• Case Studies: Examines real-life situations from multiple angles.
• Grounded Theory: Develops theory inductively from data.
• Action Research: Used in organizations and solving of implemented solutions.
• Mixed Methods: Combines any of the above.

Triangulation Method

• Method Triangulation: Uses data collection and analysis.
• Data Triangulation: Sources and time periods.
• Researcher Triangulation: Multiple Researchers collect or analyze data
• Theory Triangulation: Uses data in multiple perspectives and theory.

Unit of Analysis

• The level of aggregation of the data
• Can involve individuals, dyads, groups, organizations, cultures.

Time Horizon

• Cross Sectional Studies: Data gathered once perhaps in days.
• Longitudinal Studies: Gathers data at two or more points in time.

Review of Elements

• The basic research design issues are the purpose of the study, extent of researcher interference, the research strategy, study setting, unit of analysis and time horizon
• Researcher constraints might be that a less than “ideal” research design.

Managerial Implications

• Issues help managers to understand what the researcher is attempting to do especially when data results and sample sizes are conflicting.
• Rigorous the study ought to be. Knowing that more rigorous research designs consume more resources, the manager is in a position to weigh the gravity of the problem.
• The difference is that managers do not fall into the trap.

Types of Questionnaires

• A pre-formulated, written set of questions.
• Are an efficient data collection mechanism when a study is.
• Are generally designed to collect large numbers of quantity.

Personally Administered Questionnaires

• A good way data to can collect. With the researcher and members collecting.

Mail and Electronic Questionnaires

• Advantages are wide surveying. Easy administration.
• Easy for surveyors. A must for literacy.

Improving Response Rates

• The improvement will be follow up letters/mails. To add incentives. Including addressable.

Guideliness

• Wording questions are critical. Variables will be addressed. And the design of the questionaire.

Principles of Wording

• To analyze what the answers and questions will require. The language and types of questions.

What should be included

• Content and type of what variables there are. Objective is measurable, subjective is attitudes.

Language Wording

• Depending on the wording, education, and beliefs of the target audience of what the questionnaire is about.

Question Types

• Opended ended with no restrictions in answers. Closed ended for quick to make decision, for ease of analysis.

Negatively Wording

• Instead of phrasing positive there will negatively worded questions. This can cause confusing.

Double Berreled Questions

• A question itself to multiple. Easier ask 2 questions instead.

Ambiguous Questions

• Even questions that are not double-barrelled is not meant to be taken. The outcome will not be accurate

Recall Dependent Questions

• Answers from previous question that they need to.

Leading Questions

• The questions may lead the surveyor to believe something depending on they question you want to ask.

Loaded Questions

• Phrased in emotions.

Social Desirability

• The the worded that asks socially. Sometimes delibrate to index individuals' social desire.

Length

• Keep them brief or concise.

Sequencing of Questions

Relate to the things depending on the subject matter of decision-making.

Introduction on Good Questionnaire

• States the reason to for the questionnaire. To build relationship with surveyors.

Organizing Q's to give instructions

• Logically will help the respondent. Allow to complete without difficulty.

Open-Ended Questions

• Allows comments on any aspect they choose. Express thansk to surveyors.

Questionnaire Design

• Determine the content of the questionnaire. To for followups to cover it.

International Surveying

• Compare the operations. A study behavior of people at different cultures.

Issues in Collection

• To make sure that questions are uniform. Timing of the data with what they are doing.

Ethics in Collection

• What they did and what they said. Respect the data.

Ethical researchers

• Give credit to what they say, always protect privacy of subject. No pressuring, all data must be true.

Chapter 11 Operational Variable

• Assigning numbers to chartictiers based on the pre-defined. But measuring requires object and attributes of the object.

Operationalization

• They lack they physical they need to measure
• Conceptualize and have abstract notions. Looking at the properties to the concept

Operationalizing Is Done

Need to have the constant idea. To measure the construct.

Relevant measurement is the Scale

• It has to be in what their thoughts with what what measuring. All domain have to adequately.

Valid Measurement

• The quantitative questions or adequately represent.

One Dimensional and Multidimensional construct.

• What is it. The how test with is used

Scaling Reliablity Validity

• Measurments if what has to use. Four types is used to test with level we use.

Four types off scale

• Measuring that needs to in numbers. tool how they differ

Nominal Scale

• It categorizes the subjects into categories.

Ordinal Scale

• Categorizing of the variables but ordered in meaningful way. With what the level you are at on.

Interval Scale

• Performing operations depending on the distance

Ranking Scales

• With to access.

Operationalinzing

• Assessment validity and measurability. If measures valid the measure should know.

High measurability can be the:

• Content measure: representative, face : what they are to concept of the thing. Criterion measure for prediction. Construct if a tests fits the design of the theory.

Sampling

• Selecting number elements from the population. How collected by understond.

Is what that is in mind:

Population, element, sample unit, subject, parameter. Sample statistic

Sample statisitcs

• Sampling involves how even if thousand they will it to take for the every element.
• In most cases sample does not perfectly replicate what the population. Normal distruibition.

The sampling process

• Understand the elements to study. So that is easy generalization of charactersies. the steps in sampling is population.

Defniiton

• The elements and time

the Sample Frame

• all sample.

Factors Decisions to make on sampeling

• The goal of your study? How precise and reliable do you need in confidence. All constrait.

the Sampling element

• Non-zero subsject Unrestricted sampling - every sample has equal to selected easier and most generalize.

Restrcited Sampling

• easier to collect the subsject: Stratifeied randomly proportionataly: easier

Charecteric

• Hetergeneity in all strata. All revalent subpopulations Cluster: target populaiton is clustered and sample is cluster more efficient.

non-probabilty samples

• conveniicence: is there no probilitey

non probabiliity

• the colelciton if memebers to do it. It is easier but best is explatory phase.

non-probabiliity

• to give the desired informatiion either is is has it based in the creiter. quta is froms

judgment

• it only liminted

types

• There are two main non probilityies convenince lowest. and purposivie desinges judgnetl y.