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Business Research Techniques
pre-master
Samenvatting van de lessen & het boek
Lectures 1 t/m 9 (including the corresponding literature in the book)
Research Methods for Business – Uma Sekaran and Roger Bougie
Seventh Edition
Written by: Eva Lemmens
-----------------------------------------
,
,Lecture 1 – Setting the Scene (Ch 1 & 2)
Being knowledgeable about research and research methods helps managers to:
1. Identify and effectively solve minor problems in the work setting
2. Know how to discriminate good from bad decisions
3. Appreciate and be constantly aware of the multiple influences and multiple effects of factors
impinging on a situation.
4. Take calculated risks
5. Prevent possible vested interests from exercising their influence in a situation
6. Relate to hired researchers and consultants more effectively
7. Combine experience with scientific knowledge while making decisions
The hallmarks of ‘good’ (business) research:
- Purposiveness (=doelgerichtheid)
o Traffic to our website is low
o The sales of our new product are lagging
o Employees are dissatisfied
o The stock market reaction to our sustainability investments is weak
- Rigor (=grondig)
o Ensuring a good theoretical base
o Ensuring a sound methodological design
o Conclusions based on a research done under 10 or 12 employees is unscientific, it
lacks rigor. Conclusions are incorrectly drawn, may be bias, etc.
- Testability
o Using hypotheses that are testable
- Objectivity
o Drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
- Parsimony (do not research everything)
o Shaving away unnecessary details
o Explaining a lot with a little
- Replicability
o Finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances
- Generalizability
o Being able to apply the research findings in a wide variety of different settings
- Precision and confidence
o Precision refers to the closeness of the findings to reality based on a sample
o Confidence refers to the probability that the estimations are correct
Fundamental vs. applied research
Applied research:
- To solve a current problem faced by a manager
- Applies to a specific company
- Within firms or research agencies
Fundamental (or basic) research:
- To generate new knowledge about how problems that occur in several firms can be solved
- Applies to several organizational settings
- Mainly within universities and knowledge institutes
, Deductive vs. inductive research
Deductive research is used to test a theory, work from the general to the more specific.
Business Research Techniques
pre-master
Samenvatting van de lessen & het boek
Lectures 1 t/m 9 (including the corresponding literature in the book)
Research Methods for Business – Uma Sekaran and Roger Bougie
Seventh Edition
Written by: Eva Lemmens
-----------------------------------------
,
,Lecture 1 – Setting the Scene (Ch 1 & 2)
Being knowledgeable about research and research methods helps managers to:
1. Identify and effectively solve minor problems in the work setting
2. Know how to discriminate good from bad decisions
3. Appreciate and be constantly aware of the multiple influences and multiple effects of factors
impinging on a situation.
4. Take calculated risks
5. Prevent possible vested interests from exercising their influence in a situation
6. Relate to hired researchers and consultants more effectively
7. Combine experience with scientific knowledge while making decisions
The hallmarks of ‘good’ (business) research:
- Purposiveness (=doelgerichtheid)
o Traffic to our website is low
o The sales of our new product are lagging
o Employees are dissatisfied
o The stock market reaction to our sustainability investments is weak
- Rigor (=grondig)
o Ensuring a good theoretical base
o Ensuring a sound methodological design
o Conclusions based on a research done under 10 or 12 employees is unscientific, it
lacks rigor. Conclusions are incorrectly drawn, may be bias, etc.
- Testability
o Using hypotheses that are testable
- Objectivity
o Drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
- Parsimony (do not research everything)
o Shaving away unnecessary details
o Explaining a lot with a little
- Replicability
o Finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances
- Generalizability
o Being able to apply the research findings in a wide variety of different settings
- Precision and confidence
o Precision refers to the closeness of the findings to reality based on a sample
o Confidence refers to the probability that the estimations are correct
Fundamental vs. applied research
Applied research:
- To solve a current problem faced by a manager
- Applies to a specific company
- Within firms or research agencies
Fundamental (or basic) research:
- To generate new knowledge about how problems that occur in several firms can be solved
- Applies to several organizational settings
- Mainly within universities and knowledge institutes
, Deductive vs. inductive research
Deductive research is used to test a theory, work from the general to the more specific.
