Instructor’s Manual
(Lecture Notes Only)
For
Research Methods for
Business Students
Ninth Edition
By
Mark NK Saunders
Philip Lewis Thornhill
Adrian Thornhill
, Contents
Chapters Page
1 Research, reflective diaries and the purpose of this book 15
2 Generating a research idea and developing the research proposal 18
3 Critically reviewing the literature 22
4 Understanding research philosophy and approaches to theory development 26
5 Formulating the research design 30
6 Negotiating access and research ethics 34
7 Selecting samples 38
8 Obtaining and evaluating secondary data 42
9 Collecting primary data through observation 46
10 Collecting primary data using interviews and diaries 50
11 Collecting primary data using questionnaires 54
12 Analysing data quantitatively 58
13 Analysing data qualitatively 62
14 Writing and presenting the project report 66
Appendices
1 Research project assignment 69
2 Group poster research project assignment 74
3 Research proposal assignment 78
4 Cases for Research Methods for Business Students: Companion Website 83
and Current Edition
3
© 2023 Pearson Education Limited. All Rights Reserved.
, CHAPTER1
RESEARCH, REFLECTIVE DIARIES AND THE
PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
Learning outcomes
By the end of this chapter students should:
• define the nature of research;
• outline the features of business and management research;
• recall the stages they will need to complete (and revisit) as part of their research process;
• recognise the importance of keeping a reflective diary;
• recognise the purpose, structure and features of this book;
• progress their research project by starting to make entries in their reflective diary or notebook.
Summary
• This book is designed to help you to undertake a research project whether you are an
undergraduate or postgraduate student of business and management or a practising manager. It
is designed as an introductory textbook and to support you through the entire research process.
• Business and management research involves undertaking systematic research to find out things.
It is transdisciplinary and engages with both theory and practice.
• All business and management research projects can be placed on a basic–applied continuum
according to their purpose and context.
• Wherever your research project lies on this continuum, you should undertake your research with
rigour and try to ensure it benefits broader society. To do this you will need to pay careful
attention to the entire research process.
• To enhance your learning during your research we recommend you keep a reflective diary or
notebook.
• In this book, research is represented as a multi-stage process; however, this process is rarely
straightforward and will involve both reflecting on and revising stages already undertaken as
well as forward planning.
• The text of each chapter is supported through a series of boxed examples. These include focus
on student research, focus on management research and focus on research in the news. In
addition, there are checklists, self-check questions and review and discussion questions, an
assignment, and a case study with questions. Answers to all self-check questions are at the end
of the appropriate chapter.
• Answering the questions in the section ‘Progressing your research project’ for Chapters 1–13
will enable you to generate all the material that you will need to include in your project report
and reflect on what you have learnt. When you have also answered the questions in this section
for Chapter 14, you will have written your research report.
15
© 2023 Pearson Education Limited. All Rights Reserved.
, Saunders, Research Methods for Business Students, 9e, Instructor’s Manual
Comment
In order for students to use Research Methods for Business Students to the full, we believe it is
important to spend time outlining the structure of the book and the way it will be used during the
module. Our preferred method is to set pre-work and reading prior to each session, and to run the
taught part of the research methods course alongside an assignment in which the students undertake
their own piece of primary research. A copy of this assignment is included in appendix 1 of this
manual. An alternative is to plan a piece of research as a group project and present it as a poster. A
copy of this assignment is included as appendix two in this manual. Please feel free to adapt it as you
see fit. It is, of course, also important that students understand the nature of business and management
research and are aware of the importance of theory in research.
Student preparation
Many students will come to the first class of a course having undertaken only limited preparation.
However, it is still worthwhile setting some preparatory work and asking students to purchase the
book and bring it with them to the first class. For a class based solely on chapter one, we suggest you
ask the students to read the chapter and make notes when answering the three self-check questions at
the end.
In the classroom
Inevitably, the first class will involve some administration and an overview of the module. In recent
years, rather than simply going through a module outline we have used a variation of Easterby-Smith
et al.’s (2012: 6–7) “Skills and qualities” of researchers rating exercise to encourage students to think
about the module and its content. Each student has assessed their strengths and weaknesses for each
area of knowledge, skills and personal qualities using this checklist. Areas, which students scored as
strengths and weaknesses, have then been used as part of a class discussion in which we refer to the
module outline to highlight how the knowledge, skills and personal qualities required for business
and management research will be developed over the module. As part of this discussion, we also
clarify problems with terminology.
One exercise, which we have found useful, is to ask students to brainstorm two interlinked questions
in groups of four to six. These are:
1. What do you understand by the term “research”?
2. What distinguishes business and management research from research more generally?
An alternative, devised by Bryans and Mavin (2004) of Newcastle Business School involves asking
the students in groups of three (or individually) to draw a visual representation of how they see
research or how they see a researcher. Subsequently students explain their visual representations to
each other, their explanations providing a way of discussing research and providing insights into what
the students do and think. Common pictures for research include road/journey/path, tree, tunnel, brick
wall, magnifying glass, climbing and scales. We have used the analogy of a journey on the cover of
this edition. Common pictures for researchers include a monk, canoeist, hunter, diver, silos, dunce
and a bungee jumper.
16
© 2023 Pearson Education Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Lecture Notes Only)
For
Research Methods for
Business Students
Ninth Edition
By
Mark NK Saunders
Philip Lewis Thornhill
Adrian Thornhill
, Contents
Chapters Page
1 Research, reflective diaries and the purpose of this book 15
2 Generating a research idea and developing the research proposal 18
3 Critically reviewing the literature 22
4 Understanding research philosophy and approaches to theory development 26
5 Formulating the research design 30
6 Negotiating access and research ethics 34
7 Selecting samples 38
8 Obtaining and evaluating secondary data 42
9 Collecting primary data through observation 46
10 Collecting primary data using interviews and diaries 50
11 Collecting primary data using questionnaires 54
12 Analysing data quantitatively 58
13 Analysing data qualitatively 62
14 Writing and presenting the project report 66
Appendices
1 Research project assignment 69
2 Group poster research project assignment 74
3 Research proposal assignment 78
4 Cases for Research Methods for Business Students: Companion Website 83
and Current Edition
3
© 2023 Pearson Education Limited. All Rights Reserved.
, CHAPTER1
RESEARCH, REFLECTIVE DIARIES AND THE
PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
Learning outcomes
By the end of this chapter students should:
• define the nature of research;
• outline the features of business and management research;
• recall the stages they will need to complete (and revisit) as part of their research process;
• recognise the importance of keeping a reflective diary;
• recognise the purpose, structure and features of this book;
• progress their research project by starting to make entries in their reflective diary or notebook.
Summary
• This book is designed to help you to undertake a research project whether you are an
undergraduate or postgraduate student of business and management or a practising manager. It
is designed as an introductory textbook and to support you through the entire research process.
• Business and management research involves undertaking systematic research to find out things.
It is transdisciplinary and engages with both theory and practice.
• All business and management research projects can be placed on a basic–applied continuum
according to their purpose and context.
• Wherever your research project lies on this continuum, you should undertake your research with
rigour and try to ensure it benefits broader society. To do this you will need to pay careful
attention to the entire research process.
• To enhance your learning during your research we recommend you keep a reflective diary or
notebook.
• In this book, research is represented as a multi-stage process; however, this process is rarely
straightforward and will involve both reflecting on and revising stages already undertaken as
well as forward planning.
• The text of each chapter is supported through a series of boxed examples. These include focus
on student research, focus on management research and focus on research in the news. In
addition, there are checklists, self-check questions and review and discussion questions, an
assignment, and a case study with questions. Answers to all self-check questions are at the end
of the appropriate chapter.
• Answering the questions in the section ‘Progressing your research project’ for Chapters 1–13
will enable you to generate all the material that you will need to include in your project report
and reflect on what you have learnt. When you have also answered the questions in this section
for Chapter 14, you will have written your research report.
15
© 2023 Pearson Education Limited. All Rights Reserved.
, Saunders, Research Methods for Business Students, 9e, Instructor’s Manual
Comment
In order for students to use Research Methods for Business Students to the full, we believe it is
important to spend time outlining the structure of the book and the way it will be used during the
module. Our preferred method is to set pre-work and reading prior to each session, and to run the
taught part of the research methods course alongside an assignment in which the students undertake
their own piece of primary research. A copy of this assignment is included in appendix 1 of this
manual. An alternative is to plan a piece of research as a group project and present it as a poster. A
copy of this assignment is included as appendix two in this manual. Please feel free to adapt it as you
see fit. It is, of course, also important that students understand the nature of business and management
research and are aware of the importance of theory in research.
Student preparation
Many students will come to the first class of a course having undertaken only limited preparation.
However, it is still worthwhile setting some preparatory work and asking students to purchase the
book and bring it with them to the first class. For a class based solely on chapter one, we suggest you
ask the students to read the chapter and make notes when answering the three self-check questions at
the end.
In the classroom
Inevitably, the first class will involve some administration and an overview of the module. In recent
years, rather than simply going through a module outline we have used a variation of Easterby-Smith
et al.’s (2012: 6–7) “Skills and qualities” of researchers rating exercise to encourage students to think
about the module and its content. Each student has assessed their strengths and weaknesses for each
area of knowledge, skills and personal qualities using this checklist. Areas, which students scored as
strengths and weaknesses, have then been used as part of a class discussion in which we refer to the
module outline to highlight how the knowledge, skills and personal qualities required for business
and management research will be developed over the module. As part of this discussion, we also
clarify problems with terminology.
One exercise, which we have found useful, is to ask students to brainstorm two interlinked questions
in groups of four to six. These are:
1. What do you understand by the term “research”?
2. What distinguishes business and management research from research more generally?
An alternative, devised by Bryans and Mavin (2004) of Newcastle Business School involves asking
the students in groups of three (or individually) to draw a visual representation of how they see
research or how they see a researcher. Subsequently students explain their visual representations to
each other, their explanations providing a way of discussing research and providing insights into what
the students do and think. Common pictures for research include road/journey/path, tree, tunnel, brick
wall, magnifying glass, climbing and scales. We have used the analogy of a journey on the cover of
this edition. Common pictures for researchers include a monk, canoeist, hunter, diver, silos, dunce
and a bungee jumper.
16
© 2023 Pearson Education Limited. All Rights Reserved.
