Created By: Test Bank
Instructor’s Manual for Research Methods for Business
Students 8th Edition by Mark NK Saunders Philip Lewis
Adrian Thornhill A+
INTRODUCTION
An overview of the instructors’ manual
This instructors’ manual provides commentary for the eighth edition of the textbook Research
Methods for Business Students. The commentary is on a chapter by chapter basis and includes:
• chapter learning outcomes;
• summary of the content;
• comments on likely student reactions and possible use of materials;
• ideas for students’ preparatory work;
• suggestions for delivery in the classroom;
• ideas for students’ follow-up work.
In addition, we have included a copy of a research project assignment, a group research project
poster assignment and a copy of a dissertation proposal assignment as appendices.
Research Methods for Business – an overview of the eighth edition
Pedagogic features
A+ Page 1
,Created By: Test Bank
The over-riding purpose of Research Methods for Business Students is to help undergraduate and
postgraduate students and students on professional courses to undertake research. Each chapter
deals with a part of the research process and discusses the ideas, techniques and methods using
as little jargon as is possible. Tables, checklists and diagrams are used to aid this discussion.
Where new terms are introduced for the first time, they are shown in bold, and a definition or
explanation follows shortly afterwards. They are also listed with a brief definition in the
glossary. The application of appropriate information technology is considered, in most instances
as an integral part of the text. Chapters have been cross-referenced as appropriate, and an index
is provided to help students find their way around the book.
Focus on student research boxes are included within the text of each chapter. These are based on
actual research projects, undertaken by students, in which points made in the text are illustrated.
In many instances, these worked examples illustrate possible pitfalls students may come across
while undertaking their research. Where a pitfall has been illustrated, it will, it is hoped, help
your students avoid making the same mistake. Further illustrations are provided by focus on
management research and research in the news boxes.
Focus on management research boxes discuss recent research in business and management.
These are normally derived from refereed academic journal articles, and students are likely to be
able to download the actual articles from online databases at their university.
Focus on research in the news boxes provide topical news articles that illustrate pertinent
research-related issues. All these will help students to understand the technique or idea and to
assess its suitability or appropriateness to their research. Boxed checklists provide students with
further focussed guidance for their own research.
A summary of key points at the end of each chapter can be used by students before and after
reading the chapter to ensure that they have digested the main points.
Self-check questions enable students to check they have understood the chapter. These can all be
answered without recourse to other (external) resources. Answers are provided to all the self-
check questions at the end of each chapter.
A+ Page 2
,Created By: Test Bank
Review and discuss questions follow the self-check questions. These suggest a variety of
activities students can undertake to help them further develop their knowledge and understanding
of the material in the chapter, often involving discussion with a friend.
Self-test multiple choice questions and true/false questions for each chapter are available on this
book’s companion website.
All chapters include a section towards the end titled “Progressing your research project” that can
be undertaken as part of the student’s research project. These are presented in sufficient detail to
enable them to focus on the techniques that are most appropriate to his or her research. By
completing all these sections, the student will have also completed his or her project report.
Each chapter is also accompanied by references, further reading and a case study.
Further reading is included for two distinct reasons:
to direct students to other work on the ideas contained within the chapter;
to direct students to further examples of research where the ideas contained in the chapter
have been used.
Case studies at the end of each chapter are all new to the eighth edition. They have been drawn
from a variety of business and management research scenarios and have been based on the case
study’s authors’ students’ experiences when undertaking a research project. They have been
written to highlight real issues that occur when undertaking business and management research.
To help focus students’ thoughts or discussion on some of the pertinent issues, each case is
followed by evaluative questions, answers to which are provided on the Instructors’ Companion
Web Site. A case study follows every chapter. A further 75 case studies from earlier editions of
the book are available on the Students’ Companion Web Site; answers to these cases are
provided on the Instructors’ Companion Web Site. A complete list of these cases is provided in
Appendix 4.
Contents
Chapter 1 outlines the nature of research and, more specifically, of business and management
research. The basic versus applied research and relevance debates are considered and advice
offered regarding keeping a reflective diary or notebook. The chapter concludes with an
overview of the purpose and structure of the book.
A+ Page 3
, Created By: Test Bank
Chapter 2 is written to assist students in the generation of ideas, which will help them to choose a
suitable research topic, and offers advice on what makes a good research topic. If your students
have already been given a research topic, perhaps by an organisation or tutor, they will need to
refine it into one that is feasible and should still therefore read this chapter. After their idea has
been generated and refined, the chapter discusses how to turn this idea into clear research
question(s) and objectives. (Research questions and objectives are referred to throughout the
book.) Finally, the chapter provides advice on how to write a research proposal.
The importance of the critical literature review to students’ research is discussed in Chapter 3.
This chapter outlines what a critical review needs to include and the range of secondary and
primary literature sources available. The chapter explains the purpose of reviewing the literature,
discusses a range of search strategies and contains advice on how to plan and undertake a search
and to write the review. The processes of identifying key words and searching using online
databases and the Internet are outlined. It also offers advice on how to record items and to
evaluate their relevance as well as discussing plagiarism.
Chapter 4 addresses the issue of understanding different research philosophies including
positivism, critical realism, interpretivism, post modernism and pragmatism. Within this, the
functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist and radical structuralist paradigms are discussed.
Deductive, inductive, abductive and retroductive approaches to theory development are also
considered. In this chapter, students are challenged to think about their own values and how they
view the world and the impact this will have on the way they undertake their research.
These ideas are developed further in Chapter 5, which explores the process of research design.
As part of this, the methodological choice of quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods is
considered. A variety of research strategies are explored and longitudinal and cross-sectional
time horizons discussed. Consideration is given to the implications of design choice for the
credibility of students’ research findings and conclusions.
A+ Page 4
Instructor’s Manual for Research Methods for Business
Students 8th Edition by Mark NK Saunders Philip Lewis
Adrian Thornhill A+
INTRODUCTION
An overview of the instructors’ manual
This instructors’ manual provides commentary for the eighth edition of the textbook Research
Methods for Business Students. The commentary is on a chapter by chapter basis and includes:
• chapter learning outcomes;
• summary of the content;
• comments on likely student reactions and possible use of materials;
• ideas for students’ preparatory work;
• suggestions for delivery in the classroom;
• ideas for students’ follow-up work.
In addition, we have included a copy of a research project assignment, a group research project
poster assignment and a copy of a dissertation proposal assignment as appendices.
Research Methods for Business – an overview of the eighth edition
Pedagogic features
A+ Page 1
,Created By: Test Bank
The over-riding purpose of Research Methods for Business Students is to help undergraduate and
postgraduate students and students on professional courses to undertake research. Each chapter
deals with a part of the research process and discusses the ideas, techniques and methods using
as little jargon as is possible. Tables, checklists and diagrams are used to aid this discussion.
Where new terms are introduced for the first time, they are shown in bold, and a definition or
explanation follows shortly afterwards. They are also listed with a brief definition in the
glossary. The application of appropriate information technology is considered, in most instances
as an integral part of the text. Chapters have been cross-referenced as appropriate, and an index
is provided to help students find their way around the book.
Focus on student research boxes are included within the text of each chapter. These are based on
actual research projects, undertaken by students, in which points made in the text are illustrated.
In many instances, these worked examples illustrate possible pitfalls students may come across
while undertaking their research. Where a pitfall has been illustrated, it will, it is hoped, help
your students avoid making the same mistake. Further illustrations are provided by focus on
management research and research in the news boxes.
Focus on management research boxes discuss recent research in business and management.
These are normally derived from refereed academic journal articles, and students are likely to be
able to download the actual articles from online databases at their university.
Focus on research in the news boxes provide topical news articles that illustrate pertinent
research-related issues. All these will help students to understand the technique or idea and to
assess its suitability or appropriateness to their research. Boxed checklists provide students with
further focussed guidance for their own research.
A summary of key points at the end of each chapter can be used by students before and after
reading the chapter to ensure that they have digested the main points.
Self-check questions enable students to check they have understood the chapter. These can all be
answered without recourse to other (external) resources. Answers are provided to all the self-
check questions at the end of each chapter.
A+ Page 2
,Created By: Test Bank
Review and discuss questions follow the self-check questions. These suggest a variety of
activities students can undertake to help them further develop their knowledge and understanding
of the material in the chapter, often involving discussion with a friend.
Self-test multiple choice questions and true/false questions for each chapter are available on this
book’s companion website.
All chapters include a section towards the end titled “Progressing your research project” that can
be undertaken as part of the student’s research project. These are presented in sufficient detail to
enable them to focus on the techniques that are most appropriate to his or her research. By
completing all these sections, the student will have also completed his or her project report.
Each chapter is also accompanied by references, further reading and a case study.
Further reading is included for two distinct reasons:
to direct students to other work on the ideas contained within the chapter;
to direct students to further examples of research where the ideas contained in the chapter
have been used.
Case studies at the end of each chapter are all new to the eighth edition. They have been drawn
from a variety of business and management research scenarios and have been based on the case
study’s authors’ students’ experiences when undertaking a research project. They have been
written to highlight real issues that occur when undertaking business and management research.
To help focus students’ thoughts or discussion on some of the pertinent issues, each case is
followed by evaluative questions, answers to which are provided on the Instructors’ Companion
Web Site. A case study follows every chapter. A further 75 case studies from earlier editions of
the book are available on the Students’ Companion Web Site; answers to these cases are
provided on the Instructors’ Companion Web Site. A complete list of these cases is provided in
Appendix 4.
Contents
Chapter 1 outlines the nature of research and, more specifically, of business and management
research. The basic versus applied research and relevance debates are considered and advice
offered regarding keeping a reflective diary or notebook. The chapter concludes with an
overview of the purpose and structure of the book.
A+ Page 3
, Created By: Test Bank
Chapter 2 is written to assist students in the generation of ideas, which will help them to choose a
suitable research topic, and offers advice on what makes a good research topic. If your students
have already been given a research topic, perhaps by an organisation or tutor, they will need to
refine it into one that is feasible and should still therefore read this chapter. After their idea has
been generated and refined, the chapter discusses how to turn this idea into clear research
question(s) and objectives. (Research questions and objectives are referred to throughout the
book.) Finally, the chapter provides advice on how to write a research proposal.
The importance of the critical literature review to students’ research is discussed in Chapter 3.
This chapter outlines what a critical review needs to include and the range of secondary and
primary literature sources available. The chapter explains the purpose of reviewing the literature,
discusses a range of search strategies and contains advice on how to plan and undertake a search
and to write the review. The processes of identifying key words and searching using online
databases and the Internet are outlined. It also offers advice on how to record items and to
evaluate their relevance as well as discussing plagiarism.
Chapter 4 addresses the issue of understanding different research philosophies including
positivism, critical realism, interpretivism, post modernism and pragmatism. Within this, the
functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist and radical structuralist paradigms are discussed.
Deductive, inductive, abductive and retroductive approaches to theory development are also
considered. In this chapter, students are challenged to think about their own values and how they
view the world and the impact this will have on the way they undertake their research.
These ideas are developed further in Chapter 5, which explores the process of research design.
As part of this, the methodological choice of quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods is
considered. A variety of research strategies are explored and longitudinal and cross-sectional
time horizons discussed. Consideration is given to the implications of design choice for the
credibility of students’ research findings and conclusions.
A+ Page 4
