BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS PART 1 Introduction to business research 1 research in business Why study business research?

Information and competitive advantage Goals Decision support Business intelligence Strategy Tactics Hierarchy of information-based decision makers The research process: a preview 2 ethics in business research What are research ethics? Ethical treatment of participants Benefits Deception Informed consent Debriefing participants Rights to privacy Data collection in cyberspace Ethics and the sponsor Confidentiality The sponsor-researcher relationship Sponsors ethics Researchers and team members Safety Ethical behavior of assistants Protection for ethical awareness 3 thinking like a researcher The language of research Concepts Constructs Definitions Variables Propositions and hypotheses Theory Models 4 the research process: an overview The research process Stage1: clarifying the research question Stage 2: proposing research Resource allocation and budgets Valuing research information The research proposal

Stage 3: designing the research project Research design Sampling design Pilot design Stage 4: data collection and preparation Stage 5: data analysis and interpretation Stage 6: reporting the results Research process issues The favored-technique syndrome Company database strip-mining Unsearchable questions III-defined management problems Politically motivated research 5 clarifying the research question through Secondary data and exploration A search strategy for exploration Levels of information Types of information sources Evaluating information sources Mining internal sources Evolution of data mining Data mining process PART 11 THE DESIGN OF BUSINESS RESEARCH 6 research design: an overview What is research design? Classification of designs Exploratory studies Qualitative techniques Secondary data analysis Experience survey Focus groups Two stage design Descriptive studies Causal studies 7 qualitative research What is qualitative research? Qualitative versus quantitative research The controversy The distinction The process of qualitative research Qualitative research methodologies Sampling Interviews Individual depth interviews Group interviews

Combining qualitative methodologies Case study Action research Merging qualitative and quantitative methodologies 8 observations studies The uses of observation Nonbehavioral observation Behavioral observation Evaluation of the observation method The observer-participant relationship Directness of observation Concealment Participation Conducting an observation study The type of study Content specification Observer training Data collection Unobtrusive measures 9 surveys Characteristics of the communication approach Error in communication research Choosing a communication method Self-administered surveys Evaluation of the self-administered survey Maximizing participation in the self-administered survey Self-administered survey trends Survey via telephone interview Evaluation of the telephone interview Telephone survey trends Survey via personal interview Evaluation of the personal interview Survey Selecting an optimal survey method Outsourcing survey services 10 experiments What is experimentation? An evaluation of experiments Advantages Disadvantages Conducting an experiments Selecting relevant variables Specifying treatment levels Controlling the experimental Environment Choosing the experimental design

Selecting and assigning participants Pilot testing, revising, ant testing Analyzing the data Validity in experimentation Internal validity External validity Experimental research design Preexperimental designs True experimental design Field experiments: quasi- or semi-experiments PART 111 The sources and collection of data 11 measurement The nature of measurement What is measurement? Measurement scales Nominal scales Ordinal scales Interval scales Ratio scales Sources of measurement differences Error sources The characteristics of good measurement Validity Reliability Practicality 12 measurement scales The nature of attitudes The relationship between attitudes and behavior Attitude scaling Selecting a measurement scales Research objectives Response types Data properties Number of dimensions Balanced or unbalanced Forced or unforced choices Number of scales points Rater errors Rating scales Simple attitude scales Likert scales Semantic differential scales Numerical/multiple rating list scales Staple scales Constant-sum scales

Graphic rating scales Ranking scales Sorting Cumulative scales 13 questionnaires and instruments Phase 1: revisiting the research question hierarchy Type of scale for desired analysis Communication approach Disguising objectives and sponsors Preliminary analysis plan Phase 2: constructing and refining the measurement questions Question categories and structure Question content Question wording Response strategy Sources of existing questions Phase 3: drafting and refining the instrument Participants screening and introduction Measurement question sequencing Instructions Conclusions Overcoming instrument problems The value of pretesting 14 sampling The nature of sampling Why sample? What is a good sample? Types of sample design Steps in sampling design What is the target population? What are the parameters of interest? What is the sampling frame? What is the appropriate sampling method? What size sample is needed? Probability sampling Simple random sampling Complex probability sampling Nonprobability sampling Practical considerations Methods PART 1V Analysis and presentation of data 15 data preparation and description Introduction Editing Field editing

Central editing Coding Codebook construction Coding closed questions Coding rules Using content analysis for open question Dont know responses Missing data Data entry Alternative data entry formats On the horizon 16 exploring, displaying, and examining data Exploratory data analysis Frequency tables, bar charts, and pie charts Histograms Stem-and leaf displays Pareto diagrams Box plots Mapping Cross-tabulation The use of percentages Other table-based analysis 17 hypothesis testing