Lecture 1: Introducing

research

What is research?
Research in general
Nature of business and management research

Research process
Stages of research process
Factors to consider

The research process: your term project

Initiate your research proposal (Assignment
1)

SPSS Exercise 1 (Introducing SPSS for

Widows)

Research is something that we all do all of

the time. Suppose you decide to buy a new
television so you make a systematic
decision about which is best for you,
depending on the availability of the
product you are interested in and your
purchasing power;
OR
deciding which political party to vote for;
OR
deciding how to get from place A to place
B;
OR
deciding what to prepare for the dinner;
OR
-----------------

Research is simply the process of

thoroughly studying
and analysing the situational factors
surrounding
a problem in order to seek out solutions to
it
OR
Research is a detailed study of a subject,
carried out
to discover (new) information or reach a
(new) understanding

Types of Research: Basic &

Applied

Basic Research aims to enhance the

Exploratory
Descriptive
Explanatory or Causal

Exploratory Research
Initial qualitative research conducted to clarify
and define the nature of a problem
Does not provide conclusive evidence
Subsequent research is expected
**********************

Descriptive Research
Describes characteristics of a population or
phenomenon
Some understanding of the nature of the problem
**********************

Explanatory or Causal Research

Conducted to identify cause and effect

relationships

Types of Research

Assess
relevan
t
existing
knowle
dge Acquir

Formulat
Stateme
Design
e
nt
researc
concepts
of
h
&
Hypothes
Propositi
es Provide
ons Analyze
explanati
e
&
onempiri
evaluat
state new
cal
e
problem
data
data

Scientific research

Complex social processes can

best be studied by introducing
changes into these processes
and observing the effects of
these changes (Marsick and
Watkins 1997).
Academics jointly work with
practitioners solving a
problem.
However, it often lacks
scientific rigor.

Ethics & Research

12

Societal Accountability
Corporate Accountability
Moral Accountability
Conflict among
accountabilities

13

 Is trans-disciplinary
Engages with both theory and practice
Involves undertaking systematic
research
Should be undertaken with rigour

The research process?

Research stages?

The research process: Stages

Formulating and clarifying a topic
Reviewing the literature
Designing the research
Collecting data
Analysing data
Writing up
Based on Figure 1.2: Saunders et al. (2009)

The
Your
STEPS
resear
term
ch
Wish to research
Proce
proje
ss
ct
Formulate and clarify
research topic
(Lecture 2)
Critically review the
literature
(Lecture 3)
Choose research approach and
strategy
(Lecture 4 & 5)

The
Your
STEPS
resear
term
ch
Proce
proje
Research approach = deductive
ss & inductive types of research ct
Research strategy = research
methods

Gaining access to data

and ethical issues
(Lecture 6)

Research ethics?

The
resear
ch
Proce
ss

STEPS

Research
ethics?

Your
term
proje
ct

The appropriateness of
researchers behaviour in
relation to the rights of those
who become the subject of
or are affected by researchers

Plan data collection and collect the data

using
One/more of the following:
a.

Sampling
(Lecture
7)

b. Secondary
data
(Lecture 8)

d. Structured, semistructured
and in-depth
interviews
(Lecture 10)

c.
Observatio
n
(Lecture
9)
e.
Questionnair

Analyse the data

Quantitative/qualitative
methods
(Lecture 12 & 13)
Write project report &
prepare your presentation
(Lecture 14)
Give your presentation
(Lectures 15 & 16)

 Start working on a research proposal just

now.
Choose a leader and a recorder (Ideally
these duties should rotate amongst all
group-members, provided your group
wishes so).
Form a group of 2 - 3 members that will
work on this research assignment as long
as each group presents its research report
in the last two-to-three classes.

 Each one of the group members will

select a topic of his/her own and take it
to a the meeting of his/her group for
discussion.
The group will then have a
brainstorming meeting on all the topics,
will discuss each members ideas about
the selected research topics, and will
come up with one research topic
considered the best by the group.

Continues on next slide.

 The group in next class, through its team leader,

will turn in a 4 6 page group activity report of
the last week, on the following format.
Page 1 (front-page)
Assignment 1
Topic selected by the group
Name of group leader
Names of group members
Page 2 to 5 (one page for each students
activity report)
Assignment 1
Name of the student
Topic selected by the student

Introduction to SPSS
Data Entry and use of ANALYZE
& TRANSFORM Commands
The Data Editor, Data View & Variable View
Entering data (Steps for data entry)
1. Open SPSSs Data Editor
2. Enter data in Data View taking data from next Slide
(You can even copy data from Excel sheet or from a MS
Words table)
3. Go to Variable View, and change VAR00001 with P,
VAR00002 with S and VAR00003 with D.
4. Go back to Data View and check whether
names/titles of the variables have been changed.
5. Go to ANALYZE and TRANSFORM commands and
check what functions you can perform.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

210
230
265
310
380
472
550
615
690
770

600
560
525
495
472
442
395
336
265
190