INSTRUCTOR’S
MANUAL
Research Methods
for Business
Students
Eighth edition
Mark NK Saunders
Philip Lewis
Adrian Thornhill
,
,AllTestsBank
CH A PT ER 1
Business and management research, reflective
diaries and the purpose of this book
Learning outcomes
By the end of this chapter you should:
be able to explain the nature of research;
be able to outline the features of business and management research;
be able to place your research project on a basic–applied research continuum according
to its purpose and context;
understand the usefulness and importance of keeping a reflective diary;
understand the stages you will need to complete (and revisit) as part of your
research process;
have an overview of this book’s purpose, structure and features;
be aware of some of the ways you can use this book.
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. To do this you will need to pay careful attention to the entire research
process.
In order 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.
3
© Pearson Education Limited
2019
, AllTestsBank
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, they will have written your research report.
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 2 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 1, 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 her or his
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”?
4
© Pearson Education Limited
2019
MANUAL
Research Methods
for Business
Students
Eighth edition
Mark NK Saunders
Philip Lewis
Adrian Thornhill
,
,AllTestsBank
CH A PT ER 1
Business and management research, reflective
diaries and the purpose of this book
Learning outcomes
By the end of this chapter you should:
be able to explain the nature of research;
be able to outline the features of business and management research;
be able to place your research project on a basic–applied research continuum according
to its purpose and context;
understand the usefulness and importance of keeping a reflective diary;
understand the stages you will need to complete (and revisit) as part of your
research process;
have an overview of this book’s purpose, structure and features;
be aware of some of the ways you can use this book.
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. To do this you will need to pay careful attention to the entire research
process.
In order 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.
3
© Pearson Education Limited
2019
, AllTestsBank
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, they will have written your research report.
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 2 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 1, 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 her or his
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”?
4
© Pearson Education Limited
2019
