1
,Week 1: introduction to research
design
Lecture
1. Regulative cycle vs reflective cycle
❖ Just completing a regulative cycle does not deliver you a degree
2. Theory is central to your research
❖ Primary objective of your research project must be to contribute to theory, or
theoretical understanding
• You need to address a WHY or HOW question on a RELEVANT problem
❖ Secondary objective of your research project may be to contribute to finding a solution
to a problem at your sponsoring company
• If you develop understanding of a problem, it is a very likely basis for finding a
solution in a specific case
❖ There is lots of existing knowledge, captured in theories and reported in the academic
literature
2
, • You must know and understand this existing knowledge before developing your
research design
• All research designs in an SCM Master Thesis make use of existing theory or
theories.
3. Deduction
− Belong to the logic of justification
− Deduction: inference to a result → used for testing solutions/ theories (typically
Hypothetico - deductivism)
4. Induction, extending existing theory
− Belong to the logic of justification
− Induction: inference to a rule → involves generalizing from a sample to a population
3
, 5. Abduction, relying on extensive reasoning
− Belong to the logic of discovery
− Abduction: inference to a cause/ case → also used to frame problems and generate
solutions/ theories
4
,Week 1: introduction to research
design
Lecture
1. Regulative cycle vs reflective cycle
❖ Just completing a regulative cycle does not deliver you a degree
2. Theory is central to your research
❖ Primary objective of your research project must be to contribute to theory, or
theoretical understanding
• You need to address a WHY or HOW question on a RELEVANT problem
❖ Secondary objective of your research project may be to contribute to finding a solution
to a problem at your sponsoring company
• If you develop understanding of a problem, it is a very likely basis for finding a
solution in a specific case
❖ There is lots of existing knowledge, captured in theories and reported in the academic
literature
2
, • You must know and understand this existing knowledge before developing your
research design
• All research designs in an SCM Master Thesis make use of existing theory or
theories.
3. Deduction
− Belong to the logic of justification
− Deduction: inference to a result → used for testing solutions/ theories (typically
Hypothetico - deductivism)
4. Induction, extending existing theory
− Belong to the logic of justification
− Induction: inference to a rule → involves generalizing from a sample to a population
3
, 5. Abduction, relying on extensive reasoning
− Belong to the logic of discovery
− Abduction: inference to a cause/ case → also used to frame problems and generate
solutions/ theories
4
