Table of Contents
Module 1 – The research Process........................................................................................3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................3
What is (sound) business research?..............................................................................................3
The 7-step research proces...........................................................................................................5
Module 2 – Defining the problem and developing theory...................................................6
Step 1: a demarcated business problem.......................................................................................6
Step 2: formulating research question..........................................................................................6
Step 3: Developing a theoretical framework...............................................................................10
Q&A module 1 and module 2............................................................................................13
Module 2....................................................................................................................................13
Module 3..........................................................................................................................14
What is a research strategy?.......................................................................................................14
Correlational vs. Causal research strategies................................................................................15
Module 4..........................................................................................................................16
How to structure a dataset.........................................................................................................16
Sampling.....................................................................................................................................17
Measurement level of variables.................................................................................................20
Choosing statistical tests............................................................................................................20
Module 5: Reliability and Validity.....................................................................................22
Measurement reliability and validity..........................................................................................22
Internal and external validity.....................................................................................................25
Module 6: Survey research...............................................................................................26
Surveys vs. polls.........................................................................................................................26
Survey measures........................................................................................................................26
Survey mode...............................................................................................................................28
Reliability and validity in survey research...................................................................................29
Module 7 – Experimental research...................................................................................31
Lab vs. field experiments............................................................................................................31
Experimental designs..................................................................................................................32
Reliability and validity in experiments........................................................................................36
Module 8: Archival Research............................................................................................37
Internal versus external archival data.........................................................................................37
Piecing together archival data....................................................................................................38
1
, Reliability and validity in archival research.................................................................................38
Module 9: Qualitative research........................................................................................39
The basic of qualitative research................................................................................................39
Collecting primary qualitative data.............................................................................................40
Validity in qualitative research...................................................................................................44
2
,Module 1 – The research Process
Introduction
Business science
- Based on research performed by academics
- Conclusion based on empirical research
What is (sound) business research?
Business research can be defined as:
"a series of well-thought-out activities and carefully executed data analyses that
are aimed to help a manager avoid, solve, or minimize a problem."
Business research has various elements of this definition:
1. Business research is a systematic process
Business research consists of several distinct but highly interrelated stages.
Systematic because these stages are universally agreed upon.
2. Business research test hypotheses.
Involves constructing testable hypotheses
3. Business research entails gathering and analyzing data.
Through surveys, experimentation, extraction from companies’ internal databases
etc.
4. Business research is meant to help managers make better decisions.
Better decisions are evidence-based decisions.
How about managerial intuition and experience?
On average, managerial decisions based on sound business research tend to be way more
effective than those based solely on intuition and/or experience.
Intuition should never be a substitute for research. The more unprecedented the challenges
you face, the less you should rely on intuition and the more on evidence/research.
Why can managers’ intuition be so wrong?
Managers are prone to
- Cognitive biases
o Unconscious thinking errors
o Speeds up decision making
Three of the most common cognitive biases that may affect managers' decisions are:
- Confirmation bias
o refers to tendency to only consider information agreeing ("confirms") your
preexisting beliefs
o looking only for evidence supporting you already think and disregard the rest.
- Availability bias/ availability heuristic
o Refers to cognitive bias
o Decision based on readily available information even if it may not be the best
info
o Vivid/ recent info reflect more frequent and more probable events
3
, ▪ Leads to overestimate events
- What-You-See-Is-All-There-Is (WYSIATI) bias
o Deciding whether there is a relationship between event and outcome
▪ Notice what is present, forget what is absent
▪ Making decision without all the data
● Lead to suboptimal decisions
How to evaluate research evidence?
- Managers should follow evidence-based approach to decision making
- Managers shouldn’t follow intuition-based approach
Judging academic-journal quality
Not every academic article is useful for decision-making
Judging academic-journal quality within peer-reviewed journals
Quality can vary, large sample not always first priority
Judging popular-press articles
Possible but unreliable
- based on flawed academic research
- did not describe underlying academic article accurately
How to evaluate whether business research is sound?
As a future manager, you should follow an evidence-based approach to decision-making 🡪
you should be making decisions supported by sound research
Sound research is characterized by six hallmarks:
1. Purposiveness
“The why” of the research
2. Rigor (strict precision or exactness)
Ensuring a sound theoretical base
Ensuring a sound methodological design
3. Objectivity
Drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
4. Parsimony
“Shaving away” unnecessary details
Explaining a lot – with little
5. Replicability
Finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances
Describe your study design in detail
6. Generalizability
Being able to apply the research findings in a wide variety of different settings
- This should hold for fundamental research
- … but much less so for applied research
-
Fundamental vs. applied research
- Applied research
o To solve a current problem faced by a manager
4
Module 1 – The research Process........................................................................................3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................3
What is (sound) business research?..............................................................................................3
The 7-step research proces...........................................................................................................5
Module 2 – Defining the problem and developing theory...................................................6
Step 1: a demarcated business problem.......................................................................................6
Step 2: formulating research question..........................................................................................6
Step 3: Developing a theoretical framework...............................................................................10
Q&A module 1 and module 2............................................................................................13
Module 2....................................................................................................................................13
Module 3..........................................................................................................................14
What is a research strategy?.......................................................................................................14
Correlational vs. Causal research strategies................................................................................15
Module 4..........................................................................................................................16
How to structure a dataset.........................................................................................................16
Sampling.....................................................................................................................................17
Measurement level of variables.................................................................................................20
Choosing statistical tests............................................................................................................20
Module 5: Reliability and Validity.....................................................................................22
Measurement reliability and validity..........................................................................................22
Internal and external validity.....................................................................................................25
Module 6: Survey research...............................................................................................26
Surveys vs. polls.........................................................................................................................26
Survey measures........................................................................................................................26
Survey mode...............................................................................................................................28
Reliability and validity in survey research...................................................................................29
Module 7 – Experimental research...................................................................................31
Lab vs. field experiments............................................................................................................31
Experimental designs..................................................................................................................32
Reliability and validity in experiments........................................................................................36
Module 8: Archival Research............................................................................................37
Internal versus external archival data.........................................................................................37
Piecing together archival data....................................................................................................38
1
, Reliability and validity in archival research.................................................................................38
Module 9: Qualitative research........................................................................................39
The basic of qualitative research................................................................................................39
Collecting primary qualitative data.............................................................................................40
Validity in qualitative research...................................................................................................44
2
,Module 1 – The research Process
Introduction
Business science
- Based on research performed by academics
- Conclusion based on empirical research
What is (sound) business research?
Business research can be defined as:
"a series of well-thought-out activities and carefully executed data analyses that
are aimed to help a manager avoid, solve, or minimize a problem."
Business research has various elements of this definition:
1. Business research is a systematic process
Business research consists of several distinct but highly interrelated stages.
Systematic because these stages are universally agreed upon.
2. Business research test hypotheses.
Involves constructing testable hypotheses
3. Business research entails gathering and analyzing data.
Through surveys, experimentation, extraction from companies’ internal databases
etc.
4. Business research is meant to help managers make better decisions.
Better decisions are evidence-based decisions.
How about managerial intuition and experience?
On average, managerial decisions based on sound business research tend to be way more
effective than those based solely on intuition and/or experience.
Intuition should never be a substitute for research. The more unprecedented the challenges
you face, the less you should rely on intuition and the more on evidence/research.
Why can managers’ intuition be so wrong?
Managers are prone to
- Cognitive biases
o Unconscious thinking errors
o Speeds up decision making
Three of the most common cognitive biases that may affect managers' decisions are:
- Confirmation bias
o refers to tendency to only consider information agreeing ("confirms") your
preexisting beliefs
o looking only for evidence supporting you already think and disregard the rest.
- Availability bias/ availability heuristic
o Refers to cognitive bias
o Decision based on readily available information even if it may not be the best
info
o Vivid/ recent info reflect more frequent and more probable events
3
, ▪ Leads to overestimate events
- What-You-See-Is-All-There-Is (WYSIATI) bias
o Deciding whether there is a relationship between event and outcome
▪ Notice what is present, forget what is absent
▪ Making decision without all the data
● Lead to suboptimal decisions
How to evaluate research evidence?
- Managers should follow evidence-based approach to decision making
- Managers shouldn’t follow intuition-based approach
Judging academic-journal quality
Not every academic article is useful for decision-making
Judging academic-journal quality within peer-reviewed journals
Quality can vary, large sample not always first priority
Judging popular-press articles
Possible but unreliable
- based on flawed academic research
- did not describe underlying academic article accurately
How to evaluate whether business research is sound?
As a future manager, you should follow an evidence-based approach to decision-making 🡪
you should be making decisions supported by sound research
Sound research is characterized by six hallmarks:
1. Purposiveness
“The why” of the research
2. Rigor (strict precision or exactness)
Ensuring a sound theoretical base
Ensuring a sound methodological design
3. Objectivity
Drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
4. Parsimony
“Shaving away” unnecessary details
Explaining a lot – with little
5. Replicability
Finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances
Describe your study design in detail
6. Generalizability
Being able to apply the research findings in a wide variety of different settings
- This should hold for fundamental research
- … but much less so for applied research
-
Fundamental vs. applied research
- Applied research
o To solve a current problem faced by a manager
4
