SUMMARY - BUSINESS RESEARCH
Exam preparations for Y1Q2
Jeffrey Engels
,TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lectures & Training Sessions……………………………………………………………………………………………………p.2-p.17
Week 1………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………….p.2+p.3
Week 2…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………p.4+p.5
Week 3………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.6-p.10
Week 4……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.11+p.12
Week 5……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.13+p.14
Week 6……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.15+p.17
Book Summaries……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………p.18-p.39
Chapter 2 - Formulating and clarifying the research topic p.42-p.54………………………...p.18-p.20
Chapter 3 - Critically reviewing the literature p.83-p.93 & p.110-p.111……………………..p.21-p.23
Chapter 4 - Understanding research philosophy and approaches to theory development p144-
p.150………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.24+p.25
Chapter 5 - Formulating the research design p.174-p.200 + p.201-p.207…………………..p.26-p.31
Chapter 7 - Selecting samples p.273-p.295 + p.295-p.305………………………………………….p.32-p.39
Practice test (based on the lectures)……………………………………………………………………………………………..p.40
Answers to the test……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….p.41+p.42
1
,Lectures & Training Sessions
Week 1
What is research?
Research means information gathering. There are 2 kinds of research: scientific research and applied
research.
- Applied research is of direct and immediate relevance to practitioners (important issues,
actionable results). These will always have a managerial preference.
- Scientific research involves the systematic observation/experimentation of phenomena. You
take information and analyze that in a systematic manner.
6 steps of research
Research Questions
The key question that your research will address. It can be subdivided into sub-research questions.
These are useful to frame the research process.
2
, Below are 2 examples of research questions. Case: sales of Albert Hein’s line of “pure & honest” food
have been declining.
- What are the current sales of the “pure & honest” brand?
- Which factors affect sales of the “pure & honest” brand?
Research Objective
A clear statement that identifies what you (the researcher) want to accomplish. There are several
types of research objectives. There is exploratory research, descriptive research and explanatory
research.
- Exploratory research: If your objective is to gain insight in a topic of interest. When you don’t
know about a phenomena and you research that specific thing. Finding explanations. It is
about gaining insight.
- Descriptive research: If your objective is to gain an accurate profile of a situation.
- Explanatory research: If your objective is to establish a causal relationship.
Research Approach: The perspective you take for your research. This can include inductive research,
deductive research or abductive research.
- Inductive research: approach that involves developing theory after observation of empirical
data. Or in simpler words: to collect data and then create theory.
- Deductive research: approach that involves testing theories by collecting empirical data. Or
in simpler words: to know theory and then collect data based on this theory (to test out this
theory).
Research Strategy: A general plan of how you will go about answering your research question.
Research Design: The framework you will use for your data collection and analysis that will allow you
to answer your research question.
Research proposal
A structured plan of your proposed research objective. The following groundwork needs to be done
prior to writing your research proposal:
▪ Define the research objective
▪ Review of academic and business literature
▪ Identify your research approach
▪ Design your research / methodology
▪ Assess ethical issues with regards to your data collection
▪ Define target population and sampling techniques
▪ Define data collection methods and data analysis techniques
3
Exam preparations for Y1Q2
Jeffrey Engels
,TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lectures & Training Sessions……………………………………………………………………………………………………p.2-p.17
Week 1………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………….p.2+p.3
Week 2…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………p.4+p.5
Week 3………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.6-p.10
Week 4……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.11+p.12
Week 5……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.13+p.14
Week 6……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.15+p.17
Book Summaries……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………p.18-p.39
Chapter 2 - Formulating and clarifying the research topic p.42-p.54………………………...p.18-p.20
Chapter 3 - Critically reviewing the literature p.83-p.93 & p.110-p.111……………………..p.21-p.23
Chapter 4 - Understanding research philosophy and approaches to theory development p144-
p.150………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.24+p.25
Chapter 5 - Formulating the research design p.174-p.200 + p.201-p.207…………………..p.26-p.31
Chapter 7 - Selecting samples p.273-p.295 + p.295-p.305………………………………………….p.32-p.39
Practice test (based on the lectures)……………………………………………………………………………………………..p.40
Answers to the test……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….p.41+p.42
1
,Lectures & Training Sessions
Week 1
What is research?
Research means information gathering. There are 2 kinds of research: scientific research and applied
research.
- Applied research is of direct and immediate relevance to practitioners (important issues,
actionable results). These will always have a managerial preference.
- Scientific research involves the systematic observation/experimentation of phenomena. You
take information and analyze that in a systematic manner.
6 steps of research
Research Questions
The key question that your research will address. It can be subdivided into sub-research questions.
These are useful to frame the research process.
2
, Below are 2 examples of research questions. Case: sales of Albert Hein’s line of “pure & honest” food
have been declining.
- What are the current sales of the “pure & honest” brand?
- Which factors affect sales of the “pure & honest” brand?
Research Objective
A clear statement that identifies what you (the researcher) want to accomplish. There are several
types of research objectives. There is exploratory research, descriptive research and explanatory
research.
- Exploratory research: If your objective is to gain insight in a topic of interest. When you don’t
know about a phenomena and you research that specific thing. Finding explanations. It is
about gaining insight.
- Descriptive research: If your objective is to gain an accurate profile of a situation.
- Explanatory research: If your objective is to establish a causal relationship.
Research Approach: The perspective you take for your research. This can include inductive research,
deductive research or abductive research.
- Inductive research: approach that involves developing theory after observation of empirical
data. Or in simpler words: to collect data and then create theory.
- Deductive research: approach that involves testing theories by collecting empirical data. Or
in simpler words: to know theory and then collect data based on this theory (to test out this
theory).
Research Strategy: A general plan of how you will go about answering your research question.
Research Design: The framework you will use for your data collection and analysis that will allow you
to answer your research question.
Research proposal
A structured plan of your proposed research objective. The following groundwork needs to be done
prior to writing your research proposal:
▪ Define the research objective
▪ Review of academic and business literature
▪ Identify your research approach
▪ Design your research / methodology
▪ Assess ethical issues with regards to your data collection
▪ Define target population and sampling techniques
▪ Define data collection methods and data analysis techniques
3
