Business Research Techniques - Premaster Tilburg University - 2018 - Darya Krapyva
Lecture 1 – SETTING THE SCENE – CHAPTER 1 & 2 (except p. 28-30) ..................................................... 2
Lecture 2 – THE RESEARCH PROCESS – CHAPTER 3 & 5 .......................................................................... 3
Lecture 3 – CAUSAL AND CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH – CHAPTER 6 (except p. 97-98) ......................... 6
Lecture 4 – STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES AND SAMPLING DEISGNS – CHAPTER 11, 12 & 13 ................... 7
Lecture 5 – SURVEY RESEARCH – CHAPTER 9 ........................................................................................ 10
Lecture 6 – LAB EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH .......................................................................................... 13
Lecture 7 - FIELD EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ........................................................................................ 14
Lecture 8 – ARCHIVAL RESEARCH - Ketchen, Ireland, & Baker (2013), “The use of archival proxies in
strategic management studies: Castles made of sand,” Organizational Research Methods ............... 15
Lecture 9 – BIG DATA – Correlational research – Lazer et al (2014) & Bit by Bit Chapter 2.1 – 2.5 ..... 17
Lecture 10 – EXPLORATORY RESEARCH – CHAPTER 7 & 8 .................................................................... 18
Lecture 11 – INTERNATONAL RESEARCH - ............................................................................................ 20
Questions from Presenterswall BRT ...................................................................................................... 21
1
,Business Research Techniques - Premaster Tilburg University - 2018 - Darya Krapyva
Lecture 1 – SETTING THE SCENE – CHAPTER 1 & 2 (except p. 28-30)
Business research = a series of well-thought out activities and carefully executed data analyses that help a
manager to avoid, solve, or minimize a problem.
Why should managers know about business research?
1. To be able to perform business research. To undertake research yourselves to solve the smaller problems
you encounter.
2. To be able to steer business research. Interact effectively with researchers/research agencies
3. To be able to evaluate business research. To discriminate between good and bad research proposals of
researchers/research agencies. Or good and bad published research studies.
The hallmarks of “good” business research
1. Purposiveness – knowing the why of your research
2. Rigor – ensuring a sound theoretical base (to check futures and variables that you didn’t thought
about) and methodological design (sample needs to be representative and unbiased)
3. Objectivity – drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
4. Parsimony – simplicity: don’t make it more difficult than it is. The most important factors should be
high lighted
5. Replicability – finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances. The sample
of your design should be described in detail. With the goal that everyone can replicate your study and
apply on their situation.
6. Generalizability – being able to apply the research findings in a wide variety of different settings. It
should hold for fundamental and applied research.
Applied research – to solve a current problem faced by a manager, applies to a specific company, within firms
or research agencies
Fundamental or basic research – to generate new knowledge about how problems that occur in several firms
can be solved, applies to several organizational settings, mainly within universities and knowledge institutes.
Deductive research - testing the theory (the car will become wet, the lion might be behind the right door)
Inductive research – usually done for new products you start with data/observation and to build theory on
that. (every duck in the park is brown, we observed the growl from left door)
The seven-step: deductive research process - inductive research process
2
,Business Research Techniques - Premaster Tilburg University - 2018 - Darya Krapyva
Lecture 2 – THE RESEARCH PROCESS – CHAPTER 3 & 5
What makes a good business problem?
➢ Feasibility – is it doable (possible)?
✓ Is the problem demarcated? - not too broad, not anymore difficult that it is
✓ Can the problem be expressed in variables?
✓ Are you able to gather the required data? – Existing data -& new data
➢ Relevance – is it worthwhile (important)?
I. Managerial relevance – Who benefits from having the problem solved? - managers of one
company/ industry / end users / public policy makers
II. Academic relevance – has the problem not already been solved in prior research?
1. Completely new topic – no research available at all, although the topic is important
You need to justify why this topic is relevant?
2. New context – prior research is available but not in the same context (e.d. from grocery
industry to fashion industry, explain always the context the difference / research was already
done but now in new context)
3. Integrate scattered research – different studies have focuses on different lVs/moderators;
consequently, their relative importance is not clear. (combine factors to check which one are
most relevant)
4. Reconcile contractor research – solve the contradictions through introducing one or more
moderator.
What makes a good problem statement? - From business problem to problem statement
Business problem - Ahold and Delhaize have merged. Several employees of Delhaize have taken on an unmotivated attitude. Ahold-
Delhaize would like to know whether communication by the CEO can help to increase employee morale.
Problem statement - To what extent does the CEO’s communication style after the merger influence employee morale, and to what extent
does this effect depend on employees’ pay package?
What makes a good problem statement?
I. Formulated in terms of variables and relations
II. Open-ended question (How, what, why)
III. Stated clearly/unambiguously (should not be open for multiple interpretations)
What makes a good research questions?
✓ Should collectively address the problem statement – one problem statement is translated into
multiple research questions
✓ First theoretical, then practical research questions – in the same order as they will be addressed in
your research report
✓ Stated clearly/unambiguously – no vague elements and open to multiple interpretations
3
, Business Research Techniques - Premaster Tilburg University - 2018 - Darya Krapyva
Theoretical research questions
a. Context questions (What is..) – only if context needs elaboration
b. Conceptualization questions (Which..) – only for the key variables that need elaboration – mostly
for variables that might need clarification
c. Relationship questions (Which variables.., How does.. affect) – all relationships in the problem
statement should be covered (relationship between the variables)
Practical research questions
a. Relationship questions – to what extent does X affect Y? What is the relative magnitude of the
relations?
b. Implication question – How can practitioners implement your result, open questions
Theoretical framework consists of
1. Variable definitions
2. Conceptual model – graphical representation
• Cover all variables and relationships
3. Hypotheses – relationships between variables
• Provide a logical justifications/backing, based on theory
Dependent variables (creation variable, DV) – The variable of primary interest
Independent variables (predictor variable, IV) – Influences the dependent variable in a positive/negative way,
this is called main effect
Mediating variables (intervening variable, mediator) – A variable that explains the mechanism at work
between X and Y
Full mediation – X only has an effect on Y through MED
Partial mediation – X has an indirect effect on Y through MED, but also a direct effect on Y
Moderating variables (moderator, interaction variable) – a variable that alters the strength and sometimes
even the direction (positive<>negative) of the relationship between X and Y (gender)
Quasi moderation – MOD moderates the relationship between X and Y, but it also has a direct effect on Y
Pure moderation – MOD moderates the relationship between X and Y, but is has no direct effect on Y
Conditional process model – include both mediator and mediator
Med – what is the underlying mechanism (does X effect Y)
MOD – when or for whom the effect is stronger
4
Lecture 1 – SETTING THE SCENE – CHAPTER 1 & 2 (except p. 28-30) ..................................................... 2
Lecture 2 – THE RESEARCH PROCESS – CHAPTER 3 & 5 .......................................................................... 3
Lecture 3 – CAUSAL AND CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH – CHAPTER 6 (except p. 97-98) ......................... 6
Lecture 4 – STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES AND SAMPLING DEISGNS – CHAPTER 11, 12 & 13 ................... 7
Lecture 5 – SURVEY RESEARCH – CHAPTER 9 ........................................................................................ 10
Lecture 6 – LAB EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH .......................................................................................... 13
Lecture 7 - FIELD EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ........................................................................................ 14
Lecture 8 – ARCHIVAL RESEARCH - Ketchen, Ireland, & Baker (2013), “The use of archival proxies in
strategic management studies: Castles made of sand,” Organizational Research Methods ............... 15
Lecture 9 – BIG DATA – Correlational research – Lazer et al (2014) & Bit by Bit Chapter 2.1 – 2.5 ..... 17
Lecture 10 – EXPLORATORY RESEARCH – CHAPTER 7 & 8 .................................................................... 18
Lecture 11 – INTERNATONAL RESEARCH - ............................................................................................ 20
Questions from Presenterswall BRT ...................................................................................................... 21
1
,Business Research Techniques - Premaster Tilburg University - 2018 - Darya Krapyva
Lecture 1 – SETTING THE SCENE – CHAPTER 1 & 2 (except p. 28-30)
Business research = a series of well-thought out activities and carefully executed data analyses that help a
manager to avoid, solve, or minimize a problem.
Why should managers know about business research?
1. To be able to perform business research. To undertake research yourselves to solve the smaller problems
you encounter.
2. To be able to steer business research. Interact effectively with researchers/research agencies
3. To be able to evaluate business research. To discriminate between good and bad research proposals of
researchers/research agencies. Or good and bad published research studies.
The hallmarks of “good” business research
1. Purposiveness – knowing the why of your research
2. Rigor – ensuring a sound theoretical base (to check futures and variables that you didn’t thought
about) and methodological design (sample needs to be representative and unbiased)
3. Objectivity – drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
4. Parsimony – simplicity: don’t make it more difficult than it is. The most important factors should be
high lighted
5. Replicability – finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances. The sample
of your design should be described in detail. With the goal that everyone can replicate your study and
apply on their situation.
6. Generalizability – being able to apply the research findings in a wide variety of different settings. It
should hold for fundamental and applied research.
Applied research – to solve a current problem faced by a manager, applies to a specific company, within firms
or research agencies
Fundamental or basic research – to generate new knowledge about how problems that occur in several firms
can be solved, applies to several organizational settings, mainly within universities and knowledge institutes.
Deductive research - testing the theory (the car will become wet, the lion might be behind the right door)
Inductive research – usually done for new products you start with data/observation and to build theory on
that. (every duck in the park is brown, we observed the growl from left door)
The seven-step: deductive research process - inductive research process
2
,Business Research Techniques - Premaster Tilburg University - 2018 - Darya Krapyva
Lecture 2 – THE RESEARCH PROCESS – CHAPTER 3 & 5
What makes a good business problem?
➢ Feasibility – is it doable (possible)?
✓ Is the problem demarcated? - not too broad, not anymore difficult that it is
✓ Can the problem be expressed in variables?
✓ Are you able to gather the required data? – Existing data -& new data
➢ Relevance – is it worthwhile (important)?
I. Managerial relevance – Who benefits from having the problem solved? - managers of one
company/ industry / end users / public policy makers
II. Academic relevance – has the problem not already been solved in prior research?
1. Completely new topic – no research available at all, although the topic is important
You need to justify why this topic is relevant?
2. New context – prior research is available but not in the same context (e.d. from grocery
industry to fashion industry, explain always the context the difference / research was already
done but now in new context)
3. Integrate scattered research – different studies have focuses on different lVs/moderators;
consequently, their relative importance is not clear. (combine factors to check which one are
most relevant)
4. Reconcile contractor research – solve the contradictions through introducing one or more
moderator.
What makes a good problem statement? - From business problem to problem statement
Business problem - Ahold and Delhaize have merged. Several employees of Delhaize have taken on an unmotivated attitude. Ahold-
Delhaize would like to know whether communication by the CEO can help to increase employee morale.
Problem statement - To what extent does the CEO’s communication style after the merger influence employee morale, and to what extent
does this effect depend on employees’ pay package?
What makes a good problem statement?
I. Formulated in terms of variables and relations
II. Open-ended question (How, what, why)
III. Stated clearly/unambiguously (should not be open for multiple interpretations)
What makes a good research questions?
✓ Should collectively address the problem statement – one problem statement is translated into
multiple research questions
✓ First theoretical, then practical research questions – in the same order as they will be addressed in
your research report
✓ Stated clearly/unambiguously – no vague elements and open to multiple interpretations
3
, Business Research Techniques - Premaster Tilburg University - 2018 - Darya Krapyva
Theoretical research questions
a. Context questions (What is..) – only if context needs elaboration
b. Conceptualization questions (Which..) – only for the key variables that need elaboration – mostly
for variables that might need clarification
c. Relationship questions (Which variables.., How does.. affect) – all relationships in the problem
statement should be covered (relationship between the variables)
Practical research questions
a. Relationship questions – to what extent does X affect Y? What is the relative magnitude of the
relations?
b. Implication question – How can practitioners implement your result, open questions
Theoretical framework consists of
1. Variable definitions
2. Conceptual model – graphical representation
• Cover all variables and relationships
3. Hypotheses – relationships between variables
• Provide a logical justifications/backing, based on theory
Dependent variables (creation variable, DV) – The variable of primary interest
Independent variables (predictor variable, IV) – Influences the dependent variable in a positive/negative way,
this is called main effect
Mediating variables (intervening variable, mediator) – A variable that explains the mechanism at work
between X and Y
Full mediation – X only has an effect on Y through MED
Partial mediation – X has an indirect effect on Y through MED, but also a direct effect on Y
Moderating variables (moderator, interaction variable) – a variable that alters the strength and sometimes
even the direction (positive<>negative) of the relationship between X and Y (gender)
Quasi moderation – MOD moderates the relationship between X and Y, but it also has a direct effect on Y
Pure moderation – MOD moderates the relationship between X and Y, but is has no direct effect on Y
Conditional process model – include both mediator and mediator
Med – what is the underlying mechanism (does X effect Y)
MOD – when or for whom the effect is stronger
4
