Lecture Notes of the course 'Research Skills Pre-MSc'

Lecture 1
Research = creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves
the collection, organization and analysis of information to increase understanding of a topic or issue.

Good research questions are:

 Interesting  doubt, unknown answer (to important problem)
 Relevant  theoretical and practical
 Feasible

Important criteria for a good research question:

 Generalizability
o Broader relationships
o If specific situation is different, why?
 Managerial/societal relevance
o Will someone act differently (target different customers, different campaigns etc.

Concept = quality, feature or characteristic that makes topic measurable.




2A – Searching and finding prior literature
Systematic literature search  follow a methodological approach:




1

,Process of searching for sources:

1. Decide on your literature search topic  refine the ideas into a reasonably clear and specific
topic of what you wish to search for in the literature.
 Example:
 Financial management versus the impact of the recession  narrow down to:
 The impact of the recession on financial management  narrow down to:
 The impact of the recession on financial management budgeting
 Search words: recession, financial management, budget

2. Identify search terms and phrases you will use  search term = a word or phrase that
describes your research topic, question(s) or objectives.




3. Choose your (online) databases  see examples of databases in the slides of week 2.

4. Undertake your search  searching for sources.
 Type in the search term for the online database.
 Use Boolean operators (‘and’, ‘or, ‘not’) to link two or more search terms.
 If you have found a paper, trace backwards and forward.
 Read abstract/introduction to determine its relevance to your research.
 Check bibliographies for more sources.
 Note recurring citations.

5. Obtain articles

Types of literature:

 Textbooks  use to get an overview of your research topic and find out who are the
recognized experts.
o For specific audience (students, professionals)
o Material usually presented in ordered and relatively accessible form
o Draws on wide range of sources, including peer-reviewed academic journal articles
 Peer-reviewed (refereed) academic journal articles  most useful for your literature review.
o Detailed reports of research
o Written by experts in the field, evaluated by other academics (quality and suitability)
o Rigorous attention to detail and verification of information
o Extensive list of references
 Non-refereed academic journal articles  may have bias.
o May provide detailed reports of research
o Articles selected by an editor or editorial board with subject knowledge

2

,  Professional and trade journal articles  can provide useful insights into practice (may be
biased, so use with caution).
o For members of professional trade organizations
o Mix of news items and more detailed accounts of a practical nature
o Rarely based on research, although some provide summaries of research
 Newspaper articles  good for topical events and developments (may contain bias in
reporting and coverage).
o For members of public, addressing a particular market segment
o Filtered dependent on events, priority on headline-grabbing stories appealing to
readers
 Conference proceedings  useful if theme of the conference matches your research.
o Articles of selected papers presented at a conference, often published as a book or
special edition of a journal
o Usually peer-reviewed
 Reports  may be difficult to access or expensive to purchase, but can be useful when the
topic matches your research.
o Reports on specific topics by academics and various organizations.
o May have bias, may not have gone through peer-review process
o Some have high quality (be critical)

There are three types of sources:

 Primary sources  original materials providing raw data or evidence yet to be developed
and tested to justify your hypothesis or claim.
 Secondary sources  books, articles or reports that are based on primary sources and are
intended for scholarly or professional audiences.
 Tertiary sources  books and articles that synthesize and report on secondary sources for
general readers.

Evaluating the usefulness of literature to your research:

 Relevance
 Value
 Reliability

When a literature source meets these criteria:

- Make quotes or summarize of key points.
- Note source information (author, title and journal name, year of publication, page numbers).
- Note things such as findings that are common/contested, two or three important trends in
the research, and the most influential theories.




3