Business Research Methods syllabus
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Business Research Methods
6 units
1 Introduction (8 LHs)
- Meaning of research
- Scientific research-features, Types of research-basic research and applied research
- The scientific research process
- Paradigm shifts-Positivism vs. interpretivism philosophies
- Management research- concept, nature, and value in business decision making
- Applying scientific thinking to management/business problems
- Ethical issues in business research
2 Literature Searching and Theoretical Framework (5 LHs)
4 Measurement, Scaling and Sampling (8 LHs)
5 Data Collection and Analysis (12 LHs)
- Types of data and their sources-secondary data
- Primary data-sources and methods
- Questionnaires- design, components and principles of questionnaire writing
- Research interviews- face-to-face and telephone interviews, computer assisted interviewing
- Observation-concept and methods
- Presenting data in tables
- Methods of collecting qualitative data
- Qualitative data analysis methods - content analysis
- Chi-square test for goodness of fit and independence of attributes with examples
6 Research Proposal and Report Writing (10 LHs)
1. Introduction (8 LHs)
- Meaning of research
- Meaning of research
- Scientific research-features, Types of research-basic research and applied research
- Scientific research-features, Types of research-basic research and applied research
- The scientific research process
- The scientific research process
- Paradigm shifts-Positivism vs. interpretivism philosophies
- Paradigm shifts-Positivism vs. interpretivism philosophies
- Management research- concept, nature, and value in business decision making
- Management research- concept, nature, and value in business decision making
- Applying scientific thinking to management/business problems
- applying scientific thinking to management/business problems
- Ethical issues in business research
- Ethical issues in business research.
2. Literature Searching and Theoretical Framework (5 LHs)
- Concept, purposes and steps in literature survey
- Concept, purposes and steps in literature survey
- Literature search through the internet
- Literature search through the internet
- Theoretical framework
- Theoretical framework
- Research problem
- Statement of research objectives
- Statement of research objectives
- Formulation of research hypothesis
- Formulation of research hypothesis
- Approaches-deduction and induction
- Approaches-deduction and induction.
3. Research Design (5 LHs)
- Concept of research design
- Concept of research design
- Quantitative research designs -descriptive, correlational, causal-comparative, and experimental
- Quantitative research designs -descriptive, correlational, causal-comparative, and experimental
- Qualitative research - case study, ethnography and grounded theory
- Qualitative research - case study, ethnography and grounded theory.
4. Measurement, Scaling and Sampling (8 LHs)
- Variables
- Variables (independent, dependent and moderating) and measurement scale ( nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio )
- Nature of measurement
- Nature of measurement
- Scale construction for attitude measurement
- Scale construction for attitude measurement
- Scales commonly used in business research
- Scales commonly used in business research (rank order rating scale, semantic differential scale, likert scale)
- Validity and reliability of measurement
- Validity and reliability of measurement
- Sources of measurement problems
- Sources of measurement problems
- Sampling process
- Types of sampling -probability sampling
- Types of sampling -probability sampling (simple random, systematic, stratified and cluster) and non-probability sampling(convenience, judgmental and quota)
- Sampling and non- sampling errors
- Sampling and non- sampling errors
- Determination of sample size
- Determination of sample size.
5. Data Collection and Analysis (12 LHs)
- Types of data and their sources-secondary data
- Types of data and their sources-secondary data, advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data
- Primary data-sources and methods
- Primary data-sources and methods
- Questionnaires- design, components and principles of questionnaire writing
- Questionnaires- design, components and principles of questionnaire writing
- Research interviews- face-to-face and telephone interviews, computer assisted interviewing
- Research interviews- face-to-face and telephone interviews, computer assisted interviewing
- Observation-concept and methods
- Observation-concept and methods
- Presenting data in tables
- Presenting data in tables, diagrams and graphs, Quantitative data analysis methods - descriptive and inferential statistics
- Methods of collecting qualitative data
- Methods of collecting qualitative data
- Qualitative data analysis methods - content analysis
- Qualitative data analysis methods - content analysis, narrative analysis, discourse analysis, grounded theory analysis
- Chi-square test for goodness of fit and independence of attributes with examples
- Chi-square test for goodness of fit and independence of attributes with examples.
6. Research Proposal and Report Writing (10 LHs)
- Topic selection
- Topic selection
- Research proposal – purpose, types and structure
- Research proposal – purpose, types and structure
- Writing research reports -the reporting process, procedure for writing, and style of writing
- Writing research reports -the reporting process, procedure for writing, and style of writing
- Typing and layout of the research report
- Typing and layout of the research report
- Citations and references by using APA format
- Citations and references by using APA format
- Essentials of a good research report
- Essentials of a good research report.