Chp4 - Research Methods for Business By Authors Uma Sekaran and Roger Bougie

CH. 4THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Steps 1 to 3• The broad problem area• Preliminary data gathering• Problem definition

The Research Process

Broad Problem Area• Broad problem area refers to the entire situation

where one sees a possible need for research and problem solving.

• Such issues might pertain to:– Problems currently existing in an organizational setting that

need to be solved– Areas that a manager believes need to be improved in the

organization– A conceptual or theoretical issues that needs to be

tightened up for the basic researcher to understand certain phenomena

– Some research questions that a basic researcher wants to answer empirically

Preliminary Data Collection

• Interviews• Literature research: the documentation of

a comprehensive review of the published and unpublished work from secondary sources of data in the areas of specific interest to the researcher.

Literature Survey• The purpose of the literature review :

– To ensure that no important variable that has been in the past been found repeatedly to have had an impact on the problem is ignored

– To prevent researcher to “discover” something that has already been thoroughly researched

– Could be the basis of qualitative research– Provide the foundation for developing a

comprehensive theoretical framework from which hypotheses can be developed for testing

Literature Survey (Cont’d)

• Extracting the relevant information:– Detailed information on the problem that was

researched– The design details of the study (such as

sample size and data collection methods)– Ultimate findings

Problem Definition• Problem: many situations where a gap

exists between the actual and the desired ideal states.

• Problem definition or problem statement: a clear, precise, and succinct statement of the question or issue that is to be investigated with the goal of finding an answer or solution

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS

• Managers sometimes look at the symptoms in problematic situations and treat them as if they are the real problems, getting frustrated when their remedies do not work.

• antecedents–problem–consequences sequence• Managers who realize that correct problem

definition is critical to ultimate problem solution, do not grudge the time spent in working closely with researchers, particularly at this stage.