Business Research Methods

Research: – Definition, Meaning, Importance types and Qualities of Research; Research applications in functional areas of Business, Emerging trends in Business research. Research & the Scientific Method: Characteristics of scientific method. Steps in Research Process Concept of Scientific Enquiry: – Formulation of Research Problem – Management Question – research Question – Investigation Question Research Proposal – Elements of a Research Proposal, Drafting a Research Proposal, evaluating a research proposal.

Research design: Concept, Features of a good research design, Use of a good research design; Qualitative and Quantitative research approaches, Comparison – Pros and Cons of both approaches. Exploratory Research Design: Concept, Types: Qualitative techniques – Projective Techniques, Depth Interview, Experience Survey, Focus Groups, Observation. Descriptive Research Designs: Concept, types and uses. Concept of Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Research Experimental Design: Concept of Cause, Causal relationships, Concept of Independent & Dependent variables, concomitant variable, extraneous variable, Treatment, Control group.

Scaling & measurement techniques: Concept of Measurement: Need of Measurement; Problems in measurement in management research – Validity and Reliability. Levels of measurement – Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, Ratio. Attitude Scaling Techniques: Concept of Scale – Rating Scales viz. Likert Scales, Semantic Differential Scales, Constant Sum Scales, Graphic Rating Scales – Ranking Scales – Paired comparison & Forced Ranking – Concept and Application.

• Sampling:Basic Concepts: Defining the Universe, Concepts of Statistical Population, Sample, Characteristics of a good sample. Sampling Frame (practical approach for determining the sample frame expected), Sampling errors, Non Sampling errors, Methods to reduce the errors, Sample Size constraints, Non Response. Probability Sample: Simple Random Sample, Systematic Sample, Stratified Random Sample, Area Sampling & Cluster Sampling.
• Non Probability Sample: Judgment Sampling, Convenience Sampling, Purposive Sampling, Quota Sampling & Snowballing Sampling methods. Determining size of the sample – Practical considerations in sampling and sample size, sample size determination.

Data Analysis: Editing, Coding, Tabular representation of data, frequency tables, Construction of frequency distributions, Graphical Representation of Data: Appropriate Usage of Bar charts, Pie charts, Histogram. Hypothesis: Qualities of a good Hypothesis –Framing Null Hypothesis & Alternative Hypothesis. Concept of Hypothesis Testing – Logic & Importance. Analysis of Variance: One way and two way Classifications. Mechanism of Report Writing- Report Preparation: Types, Report Structure: preliminary section, main report, interpretation of results, suggestions and recommendations, limitations of the study, Report formulation.