1. Business Research Methods
Lecture 1
Introduction

2. Today’s topics
 General information
 Books, teaching method, exam, portfolio,
JMP, etc
 Why study Business Research?
 What is Business Research?
 Research and management
 The topics in the course
 Research philosophy

3. Evaluation
 Portfolio 40%
 Written exam 60%

4. Portfolio
 Market segmentation
 Three parts
 1: Presentation of product, design, etc
 2: Qualitative part
 3: Quantitative part

5. What is Business Research?
 A systematic inquiry whose objective
is to provide information to solve
managerial problems.

6. The Research Process
Problem Statement
Research Objectives
Research Questions
Research Design
Data Collecting
Data Analysis
Reporting

7. Why Study Research?
 Research provides you with the
knowledge and skills needed for the
fast-paced decision-making
environment

8. The nature of management
and business research
 Qualitative versus Quantitative
 A long standing tension
 Pure research versus Applied
research
 For and against and the practical implications
for the choice made
 Political
 Senior management access and, where
possible, support

9. What is management?
 The modern use of the term ‘management’ derives from
the USA, with the requirement for business and
entrepreneurial skills in the early twentieth century when
American industries and railroads were developing very
rapidly (Lawrence, 1986).
 Important subject to be taught in business schools.
Early Views:
 Establishment of business schools meant greater
systemization of techniques and knowledge.
 Taylor (1947): rational systems to simply the
organization of work and link rewards to effort.
 Fayol ([1916] 1950): classified functions – planning,
organizing, co-ordinating and controlling.

10. Seven perspectives on
management
Views of Period of Type of
Key features
management dominance theory
Classical 1910-1950 Functional activities Normative
Human Relations 1940-1970 Motivating people and managing change Normative
Decision Theory 1950-1970 Optimising decisions Analytic
Work Activity 1970s What managers do Descriptive
Competencies 1980s Skills required for effective performance Normative
Critical 1990-present Social construction and politics Analytic
Analytic and
Learning 1990-present Managing knowledge and learning
Normative

11. Skills and resources for management
and business research
 Evaluating the skills and qualities required to
conduct research:
 Knowledge/awareness
 Skills and abilities
 Personal qualities
 The support required, including the importance of
supervision
 The mind set and elements of creativity: (Austin,
1978)
 Favouring those in motion,
 Those with a prepared mind, and
 individualized action.

12. Levels and outcomes of
management research
 Pure research: mainly  Mode 1: production of
addressed at an academic knowledge by scientists
audience working from single
disciplines and focusing
on theoretical questions
 Applied research: solution and problems
of a specific problem  Mode 2: trans-
 Best practice research disciplinary – production
 Action research of knowledge through
 Engaged research direct engagement with
social problems
 Mode 1 ½: compromise
position where both
theoretical and practical
work is required

13. Types of research most likely to be
associated with different levels
Undergraduate Postgraduate
Doctoral Level Funded Projects
Level Level
Applied
Research ** ** * **
Action/
evaluation * ** * *
Research
Pure Research * *** ***
Research involves the collection of
primary and/or secondary data

14. The implications for
management researchers
Key Features Implications for Management Researchers
Management research Researchers need to be aware of different underlying
methods are eclectic assumptions.
Managers and employees Managers will have academic interest in research
are process/results and may want to contribute to the direction of
highly educated work.
Action is a frequent Research results may both derive from, and lead to, practical
outcome of action.
management research Both traditional analytic research and action research are
legitimate activities.

15. The Value of Acquiring
Research Skills
 To gather more information before
selecting a course of action
 To do a high-level research study
 To understand research design
 To evaluate and resolve a current
management dilemma
 To establish a career as a research
specialist

16. Types of Studies Used to do
Research
 Reporting
 Descriptive
 Explanatory
 Predictive

17. What is Good Research?
 Following the standards of the
scientific method
 Purpose clearly defined
 Research process detailed
 Research design thoroughly planned
 Limitations frankly revealed
 High ethical standards applied

18. What is Good Research? (cont.)
 Following the standards of the
scientific method (cont.)
 Adequate analysis for decision-
maker’s needs
 Findings presented unambiguously
 Conclusions justified
 Researcher’s experience reflected

19. The Manager-Researcher
Relationship
 Manager’s obligations
 Specify problems
 Provide adequate background information
 Access to company information gatekeepers
 Researcher’s obligations
 Develop a creative research design
 Provide answers to important business
questions

20. Manager-Researcher Conflicts
 Management’s limited exposure to
research
 Manager sees researcher as threat to
personal status
 Researcher has to consider corporate
culture and political situations
 Researcher’s isolation from managers

21. When Research Should be
Avoided
 When information cannot be applied to
a critical managerial decision
 When managerial decision involves
little risk
 When management has insufficient
resources to conduct a study
 When the cost of the study outweighs
the level of risk of the decision

22. The language of research
 Concepts
A concept is a generally accepted
collections of meanings or characteristics
associated with certain events, objects,
conditions, situations and behaviours.
 Constructs
 A construct is an image or abstract idea
specifically invented for a given research
and/or theory-building purpose.

23. The language of research
 Definitions
 Operational definitions
 Variables
 Independent and dependent variables
 Moderating variables
 Extraneous variables

24. The language of research
 Hypothesis
 Theory
 Model

25. Thinking like a researcher
 Deduction
 Induction
 Combining the two

26. The Philosophical debates
NOMINALISM REALISM
Ontology
Epistemology
Methodology
Methods and Techniques
VARIOUS 3rd WAYS

27. Ontology
 A researcher’s Ontology refers to:
 Their philosophical assumptions about the nature of
reality.
Ontology Realism Internal Realism Relativism Nominalism
Truth exists, but is There are many
Truth Single Truth. There is no truth.
obscure. ‘truths’.
Facts are
Facts depend on
Facts exist and can concrete, but Facts are all
Facts viewpoint of
be revealed. cannot be access human creations.
observer.
directly.

28. Epistemology
 A Researcher’s Epistemology is a
result of their Ontological position and
refers to:
 their assumptions about the best ways of
inquiring into the nature of the world and
establishing ‘truth’.
 Positivism
 Social constructionism

29. Philosophical assumptions of
positivism
 Independence: the observer must be independent from what is being observed.
 Value-freedom: the choice of what to study, and how to study it, can be determined by
objective criteria rather than by human beliefs and interests.
 Causality: the aim of the social sciences should be to identify causal explanations and
fundamental laws that explain regularities in human social behaviour.
 Hypothesis and deduction: science proceeds through a process of hypothesizing
fundamental laws and then deducing what kinds of observations will demonstrate the truth
or falsity of these hypotheses.
 Operationalization: concepts need to be defined in ways that enable facts to be
measured quantitatively.
 Reductionism: problems as a whole are better understood if they are reduced into the
simplest possible elements.
 Generalization: in order to move from the specific to the general it is necessary to select
random samples of sufficient size, from which inferences may be drawn about the wider
population.
 Cross-sectional analysis: such regularities can most easily be identified by making
comparisons of variations across samples.

30. Contrasting implications of positivism
and social constructionism
Positivism Social Constructionism
The observer must be independent is part of what is being observed
Human interests Should be irrelevant Are the main drivers of science
Aim to increase general understanding
Explanations Must demonstrate causality
of the situation
Research progresses Gathering rich data from which ideas
Hypotheses and deductions
through are induced
Need to be defined so that Should incorporate stakeholder
Concepts
they can be measured perspectives
Should be reduced to simplest May include the complexity of ‘whole’
Units of analysis
terms situations
Generalization
Statistical probability Theoretical abstraction
through
Large numbers selected Small numbers of cases chosen for
Sampling requires
randomly specific reasons

31. Methodological implications of
different epistemologies A combination of techniques
used to inquire into a specific
situation.
Ontology Realism Internal Realism Relativism Nominalism
Epistemology
Strong
Strong Positivism Positivism Constructionism
Constructionism
Methodology
Aims Discovery Exposure Convergence Invention
Starting points Hypotheses Propositions Questions Critique
Large surveys; Cases and Engagement and
Designs Experiment
multi-casts surveys reflexivity
Numbers and Numbers and Words and Discourse and
Data types
facts words numbers experiences
Analysis/ Verification/ Correlation and Triangulation and Sense-making;
interpretation falsification regression comparison understanding
Confirmation of Theory testing Theory New insights and
Outcomes
theories and generation generation actions

32. Strengths and weaknesses of
different epistemologies
Strengths Weaknesses
Strong Positivism If it works it can provide highly Hard to implement social experiments
compelling conclusions. and to control for alternative explanations
of results.
Focus may be very narrow.
Positivism Can provide wide coverage. Inflexible and artificial.
Potentially fast and economical. Not good for process, meanings or
Easier to provide justification of policies. theory generation.
Implications for action not obvious.
Constructionism Accepts value of multiple data sources. Access can be difficult
Enables generalizations beyond Cannot accommodate institutional and
present sample. cultural differences.
Greater efficiency including outsourcing Problems reconciling discrepant
potential. information.
Strong Good for processes, and meanings. Can be very time consuming.
Constructionism Flexible and good for theory generation. Analysis and interpretations are difficult.
Data collection less artificial. May not have credibility with policy-
makers.

33. Mapping of other philosophies
against ontologies
Realism Internal Realism Relativism Constructionism
Critical realism
Critical realism Hermeneutics
Hermeneutics Feminism
Feminism
Pragmatism
Feminism Postmodernism
Postmodernism
Critical theory
Critical theory

34. A small group work
 In a municipality close to Oslo they are
considering closing down a couple of
small schools. You are assigned to
determine which is the better, small
schools or large schools.
Consider and discuss your
philosophical approach to the research
problem