What is research? Research is: “The process of thoroughly studying and analysing the situational factors surrounding a problem in order to seek out solutions to it”. (Cavana, Delahaye and Sekaran, 2001: 4) ‘.. a systematic, careful inquiry or examination to discover new information or relationships and to expand/verify existing knowledge for some specified purpose’ (Bennett, 1991: 68).
What is business research? “Undertaking systematic research to find out things about business and management” (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003: 3) “An organised, systematic, data-based, critical, objective, scientific inquiry or investigation into a specific problem or issue with the purpose of finding solutions to it or clarifying it. (Cavana et al, 2001: 5)
Why Do We Do Research? (Babbie, 1995; Veal 2005) Exploration – Uncovering issues of concern – Increasing understanding of the problem Description – Finding out, describing what is – What is the situation? Where are we now?
Why Do We Do Research? (continued) Explanation – Explaining how or why things are as they are (and using this to predict) – Answering questions, solving problems, testing theories Evaluation research – evaluation of policies, strategies, programs and practices dents
Basic versus applied business research Basic – to enhance the understanding of problems that commonly occur across a range of organisations Applied – done with the intention of applying results to specific problems in the business
The Research Process A general approach: Desire to do research Formulating and clarifying the topic Reviewing the literature Choosing a research strategy Collecting data Analysing data Reporting the findings (write-up)
Scientific Investigation The need for an honest, truthful, accurate and complete investigation Focused on the goals of problem-solving Pursues a step-by-step, logical, organised and rigorous method
The Hallmarks of Scientific Research 1.Purposiveness 2.Rigour 3.Testability 4.Replicability 5.Accuracy 6.Objectivity 7.Generalisability 8.Parsimony