1. McGraw-Hill/Irwin Business Research Methods, 10eCopyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 4 The Business Research Process: An Overview

2. 4-2 Stage 1: Clarifying the Research Question Management-research question hierarchy process begins by identifying the management dilemma

3. 4-3 Stage 2: Proposing Research Budget Types Rule-of-thumb Departmental Task

4. 4-4 The Research Proposal Delivery Legally- binding contract Legally- binding contract Obligations Written proposals establish Written proposals establish Methods Timing Budgets Extent Purpose

5. 4-5 Stage 3: Research Design

6. 4-6 Stage 3: Designing the Research The Research Project The Research Project Research Design Research Design Sampling Design Sampling Design Pilot Testing

7. 4-7 Stage 4: Data Collection

8. 4-8 Data Characteristics Abstractness Verifiability Elusiveness Closeness

9. 4-9 Stage 5: Data Analysis and Interpretation

10. 4-10 Reducing data to manageable size © 2002 McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., McGraw-Hill/Irwin Steps in Data Analysis and Interpretation Developing summaries Looking for patterns Applying statistical techniques

11. 4-11 Stage 6: Reporting the Results

12. 4-12 Parts of the Research Report Research Report Research Report Executive Summary Executive Summary Research Overview Research Overview Technical Appendix Technical Appendix Implementation Strategies Implementation Strategies

13. 4-13 The Research Report Overview Problem’s background Summary of exploratory findings Research design and procedures Conclusions

14. 4-14 Research Process Problems to Avoid Ill-defined management problem Unresearchable questions Politically-motivated research

15. 4-15 Research Process Problems to Avoid Company Database Strip-Mining The Favored- Technique Syndrome