Topic 2: The business Research Process

Question 1

Why is business research undertaken?

Answer 1

• To reduce uncertainty
• Focus decision making
• Scan environment for opportunities

Question 2

What are the 3 types of business research?

Answer 2

• Exploratory (Most ambiguous)
• Descriptive
• Causal (Least ambiguous)

Question 3

Describe exploratory research

Answer 3

• Clarify ambiguous situations
• Discover potential business opportunities
• Not an end unto itself
• Can guide further in-depth business research (Descriptive or causal)

Question 4

Describe descriptive research

Answer 4

• Describes characteristics
• Paints situational picture (who, what, when, where, how)
• Done after researcher has firm grasp of situation being studied

Question 5

Describe causal research

Answer 5

• identifies cause & effect relationships
• Most valuable form of research for manager as it increases control
• Most expensive form of research

Question 6

3 requirements for a causal inference? (Causality)

Answer 6

• Temporal Sequence (Cause must occur before effect)
• There must be correlation between cause & effect
• Nonspurious association (No other variable must be responsible for covariation of cause & effect) (control other variables)

Question 7

3 levels of causality

Answer 7

• Absolute causality (Cause is necessary and sufficient by itself to induce effect)
• Conditional causality (Cause is necessary but not sufficient to induce effect; other additional conditions necessary)
• Contributory causality (Cause is neither sufficient nor necessary to induce effect, but it still can induce effect)

Question 8

Stages of the business research process

Answer 8

1. Define the research objectives
2. Plan the research design
3. Plan the research sample
4. Gather the data
5. Organise and analyse the data
6. Draw conclusions and prepare report

Question 9

What are the 4 basic techniques for descriptive & causal research?

Answer 9

• Survey
• Experiment
• Secondary data
• observation

Question 10

Describe Positivism

Answer 10

• Derived from Natural sciences
• social world is external, viewed objectively
• research is value-free
• researcher is independent

Question 11

Describe interpretivism

Answer 11

• Social world is constructed & given meaning by people
• researcher is part of what is observed
• research is driven by interests

Question 12

Deduction vs Induction?

Answer 12

Deduction attempts to be conclusive.
Deduction is valid if conclusion MUST be true if premises are true
Induction is use of hypotheses to attempt fact explanation.
Induction is not necessarily true and must be tested.

Question 13

What are the different types of research variables?

Answer 13

• Independent variable (IV): Variable you change/manipulate
• Dependent variable (DV): Variable you measure
• Moderating variable (MV): 2nd independent variable moderating relationship between IV & DV.
• Intervening variable(IVV): mechanism through which IV affects DV
• Controlled variable (CV): variable that remains constant to eliminate spurious association