3rd and 4th
Learning Outcomes
 Students should be able to identify, describe and
summarize the steps in the research process
Outlines
 Broad problem area
 Steps in business research process
 The connection between steps in business research
with thesis writing for students
 The connection between business research with
managerial decision
 Preliminary data gathering
 Searching and finding ideas for research
 Observation for browsing themes
Broad Problem Area
Applied Research:
 Problems currently existing that need to be solved.
 Areas that is believed to be improved.
Basic Research:
 Conceptual or theoretical issue that needs to be
tightened up to understand certain phenomena.
 Some Research questions that wants to be answered
empirically.
Preliminary Data Collection
The Nature of Information needed:
 Contextual factors: background information of the
organization.
 Structural aspects: managerial philosophy and
company policies.
 Value system and culture: perceptions, attitudes and
behavioral responses.
Background information on the
organization
 The origin and history of the company
 Size in terms of employees, assets or both
 Charter – purpose and ideology
 Location – regional, national or other
 Resources – human and others
 Interdependent relationships with other institutions
and the external environment
 Financial position during the previous 5 to 10 yeas, and
relevant data
Management Philosophy
 Roles and positions in the organization and number of
employees at each job level
 Extent of specialization
 Communication channels
 Coordination and span of control
 Reward system
 Workflow system and the like
Perceptions, Attitudes and Behavioral
Responses
 Nature of the work
 Workflow interdependencies
 Superiors in the organization
 Participation in decision making
 Client system
 Co-workers
 Rewards provided by the organization, e.g. pay raises
and fringe benefit
 Opportunities for advancement
 Organization’s attitudes toward employees’ family
responsibility
Literature Survey
 Is the documentation of a
comprehensive review of the
published and unpublished work
from secondary sources of data in the
specific area of interest.
Literature Survey
Reasons for a literature survey
 Tracking the previous understanding of the research
area.
 Have not missed anything important to understand.
 Determine the important variables
 Integrate information from literature into the research
design
 Develop theoretical framework
 Determine originality of study.
Good Literature Survey thus ensures:
 Important Variables that are likely to influence the
problem situation are not left out of the study.
 A clearer idea emerges as to what variables would be
most important to consider (parsimony). (5 W).
 The problem statement can be made with precision
and clarity.
 Testability and replicability of the findings of the
current research are enhanced.
 Does not run the risk of rediscovering something
that is already known.
 The problem investigated is perceived by the
scientist community as relevant and significant.
Conducting the Literature Survey:
 Identifying the relevant sources:
 Bibliographic databases
 Abstract databases
 Full text databases.
 Extracting the relevant information.
 Writing up the literature review.
Writing up the Literature Review
 The write up needs to:
 Convince the reader that the researcher is
knowledgeable about the problem area
and has done the background work.
 The theoretical framework will be built on
work already done and will add to the
solid foundation of the existing
knowledge.
Writing a literature review cont...
 Get as many relevant articles as possible.
 Read all and highlight points of interest or
importance.
 Note down key issues that are arising across the
articles.
 Plan the writing up of the literature review around
these key points.
 Begin writing by drawing on the points you found
and discussing each authors’ work
Writing a literature review cont...
 Keep a record of all citations and quotations - keep
a running reference section. It is easy to forget
where you read something.
 Keep reading while you are writing to add to the
literature review.
 Take note of key references / citations made by
authors you are reading. Check these out.
 References must be current unless it is a seminal
piece. Eg Doll (1988) on user satisfaction factors.
Supporting your case
 To provide evidence either use quotations from a
reliable source or follow statement with citation eg
‘Most organisations use SQL’ (Smith 1998, Lo
1992)
 When citing a book as evidence, include the page
number even if you are not quoting from the book.
See pg 52 Sekaran Eg
The failure of information systems is often caused
by poor communication. (Bresko 1993, 41)
Reference Style
 You are expected to use the Harvard style for
referencing. See Little Black Book - available from the
book shop. (see also page 80 Sekaran.)
 Example
 Norman, D. A. (1990). The Design of Everyday Things.
New York, Currency Doubleday.
 Pieratti, D. D. (1995). “How the Process and Organization
Can Help or Hinder Adding Value.” Journal of the Society
for Technical Communication 42(1): 61-68.