HANOI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Faculty of Economics and Management

Research Process
Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung

The Research Process

1. Exploration
Discover the Management Dilemma
Business Research Methods

„
„ Define the Management Question
„ Define the Research Question(s)
„ Refine the Research Question(s)
2. Research Proposal
„ Research Design:
„ Data Collection Design
„ Sampling Design
„ Questionnaire:
„ Question and Instrument Pilot Testing
„ Instrument Revision
3. Data Collection and Preparation
4. Data Analysis and Interpretation
5. Research Reporting
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 „ Alber Einstein:
Business Research Methods

„ “The formulation of a problem is more often

essential than its solution, which may be
merely a matter of mathematical or
experimental skill. To raise new questions,
new possibilities, to regard old problems from
a new angle requires creative imagination and
marks real advance in science.”

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The Management-Research
Question Hierarchy
6 Management Decision
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5 Measurement Questions
4 Investigative Questions
3 Research Questions
2 Management Questions
1 Management Dilemma

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 Step 1: Discover Management
Dilemma (cont.)
„ Dilemma: a difficult situation facing a manager
Business Research Methods

„ The research starts with:

„ What symptoms cause management concern?
„ What environmental stimuli raise management
interest?
„ This is usually a symptom of an actual problem:
„ Rising costs
„ Falling sales
„ Increasing employee turnover
„ Increasing complaints about postpurchase service
„ Worse financial efficiency
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Management Dilemma:
Exploration
„ At this stage you review published sources
Business Research Methods

and interview gatekeepers to understand

the true management dilemma, not just a
symptom

„ E.g.: “Why are our sales declining in the

south and northeast, while sales are
booming in the southwest, west and
midwest region?”
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 Step 2: Define Management
Question
„ The purpose of this stage is to clarify the
Business Research Methods

possible management actions that might be

taken to solve the management dilemma.
„ This stage usually involves interviews with
managers, information gatekeepers,
brainstorming with experts, and other qualitative
research techniques.
„ Using collected information in exploration, you
form the management question, usually with:
“How can the managers/organization …”
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Types of Management Question

„ Choice of purposes or objectives
Business Research Methods

„ “What do we want to achieve: cutting costs or

increasing customer satisfaction?”
„ Generation and evaluation of solutions
„ “How can we reduce postpurchase service
complaints?”
„ Troubleshooting or control situation
„ “Why does our department incur the highest?”
„ “How well is our program meeting its goals?”

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 Step 3: Define the Research
Question(s)
„ Fine tune the research question
Examine concepts and constructs
Business Research Methods

„
„ Break research questions into specific second-and-third-level
questions
„ Verify hypotheses with quality tests
„ Determine what evidence answers the various questions and
hypothesis
„ Set the scope of your study
„ E.g:
„ “Should we introduce a 2% incentive commission-based
compensation system on all sales over quota for salespeople in
the south and northeast?”
“Should we increase the level of advertising via trade
publications in the south and northeast?”

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Step 4: Define Investigative

Questions
„ Investigative Questions: the questions the
researcher must answer to satisfactorily arrive at
Business Research Methods

a conclusion about the research question

„ E.g.:
„ What is likelihood that we will lose excellent
salespeople in the south and northeast if we
implement the compensation change?
„ What is the likelihood that current customer
satisfaction in these regions will decrease?
„ What is the likelihood that future sales to existing
customers will be lost?

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 Step 5: Measurement Questions
„ The questions we actually ask or extract from
respondents
Business Research Methods

„ E.g.:
„ Please rate your level of concern for each of the following
outcomes if management were to change your compensation to
a commission-based system compared to the current salary
system. For each outcome, indicate a number between 1 and 7,
where 1 = no concern at all, 4 = neither concerned nor
unconcerned, and 7 = extreme concern:
„ ___ Lack of predictability of monthly income
„ ___ Increased internal competition for sales prospects
„ ___ Reduced time for post-sale servicing of customer needs

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Research Process Problems

„ The Favored Technique Syndrome:
Some researchers are method-bound
Business Research Methods

„ Company Database Strip-Mining

„ A pool of information or a database may distract a manager.
Data mining is often a starting point, but it rarely answers
management questions
„ Unresearchable Questions:
„ Too big management questions are not achievable
„ Ill-Defined Management Problems:
„ Management problems or research questions are not clearly
defined.
„ Politically Motivated Research
„ Management have their own purposes.

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 Designing the Study
„ Research design is the blueprint for
Business Research Methods

fulfilling objectives and answering

questions.
„ Select a research design from the large
variety of methods, techniques,
procedures, protocols, and sampling plans

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Resource Allocation & Budgets

„ Guides to plan a budget
Business Research Methods

„ Project planning
„ Data gathering
„ Analysis, interpretation, and reporting
„ Types of budgeting
„ Rule-of-thumb budgeting: taking a fixed percentage of some criterion.
For example, a percentage of the prior year’s sales revenues may the
basis for determining the marketing research budget for a
manufacturer
„ Departmental or functional area budgeting: allocates a portion of total
expenditures in the unit to research activities. Units such as HR,
marketing, or engineering then have the authority to approve their own
projects.
„ Task budgeting: select specific research projects to support on an ad
hoc basis
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 Valuing Research Information:
Evaluation Methods
„ Ex Post Facto Evaluation
Business Research Methods

„ The cost-benefit analysis: after and before the research

„ Prior or Interim Evaluation:
„ The manager reviews costs and benefits at the end of each stage
and give or withhold further authorization
„ Option Analysis
„ Analyze the estimated costs and associated benefits of each
option, if the manager has a choice
„ Decision Theory
„ Analyze the alternatives by a decision rule and decision variable

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Contents of a Research Proposal

„ Statement of the research question
Business Research Methods

„ Brief description of research methodology

„ Pilot Testing
„ Data collection
„ Data preparation
„ Data analysis and interpretation
„ Research reporting

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 Research Proposal Process
Research Revise questions
Questions
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Do values No
exceed costs?

Yes Revise
proposal
Develop Research Proposal

Management
Is the budget and Rejected decision
design proposal
without
approved?
research
Approved

Execute Research Design

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