Business Research Methods

Class of Credit : 2013 : 3 Academic Year : Semester Sessions : : First II 30

Course Code : SLRM502

AIM
To introduce students to the process of conducting Business Research. The course would act as a foundation towards an effective summer internship program in the short run and for conceptualizing overall business research problem in the long run. The practical purpose of such a course would be to aid through the understanding of research process for conducting research projects meant for making business decisions. The course would also provide grounding in research techniques using appropriate software for scientific analysis of data. Students in the process will equip themselves to formulate problems, design the process, collect the information, analyse, interpret and apply research to arrive at solutions. Learning Outcomes: 1. Critically examine the business problem, formulate and conceptualize into a research problem. 2. Learn to read research reports by critically examining its methodology. 3. Have a general understanding of Business research and its usefulness for management. 4. Examine different research designs their usefulness and applications and the ethical issues in research 5. Describe the role of experimentation in Business research and provide an understanding of how the experiments are conducted. 6. Learn about different data sources and understand their reliability. 7. Understand as to how to generate information through primary sources conducting surveys and make observations. 8. Examine the types of sampling techniques and choose the right technique given the research problem. 9. Arrive at right sample size and sampling frames. 10. Understand the meaning of measurement, validity, reliability, generalisability and scaling and their application to data. 11. Understand different statistical techniques, its context of usage, application of softwares and interpret the results. 12. Develop skills in writing research reports with good flow of content, clarity in expression, styles of references, etc.

REFERENCE BOOKS Business Research Methods, 7e

AUTHOR / PUBLICATION William G Zikmund, Thomson South-Western, Singapore 2003

Marketing Research : A South Asian Perspective

Research Methods

Churchill, Gilbert A, Dawn Lacobucci and D Israel, Cenage Learning, 2005.

Donald H.McBurney, Thomson Asia Pvt.Ltd., Singapore, (2002) Hutton, P. Basingstoke, Macmillan (1990).

Research for Managers: How to Use Survey in Management Decision - Making Survey (2nd edition)

Detailed Syllabus Introduction to Research: Meaning & definition of Research Relevance and significance of Research in business Types of Research. Ethics in research, consequences of Plagiarism. Research Process: An overview- Introduction to critical review of literature- identification of research problem, formulation of constructs, statement of objectives, statement of hypothesis, identification of variables, data collection, data analysis, report writing. Research design:- Exploratory researchExploratory research with secondary data types of secondary data, sources of secondary data, advantages and disadvantages of secondary data- testing the validity of secondary data, Explorative research through critical review of literature- Exploratory research with qualitative data- focus groups, depth interviews, observation techniques, projective techniquesDescriptive Research- survey and observationlongitudinal, cross sectional, cohort- Causal Research- concept of causality, concomitant variation, internal and external validity, causal studies with Experimentation, threats through validity, Experimental designs, causal studies through inferential statistics.

Scales and Measurements: Measurements Types of measurements Different Scales Comparison between different scales Characteristics Validity Different Methods of measurement Developing Scales Classification of scales Rating Scales Attitude Scales Thurston scale Likert scale Semantic Differential scale Types of Errors in measurement Test of Reliability Measures of Stability Threats to Reliability Survey Research: Introduction Purpose Methods of data collection - Interviews, observation schedule, Questionnaire - Other methods of data collection - Panel research, warranty cards, Pantry audit and consumer panel- Mechanical Devices Projective Techniques Sociometry. Sampling- Sampling process- identification of sampling frame, sampling techniques, sample size determination. Data Preparation: Data Coding, Data Cleaning, Identification Outlier, Handling Missing Values, frequency tables, cross tabulation.

Introduction to Multivariate analysis:- Nature and techniques of Multivariate AnalysisIntroduction to dependency and interdependency techniques, criteria on the choice of technique, assumptions behind the techniques, criteria on the scales of data for the usage of techniquessuitability of technique to the research problemMultiple regression, Factor analysis, cluster analysis, Discriminant analysis, conjoint analysis, MDS, correspondence analysis. (The above techniques are exposed only to the details given above and not to be dealt in detail pertaining to analysis) Analysis of Multivariate techniques with statistical packages: Multiple regression, Factor analysis Report writing: types of reports planning and organizing a research project, Harvard system of referencing Bibliography footnotes checklist - evaluation of report.

Suggested Schedule of Sessions Topic Introduction to research Research processes: An overview Research design Scales and measurements Sampling Survey research Data Preparation with statistical packages Introduction techniques to Multivariate No. of Sessions 1 3 4 3 2 4 3 4 2 2 2 30

Multiple Regression Factor Report writing Total Sessions