Course Contents
Unit I: Introduction to Research 8 hours
The meaning of research; the nature and types of research; application of scientific thinking in research, scientific research - scientific research process, characteristics of scientific research; Emerging paradigms in research; quantitative and qualitative approaches to research; Business research – role, types and value for decision making; Ethical considerations in business research.
Unit II: Literature Review and Theoretical Framework 5 hours
Literature review - purpose and steps; searching, obtaining, and evaluating the literature, literature search through the Internet, format and guidelines for presenting the literature review; Theoretical framework – concept and format; Research and theory – deduction and induction.
Unit III: Problem Definition and Hypothesis Formulation 3 hours
Problem definition – concept and steps in problem formulation; Research questions; Hypothesis - functions and types; criteria of good hypothesis statement.
Unit IV: Research Design 10 hours
Definition; elements of a research design; Types of research design – exploratory; descriptive (developmental and case study); correlational; causal-comparative and experimental research designs; Qualitative research – concept, basic assumptions, features and design.
Unit V: Measurement, Scaling and Sampling 5 hours
Variables – concept and types; Measurement and scales, scale construction and attitude measurement; Scales and techniques commonly used in business research; Validity and reliability of measurement; Sampling – concept, probability and non-probability sampling; sampling and non-sampling errors.
Unit VI: Data Collection and Analysis 12 hours
Data and its types; sources of primary and secondary data; Questionnaire – principles, components and types – format and types; Research interviews – principles and types; Sources of qualitative data – observation, participant observation, focus groups; E-research using Internet and websites to collect data from individuals; web surveys, e-mail surveys; Getting data ready for analysis; Data processing; Presenting data in graphs and tables; Statistical analysis of data – descriptive and inferential statistics; Hypothesis testing; Methods of analyzing qualitative data.
Unit VII: Writing Proposals and Project Reports 5 hours
Project work – concept, purpose and methods; Research proposals – functions, types and components; features of research proposal; Research report – concept, process, types and procedure for writing research reports; conventions of academic writing; components of the project report; body of the project report; Documenting sources - APA style of citation and referencing; Essentials of good research report.