Includes bibliographical references and index.

Research Methods for Business: A Skill-Building Approach is a concise and straightforward introduction for students to the world of business research. The skill-building approach provides students with practical perspectives on how research can be applied in real business situations.

About the Authors xix Preface xxi Acknowledgments xxiii 1 Introduction to research 1 Introduction 1 Business research 2 The role of theory and information in research 3 Research and the manager 3 Types of business research: applied and basic 5 Applied research 6 Basic or fundamental research 7 Managers and research 8 Why managers need to know about research 8 The manager and the consultant researcher 9 Internal versus external consultants/researchers 10 Internal consultants/researchers 10 Advantages of internal consultants/researchers 10 Disadvantages of internal consultants/researchers 11 External consultants/researchers 11 Advantages of external consultants/researchers 11 Disadvantages of external consultants/researchers 12 Knowledge about research and managerial effectiveness 12 Ethics and business research 13 Summary 13 Discussion questions 14 Case: The Laroche Candy Company 15 2 The scientific approach and alternative approaches to investigation 18 Introduction 18 The hallmarks of scientific research 19 Purposiveness 19 Rigor 19 Testability 20 Replicability 20 Precision and confidence 21 Objectivity 21 Generalizability 22 Parsimony 22 The hypothetico-deductive method 23 The seven-step process in the hypothetico-deductive method 23 Identify a broad problem area 23 Define the problem statement 23 Develop hypotheses 23 Determine measures 24 Data collection 24 Data analysis 24 Interpretation of data 24 Review of the hypothetico-deductive method 26 Some obstacles to conducting scientific research in the management area 27 Alternative approaches to research 28 Positivism 28 Constructionism 28 Critical realism 29 Pragmatism 29 Conclusion 29 Summary 30 Discussion questions 31 3 Defining and refining the problem 33 Introduction 33 The broad problem area 33 Preliminary research 37 Nature of information to be gathered 37 Background information on the organization 37 Information on the topic or subject area 38 Defining the problem statement 39 What makes a good problem statement? 39 Basic types of questions: exploratory and descriptive 43 Exploratory research questions 43 Descriptive research questions 43 Causal research questions 44 The research proposal 45 Managerial implications 47 Ethical issues in the preliminary stages of investigation 47 Summary 48 Discussion questions 49 4 The critical literature review 51 Introduction 51 How to approach the literature review 54 Data sources 54 Textbooks 54 Journals 54 Theses 55 Conference proceedings 55 Unpublished manuscripts 55 Reports 55 Newspapers 55 The Internet 55 Searching for literature 56 Evaluating the literature 56 Documenting the literature review 57 Ethical issues 59 Summary 60 Discussion questions 61 Practice project 62 Appendix 63 Some online resources useful for business research 63 Bibliographical databases 66 Apa format for referencing relevant articles 66 Referencing and quotation in the literature review section 69 5 Theoretical framework and hypothesis development 71 Introduction 71 The need for a theoretical framework 72 Variables 72 Dependent variable 73 Independent variable 74 Moderating variable 75 The distinction between an independent variable and a moderating variable 77 Mediating variable 79 How theory is generated 81 The components of the theoretical framework 82 Hypothesis development 83 Definition of a hypothesis 84 Statement of hypotheses: formats 84 If then statements 84 Directional and nondirectional hypotheses 84 Null and alternate hypotheses 85 Managerial implications 90 Summary 91 Discussion questions 92 Practice project 94 6 Elements of research design 95 Introduction 95 The research design 95 Elements of research design 96 Research strategies 96 Experiments 97 Survey research 97 Ethnography 97 Case studies 98 Grounded theory 98 Action research 98 Extent of researcher interference with the study 99 Study setting: contrived and noncontrived 100 Unit of analysis: individuals, dyads, groups, organizations, cultures 102 Time horizon: cross-sectional versus longitudinal studies 104 Cross-sectional studies 104 Longitudinal studies 105 Mixed methods 106 Trade-offs and compromises 107 Managerial implications 108 Summary 108 Discussion questions 109 7 Interviews 111 Introduction 111 Primary data collection methods 111 Interviews 113 Unstructured and structured interviews 113 Unstructured interviews 113 Structured interviews 115 Review of unstructured and structured interviews 116 Training interviewers 116 Some tips to follow when interviewing 117 Establishing credibility and rapport, and motivating individuals to respond 117 The questioning technique 118 Review of tips to follow when interviewing 119 Face-to-face and telephone interviews 119 Face-to-face interviews: advantages and disadvantages 120 Telephone interviews: advantages and disadvantages 120 Additional sources of bias in interview data 120 Computer-assisted interviewing 120 CATI and CAPI 121 Software packages 121 Group interviews 121 Focus groups 121 Expert panels 122 Advantages and disadvantages of interviews 123 Summary 123 Discussion questions 124 8 Data collection methods: Observation 126 Introduction 126 Definition and purpose of observation 127 Four key dimensions that characterize the type of observation 127 Controlled versus uncontrolled observational studies 127 Participant versus nonparticipant observation 128 Structured versus unstructured observational studies 128 Concealed versus unconcealed observation 129 Two important approaches to observation 130 Participant observation: introduction 130 The participatory aspect of participant observation 130 The observation aspect of participant observation 131 What to observe 133 Structured observation: introduction 134 The use of coding schemes in structured observation 136 Advantages and disadvantages of observation 137 Summary 139 Discussion questions 140 9 Administering questionnaires 142 Introduction 142 Types of questionnaires 142 Personally administered questionnaires 143 Mail questionnaires 143 Electronic and online questionnaires 143 Guidelines for questionnaire design 145 Principles of wording 146 Content and purpose of the questions 146 Language and wording of the questionnaire 146 Type and form of questions 146 Sequencing of questions 149 Classification data or personal information 149 Principles of measurement 150 General appearance or getup of the questionnaire 150 Review of questionnaire design 154 Pretesting of structured questions 155 Electronic questionnaire and survey design 155 International dimensions of surveys 155 Special issues in instrumentation for cross-cultural research 156 Issues in cross-cultural data collection 156 Review of the advantages and disadvantages of different data collection methods and when to use each 157 Multimethods of data collection 158 Managerial implications 159 Ethics in data collection 159 Ethics and the researcher 159 Ethical behavior of respondents 160 Summary 160 Discussion questions 161 10 Experimental designs 165 Introduction 165 The lab experiment 167 Control 168 Manipulation 168 Controlling the contaminating exogenous or nuisance variables 170 Matching groups 170 Randomization 170 Internal validity of lab experiments 171 External validity or generalizability of lab experiments 171 The field experiment 172 External and internal validity in experiments 172 Trade-off between internal and external validity 172 Factors affecting the validity of experiments 173 History effects 173 Maturation effects 174 Testing effects 174 Selection bias effects 175 Mortality effects 175 Statistical regression effects 176 Instrumentation effects 176 Identifying threats to validity 177 Review of factors affecting internal and external validity 178 Types of experimental design and validity 179 Quasi-experimental designs 179 Pretest and posttest experimental group design 179 Posttests only with experimental and control groups 179 Time series design 180 True experimental designs 181 Pretest and posttest experimental and control

group design 181 Solomon four-group design 181 Double-blind studies 183 Ex post facto designs 184 Simulation 184 Ethical issues in experimental design research 185 Managerial implications 186 Summary 187 Discussion questions 189 Appendix: Further experimental designs 190 The completely randomized design 190 Randomized block design 191 Latin square design 191 Factorial design 192 11 Measurement of variables: Operational definition 193 Introduction 193 How variables are measured 193 Operational definition (operationalization) 195 Operationalization: dimensions and elements 196 Operationalizing the (multidimensional) concept of achievement motivation 197 Dimensions and elements of achievement motivation 198 What operationalization is not 202 Review of operationalization 203 International dimensions of operationalization 204 Summary 204 Discussion questions 205 12 Measurement: Scaling, reliability and validity 206 Introduction 206 Four types of scales 207 Nominal scale 207 Ordinal scale 208 Interval scale 209 Ratio scale 209 Ordinal or interval? 210 Review of scales 212 Rating scales 213 Dichotomous scale 213 Category scale 214 Semantic differential scale 214 Numerical scale 214 Itemized rating scale 215 Likert scale 215 Fixed or constant sum scale 216 Stapel scale 216 Graphic rating scale 217 Consensus scale 218 Other scales 218 Ranking scales 218 Paired comparison 218 Forced choice 218 Comparative scale 219 International dimensions of scaling 219 Goodness of measures 220 Item analysis 220 Validity 220 Content validity 221 Criterion-related validity 221 Construct validity 222 Reliability 223 Stability of measures 224 Internal consistency of measures 224 Reflective versus formative measurement scales 225 What is a reflective scale? 225 What is a formative scale and why do the items of a formative scale not necessarily hang together? 225 Summary 226 Discussion questions 227 Appendix: Examples of some measures 229 Measures from behavioral finance research 229 Measures from man