WEEK 4: PROBLEM DEFINATION:THE FOUNDATION OF BUSINESS RESEARCH Flashcards
Important of starting with a good problem definition
RESEARCH STATEMENT
PROBLEM DEFINITION
PROBLEM COMPLEXITY
•is a written expression of the key questions that a research users wishes to answer. It is the reason that research is being considered. It must be well stated and relevant
RESEARCH STATEMENT
•the process of defining developing a decision statement and the steps involved in translating it into more precise research terminology, including set of research
PROBLEM DEFINITION
•Ultimately, the quality of business research in improving business decisions is limited by the quality of the problem definition stage. This is far from the easiest stage of the research process. Indeed, it can be the most complex
PROBLEM COMPLEXITY
•A problem occurs when there is a difference between the current conditions and a more preferable set of conditions. I
THE PROBLEM-DEFINITION PROCESS
• is an interview technique that tries to draw deeper and more elaborate explanations from the discussion. This discussion may involve potential problem causes
PROBING
Anticipating the many influences and dimensions of a problem is impossible for any researcher or executive. The preceding interview is extremely useful in translating the decision situation into a working problem definition by focusing on symptoms.
IDENTIFYING RELEVANT ISSUES FROM 5HE SYMPTOMS
Writing Managerial Decision Statements and Corresponding
•RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
•RESEARCH QUESTION
•CLARITY IN RESEARCH QUESTION AND HYPOTHESIS
•TRANSLATE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES TO RESEARCH QUESTION AND/ RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
•OUTLINE THE COMPONENTS OF A RESEARCH PROPOSAL
•CONSTRUCT DUMMY TABLES AS PART OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL
•is research that addresses business objectives through techniques that allow the researcher to provide elaborate interpretations of market phenomena without depending on numerical measurement. Its focus is on discovering true inner meanings and new insights.
QUALITATIVE BUSINESS RESEARCH
•can be defined as business research that addresses research objectives through empirical assessments that involve numerical measurement and analysis approaches. Qualitative research is more apt to stand on its own in the sense that it requires less interpretation.
QUANTITATIVE BUSINESS RESEARCH
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One can find many debates about the superiority of qualitative research over quantitative research or vice versa. 6 We’ll begin by saying that this is largely a superfluous argument in either direction. The truth is that qualitative research can accomplish research objectives that quantitative research cannot.
QUALITATIVE VERSUS QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
•Qualitative research can be performed in many ways using many techniques. Orientations to qualitative research are very much influenced by the different fields of study involved in research. These orientations are each associated with a category of qualitative research. The major categories of qualitative research include
1. Phenomenology—originating in philosophy and psychology
2. Ethnography—originating in anthropology
3. Grounded theory—originating in sociology
4. Case studies—originating in psychology and in business research
ORIENTATION TO QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
•A philosophical approach to studying human experiences based on the idea that human experience itself is inherently subjective and determined by the context in which people live.
PHENOMENOLOGY
•Represents ways of studying cultures through methods that involve becoming highly active within that culture. Participant-observation typifies an ethnographic research approach. Participant observation means the researcher becomes immersed within the culture that he or she is studying and draws data from his or her observations.
ETHNOGRAPHY
•Represents an inductive investigation in which the researcher poses questions about information provided by respondents or taken from historical records; the researcher asks the questions to him or herself and repeatedly questions the responses to derive deeper explanations.
GROUNDED THEORY
