Business Research Methods Second European Edition Boris Blumberg, Donald R Cooper and Pamela S Schindler McGraw-Hill Higher Education London Boston BurrRidge, IL Dubuque, IA Madison, Wl New York San Francisco St Louis Bangkok Bogota Caracas Kuala Lumpur Lisbon Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi Santiago Seoul Singapore Sydney Taipei Toronto Preface Guided tour Technology to enhance learning and teaching Acknowledgements PART Essentials of Research The nature of business and management research 1.1 Why study research? 1.2 What is research? 1.3 Is research always problem-solving based? 1.4 What makes good research? 1.5 Research philosophies 1.6 Understandingtheory: components and connections 1.7 Propositions and hypotheses 1.8 Theory Research Methods in Practice 1: Why should we cooperate? Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading The research process and proposal 2.1 The research process 2.2 The management question 2.3 From research to measurement question 2.4 Research process problems 2.5 Designing the study 2.6 Resource allocation and budgets 2.7 Valuing research information 2.8 The research proposal 2.9 Pilot testing 2.10 Data collection 2.11 Analysis and interpretation 2.12 Reportingthe results 2.13 The research proposal in detail 2.14 Types of research proposal 2.15 Structuring the research proposal 2.16 Bibliography 2.17 Appendix 2.18 Evaluating the research proposal ix xii xiv xviii 7 13 15 19 30 39 44 47 48 49 54 55 56 60 63 67 69 70 70 72 74 74 75 76 76 79 82 89 89 95 Research Methods in Practice 2: Boiling the problem down? Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading Literature review 3.1 Aims and objectives o f a review 3.2 Assessment of a'good' literature review 3.3 Process and Organization 3.4 Meta analaysis Research Methods in Practice 3: How you write a literature review about a topic that has hardly been researched? Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading Spotlight on research 1: Advanced searching Ethics in business research 4.1 What are research ethics? 4.2 Ethical treatment of participants 4.3 Data collection in Cyberspace 4.4 Ethics and the Sponsor 4.5 Researchers and team members 4.6 Ethical obligations to the research Community 4.7 Professional Standards Research Methods in Practice 4: What to reveal? Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading Spotlight on research 2: Do data warehouses challengefair play? PART Research Approaches Quantitative and qualitative research 5.1 Qualitative and quantitative studies 5.2 What is research design? Research Methods in Practice 5: Social embeddedness as a new concept Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 96 100 101 105 706 706 709 74 735 738 145 146 148 749 753 754 756 767 764 766 767 770 776 179 180 184 785 789 797 797 795;, 276 218 219 222 vu DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS Sampling strategies: from one case to the whole population 6.1 Unit of analysis 6.2 The nature of sampling 6.3 Sample versus census 6.4 Types of sample design 6.5 Steps in sampling design 6.6 Complex probability sampling 6.7 Non-probability sampling 6.8 Sampling on the Internet Research Methods in Practice 6: Purposive sampling Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading Spotlight on research 3: Applying concepts Survey research 7.1 Characteristics of the communication approach 7.2 Choosing a communication method 7.3 Personal interviewing 7.4 Telephone interviewing 7.5 Self-administered surveys 7.6 Web-based surveys 7.7 Selecting an optimal method 7.8 Outsourcing survey Services Research Methods in Practice 7: Combining written surveys and interviews Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading Secondary data and archival sources 8.1 Secondary data 8.2 Sources of secondary data 8.3 How to use secondary data efficiently 8.4 Secondary data in qualitative research 8.5 Data-mining Research Methods in Practice 8: Digging contract and other archives Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 223 224 226 232 233 236 242 250 255 257 259 261 264 266 276 276 281 281 294 297 303 306 306 307 309 310 314 375 375 327 9.2 Evaluation of the observational method 9.3 The observer-participant relationship 9.4 Conducting an observational study 9.5 Designing an observational study 9.6 Content analysis 9.7 Narrative analysis 9.8 Action research 9.9 Ethnographic studies Research Methods in Practice 9: Observing cooperative behaviour Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 10 Case studies and qualitative interviews 10.1 Case studies 10.2 Qualitative interviews Research Methods in Practice 10: Could we have done a case study? Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 11 Experimentation 11.1 What is experimentation? 11.2 An evaluation of experiments 11.3 Conducting an experiment 11.4 Validity in experimentation 11.5 Experimental research designs Research Methods in Practice 11: Trust games Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading Spotlight on research 4: a jobenrichment quasi-experiment 349 350 352 358 367 364 365 366 367 369 370 373 374 374 385 397 393 393 394 395 395 397 398 403 407 425 427 428 431 432 325 328 329 337 339 339 342 Observations, content analysis, action and ethnographic research 343 9.1 The uses of Observation 344 PART Research Instruments 12 Measurement and scales 12.1 The nature of measurement 12.2 Data types 12.3 Sources of measurement differences 12.4 Characteristics ofsound measurement 12.5 The nature of measurement scales 12.6 Response methods 12.7 Measurement scale construction 435 437 438 439 445 447 460 463 473 DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS Research Methods in Practice 12: Measuring contracts and uncertainty Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading Spotlight on research 5: Measuring job satisfaction 13 Fieldwork: questionnaires and responses 13.1 Developing the instrument design strategy 13.2 The management research question hierarchy revisited: phase 13.3 Constructing and refining the measurement questions: phase 13.4 Question content 13.5 Response strategy 13.6 Sources ofexisting questions 13.7 Drafting and refining the instrument: phase Research Methods in Practice 13 Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 14 Writing up and presenting research outcomes 14.1 The written research report 14.2 Research report components 14.3 Writing the report 14.4 Presentation considerations 14.5 Oral presentations Research Methods in Practice 14 Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 485 488 490 496 B C D E Decision theory problem Sample Student term projeet Non-parametric significance tests Selected Statistical tables 648 656 665 674 Index 497 502 503 503 507 510 520 529 530 541 547 548 552 554 555 558 568 575 584 591 593 594 596 Cases A G E M o f a study Can this study be saved? Inquiring minds want to know NOW! Highland Bank: teeing-up a new Strategie direction Ramada demonstrates its personal best Women getting Equal in public Services 597 599 603 Appendices A Core business reference sources, printed and electronic 633 605 612 627 630 635 PART Statistical Background (on CD-Rom only) 15 Data preparation and description 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Editing 15.3 Useful rulesfor editing 15.4 Dataentry 15.5 Descriptive Statistical summaries Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 687 689 690 690 692 703 707 714 715 717 16 Exploring, displaying and examining data 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Exploratory data analysis Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 778 778 779 735 736 740 Hypothesis testing 17.1 Introduction 17.2 Hypothesis testing 17.3 Statistical testing procedures 17.4 Tests of significance Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 747 742 742 751 753 782 783 788 Measures of association 18.1 Introduction 18.2 Bivariate correlation analysis 18.3 Non-parametric measures of association Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 789 790 791 Multivariate analysis: an overview 19.1 Introduction 19.2 Selecting a multivariate technique 19.3 Dependency techniques 19.4 Interdependency techniques Summary Discussion questions Recommended further reading 812 821 822 827 828 828 829 832 854 867 868 871