Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Introduction

Part One: Planning your project

01 The nature of business research

What is scholarly literature?

How do I develop a good research question (RQ)?

How may I use scholarly literature in my project?

How may I use theory?

02 Methodology and methods

What is research methodology?

What has methodology got to do with research methods?

How may I design my research?

How should I use my ‘case study’?

What research methods should I use for my project?

Part Two ‘Doing’ your project

03 The project proposal

Project proposals

Contents of a project proposal

Critical and analytical thinking

Prior planning prevents poor performance

04 Collecting quantitative data

Finding quantitative data

Secondary data

Primary data

Designing a successful survey

Methods of collecting survey data

Designing your questionnaire

05 Collecting qualitative data through interviews

Interviewing types and design

Focus groups

Interviewing references and further websites

Chapter appendix: Interview Protocol

06 Collecting data as an ethnographer

Participant observation

Non-participative observation

07 Case study research

Objectives

The case study

Using deductive theory in case studies

Cross-sectional case study design

Longitudinal case study design

Case study tactics adopted for design quality

08 Collecting data: less common methods

Mixed methods research

Social network analysis

Action research

Delphi method

Participant and non-participant observation

How to use crowdsourcing as a research tool

How to use a repertory grid

09 Ensuring data saturation

Validity of quantitative data

Reliability of quantitative data

Significance of quantitative data

Part Three: Reporting your findings

10 Analysing quantitative data

Measures of central tendency

Measures of spread

Some notes on statistical testing

Variables: dependent and independent

11 Analysing qualitative data

Coding text

Checking

Causal mapping

Software for coding

Part Four: Writing your report

12 Discussing project findings

Flawed reasoning

13 Conclusion to your report

How to begin your conclusion

Lessons to be learnt

Recommendations

14 Reference lists

15 Writing your abstract

16 Conclusion

Research question

Knowledge of cutting-edge research and theory

Research tools

Index

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