MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Business Research Methods (EMBA 710)
Lecturer: Mr C. Njerekai
Module Objectives
The main objective of this module is to deepen students’ understanding of business research methods and sharpen their research skills to enable them to independently or collaboratively conduct research and produce publishable textbooks and academic papers in their areas of interest. The module will also seek to develop critical thinking in business research by introducing research metatheories and methodological paradigms in this area.
Course Contents
1. Introduction
· What is business research?
· Characteristics of a good research
· Areas of research in business management
· Sources of business research problems
· Characteristics of a good business research problem
· Selection of a research topic-Characteristics of a good research topic
· What is a dissertation?
· What are the essential differences between a dissertation and a journal paper?
· The student supervisor relationship
2. Approaches and dimensions to business research
· Research philosophies
-positivism and phenomenology
· Research approaches
-deduction and induction
-quantitative and qualitative research
· Research strategies
- Case study
-grounded theory
-Ethnography
-Action research
-Surveys
-Experimentation
3. Research Proposal
· Writing a research proposal
· Types of research proposals
· Components of a research proposal
4. Reviewing Literature
· Why do a literature review
· Types of data sources for reviewing literature
· Sourcing, searching and accessing the literature
· Organising the literature-literature maps
· The relationship between the literature review and the elements of a research project
· Hints on writing a literature review
· Evaluating your own literature review
5. Research Methodology
· Definition of research design
· Types of research designs
· Determination of study population/units/subjects
· Sampling
· Sampling types
· Sample size determination
6. Data Collection Methods and instruments
· Observation
· Interviews
· Questionnaire surveys
· Ethical issues in business research
· Collection of field data
· Processes undertaken during and after data collection
7. Data analysis and presentation
· Analysis of quantitative data
· Analysis of qualitative data
· Data presentation
· Hints on presentation of research papers
8. Preliminary pages and appendices to research reports
Module Assessment
Final Examination-50%
Coursework-50%
The 50% coursework will be broken down as follows;
· Module assignment 15%
· Essays-15%
· Revision test-10%
· Group Presentations-5%
List of Basic References
Hussey, J. and Hussey, R. (1997) Business Research: A practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students, Macmillan Press, Basingstoke.
Saunders, M. Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003) Research Methods for Business students, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Sekerani, U. (2000) Research Methods for business: A skill building approach, John Wiley, New York.
White B. (2000), Dissertation Skills for Business and Management Students, Martins The
Printers Limited, New York.
Wiesma W. (1995), Research Methods in Education, Needham Heights, New York.
Any other relevant soft and hard copies
EMBA Essays 2011
Essays are short research reports in which the writer’s opinion is reflected and in which theories and literature is used to support these opinions. You will be expected to write two individual essays in this module. At the end of the module, the tutor determines the average score for each student and this score will be converted to the number of points allocated to essays by the lecturer.
Make sure that in all essays, theories are used and that the writer’s opinion is
reflected
- You have to write the essay individually.
- The essay should be in Times New Roman, letter size 12 and 1.5 line spacing.
- The essay should be a maximum of 5 pages (excluding pictures, tables, graphics, etc).
- The essay should have a front page, stating the title of your essay, the name of the student, the name of the tutor and the date.
- The essay should have a list of references
- High levels of academic rigor and scrutiny suitable at masters’ level will be expected in each essay.
The essay topics are as follows:
Assignment 1
“The output from qualitative business research is often overwhelming. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative findings are often messy and hard to decipher” (Ladner, 2009). Discuss the techniques you would use in a bid to decipher meaning from qualitative business research.
(25 marks)
Due first day of Block 2. Remember that deadlines are dead.
Assignment 2
(a)Explain the following terms as applied to business research methods
(i) Validity (10 marks)
(ii) Reliability (5 marks)
(b) What measures can you put in place to ensure that your research is valid and reliable?
(10 marks)
Due first day of Block 2.
EMBA MODULE ASSIGNMENT AND ESSAYS (2011)
This module assignment is meant to equip you with dissertation writing skills, which you will use to write your final masters dissertation. The dissertation will be a testimony of your ability to work independently and professionally, developing your own knowledge and understanding of a chosen aspect in the field of study of your interest. This will entail doing a research project on your own in a specified time-frame, producing conclusions and recommendations of relevance to the field. Therefore, this assignment will give you the opportunity to develop an individual research proposal on which your final dissertation will be based. However, this proposal will not be cast in stone. You will be free to come up with a new proposal for your actual dissertation using the concepts and skills you will have learnt and acquired during this module including this assignment. In this module assignment, you are required to prepare an original business related research proposal which will be of relevance to your field of interest or specialisation and from which a journal paper can be produced as per the new Midlands State University masters’ graduation requirements. The proposal can be relevant to any of the following;
· Your relevant ministry and its related public offices
· Any business related sector of your choice
· Any business organisation of your choice for which there is enough magnitude and scope to warrant research
· Any Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) of your choice undertaking any projects and or activities in Zimbabwe.
· Any community based projects
· Any communities on which certain businesses are having a significant impact
· Any public or private business representative bodies of your choice
· Any private or public institutions of higher learning in the country
NB* The research proposal should contain all the components of a good research proposal. In addition, you should ensure that the research problem, on which your proposal is based, fulfils all the characteristics of a good business research problem.
As you write the proposal, you must also take into account the following technical specifications:
- The research proposal should contain not more than 10 pages of writing, including graphics and illustrations;
- The report should be typed on A4-paper, using 1,5 spacing, the font size used should be 12 and you must use Times New Roman.
- Page numbers should be correct. The title page is not numbered.
- The research report should be bound in an approved style (spirally bound)
- Divide your write up into paragraphs, to make it more easily readable. A paragraph should contain related material and may not be too short or too long. Subparagraphs can be used to break up the flow of a very long paragraph
- Abbreviations should be spelled out the first time that they appear in the text, with the abbreviations shown in brackets immediately afterward.
- You must write in proper English, using complete sentences and good grammar.
- It goes without saying that plagiarism (the use of other people’s work without appropriate referencing) will not be accepted. Copying work (even copying from other students) is a serious offence and will lead to failing of the module assignment.
Module Assignment presentations
You will be asked to make presentations on your topic and full proposal for this assignment.
Business Research Methods Presentations
Research Problem and Topic
Lecturer Evaluation Sheet
Date: ______Student name: ______Name of the judge: ______
Total points: ______Signature: ______
Criteria / Remarks / Points[1]Research topic / Tourism relatedness / 1 2 3 4 5
**Significance of the topic in terms of furtherance of knowledge and improvement in the quality of life of the people / 1 2 3 4 5
****Existence of ground breaking differences in the topic / 1 2 3 4 5
Sustainability of the topic / 1 2 3 4 5
Measurability of variables / 1 2 3 4 5
Accessibility of information to address the problem / 1 2 3 4 5
Clarity of problem / 1 2 3 4 5
Feasibility in terms of time and funds / 1 2 3 4 5
Unpredictability of solutions to the problem. / 1 2 3 4 5
Ease of analysis of results / 1 2 3 4 5
**Magnitude and scope
Research topic / Brings out the research problem / 1 2 3 4 5
Precision / 1 2 3 4 5
Clarity / 1 2 3 4 5
***Originality / 1 2 3 4 5
Assessment of the module assignment
The module assignment is divided into different parts. In the following table the point structure is given. It states how many points you can get per part. The final maximum score of this module assignment is 25 points!
# / Part / Max. amount of pointsA / Topic / 1
B / Problem Background / 5
C / Statement of the problem / 5
D / Objectives / 5
E / Research questions/Hypothesis / 5
F / Significance of the research / 3
G / Brief literature review / 10
H / Research methodology / 10
I / Data analysis plan / 2
J / Preliminary pages / 2
Total of points / 50
MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Business Research Methods (EMBA) Revision questions (January 2011)
Lecturer: C. Njerekai
1. INTRODUCTION
a) (i) What do you understand by the term ethics as used in business research? (3)
((ii) A student is carrying out research on the, “The impact of the land reform program on the Sugar Cane Plantations in the South Eastern Lowveld of Zimbabwe”. Discuss the ethical issues that can arise from this research (22)
b) Distinguish between the following concepts as applied to business research methods;
a. Theory
b. Model
c. Hypothesis
d. Concept and
e. Construct (25)
c) (i) Discuss the major characteristics of quantitative research that distinguishes it from qualitative research. (15)
(ii) Discuss the logic of combining qualitative and quantitative research when carrying out business research (10)
(d) (i) With the aid of a diagram, explain what is a Gantt chart. (5 marks)
(ii) Discuss the importance of a research proposal both to the researcher and to the organisation for which the research is being carried out. (20)
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
(a) Distinguish between the following sources and types of literature giving examples;
· Business articles
· Business reports
· Official business/legal publications
· Reviews
· Conference literature (25)
(b) Discuss the criteria one can use to review literature (25)
c) Imagine you have been appointed the supervisor for one undergraduate student. How best would you advise the student to search, source and review literature. (25)
(d) (i) Discuss the issues one needs to consider when sourcing and reviewing literature. (15)
(ii) Discuss the approaches one can employ to structure and style a literature review. (10)
(e) (i) Explore the role and placement of the literature review in relation to deductive and inductive studies (8)
(ii) What is a literature review and why is it necessary when carrying out business research? (17)
3. METHODOLOGY
(a) Discuss the merits and demerits of any three methods of questionnaire administration (25)
(b) (i) Briefly comment on the different perspectives on observer-subject relationships in observational research (15)
(ii) Discuss the criteria used to classify research designs (9)
c) (i) Identify and explain any ten attributes of a good questionnaire (10)
(ii) A student is carrying out a research entitled,” An investigation into the procurement and
distribution of anti-retrovirals in Zimbabwe ”. Construct a possible questionnaire for the
student consisting 15 questions. (15)
(d) (i)Explain the following terms as applied to business research
a. Validity (10)
b. Reliability (5)
(ii) What measures can you put in place to ensure that your research is valid and
reliable? (10)
(e) Using one topic as an example throughout, outline the characteristics of a good business
research problem
(25)
4. DATA COLLECTION
(a) In carrying out research, the true value of whatever one wants to measure is always obscured by a variety of factors, many of which lie beyond the researcher’s control. It is important for one to be aware of these sources of error so that one can at best avoid them or take measures to mitigate their effects on the validity and reliability of the survey results.
(i) What are the sources of error in survey research? (8)
(ii) For each of the survey errors you highlighted in question 4 (a), explain how best you would avoid it or mitigate its impacts on your research results. (8)
(iii) In editing data, what are inconsistent, consistent and unclear responses? (3)
(iv) For each of the editing problems you highlighted in question 4 (c), explain how you would overcome them. (6)
(b) (i) Identify and describe any four (4) non probability sampling techniques (8)
(ii) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
· probability sampling techniques and
· non-probability sampling techniques (17)
c) Write brief notes on quantitative and qualitative data and explain how each type of data is
Collected. (25)
(d) Explain the relevance of a research proposal (25)
(e) For what types of business related problems and under what circumstances would you find the following data gathering techniques most appropriate?
· Likert scale
· Questionnaire
· Interview
· Observation
· Q-sort (25)