Reference no: EM133168657

BUSI49106 Research Methods for Managers - Nottingham Trent University

Research in Business and Management

Why is research important for
business/management?
• Basic Research
Expand knowledge of processes of business and management

• Applied Research
Improve understanding of particular business or management problem

• Action Research
To examine a problem and suggest changes; results feed into action which is then evaluated, and cycle continues

• Work and the ‘Learning Organisation'
Internal and factors external need to be known in order for the organisation to succeed in a rapidly changing environment

1. Just collecting facts or information with no clear purpose

2. Reassembling and reordering facts or information without interpretation

3. As an esoteric activity with no or little relevance to everyday life

4. As a term to get your product or idea noticed and respected

1. Helps in structuring research more effectively e.g. developing appropriate research questions

2. Helps you to better understand already published research

3. Helps you when doing your own research project - consultancy project, dissertation, etc.

• Selection (and justification) of appropriate topic is essential to starting management research

• Research topic may come from analysing the literature; identified business problems from work experience (in consultation with supervisors); may also come from the consultancy

• In this module you are given a case brief, from which you get the general topic for your research proposal

• Do you have access to relevant data (e.g. if researching a business problem)

• Is the research achievable in the time available? Is the scope of the project realistic? Is the focus manageable?

• Capabilities (e.g. a student is not strong in numeracy skills, but chooses research requiring extensive statistical analyses)