1. Business Research Methods
Class of
: 2013
Academic Year :
First
Course Code : SLRM502
Semester
:
II
Credit
Sessions
:
30
: 3
AIM
To introduce students to the process of conducting Business Research. The course would act as a
foundation towards an effective summer internship program in the short run and for conceptualizing
overall business research problem in the long run. The practical purpose of such a course would be to
aid through the understanding of research process for conducting research projects meant for making
business decisions. The course would also provide grounding in research techniques using
appropriate software for scientific analysis of data. Students in the process will equip themselves to
formulate problems, design the process, collect the information, analyse, interpret and apply research
to arrive at solutions.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Critically examine the business problem, formulate and conceptualize into a research problem.
2. Learn to read research reports by critically examining its methodology.
3. Have a general understanding of Business research and its usefulness for management.
4. Examine different research designs their usefulness and applications and the ethical issues in
research
5. Describe the role of experimentation in Business research and provide an understanding of
how the experiments are conducted.
6. Learn about different data sources and understand their reliability.
7. Understand as to how to generate information through primary sources conducting surveys
and make observations.
8. Examine the types of sampling techniques and choose the right technique given the research
problem.
9. Arrive at right sample size and sampling frames.
10. Understand the meaning of measurement, validity, reliability, generalisability and scaling
and their application to data.
11. Understand different statistical techniques, its context of usage, application of softwares and
interpret the results.
12. Develop skills in writing research reports with good flow of content, clarity in expression,
styles of references, etc.

2. REFERENCE BOOKS
AUTHOR / PUBLICATION
Business Research Methods, 7e
William G Zikmund, Thomson South-Western,
Singapore 2003
Marketing Research : A South Asian
Perspective
Churchill, Gilbert A, Dawn Lacobucci
and D Israel, Cenage Learning, 2005.
Research Methods
Donald H.McBurney, Thomson Asia Pvt.Ltd.,
Singapore, (2002)
Research for Managers: How to Use Survey in
Management Decision - Making Survey (2nd
edition)
Hutton, P. Basingstoke, Macmillan (1990).
Detailed Syllabus
Introduction to Research: Meaning &
definition of Research – Relevance and
significance of Research in business – Types of
Research. Ethics in research, consequences of
Plagiarism.
Research Process: An overview- Introduction
to critical review of literature- identification of
research problem, formulation of constructs,
statement of objectives, statement of hypothesis,
identification of variables, data collection, data
analysis, report writing.
Research design:- Exploratory researchExploratory research with secondary data –types
of secondary data, sources of secondary data,
advantages and disadvantages of secondary
data- testing the validity of secondary data,
Explorative research through critical review of
literature- Exploratory research with qualitative
data- focus groups, depth interviews,
observation techniques, projective techniquesDescriptive Research- survey and observationlongitudinal, cross sectional, cohort- Causal
Research- concept of causality, concomitant
variation, internal and external validity, causal
studies with Experimentation, threats through
validity, Experimental designs, causal studies
through inferential statistics.
Scales and Measurements: Measurements –
Types of measurements –Different Scales –
Comparison between different scales –
Characteristics – Validity – Different Methods
of measurement – Developing Scales –
Classification of scales – Rating Scales –
Attitude Scales – Thurston scale– Likert scale–
Semantic Differential scale – Types of Errors in
measurement – Test of Reliability –Measures of
Stability – Threats to Reliability
Survey Research: Introduction– Purpose –
Methods of data collection - Interviews,
observation schedule, Questionnaire - Other
methods of data collection - Panel research,
warranty cards, Pantry audit and consumer
panel- Mechanical Devices – Projective
Techniques – Sociometry.
Sampling- Sampling process- identification of
sampling frame, sampling techniques, sample
size determination.
Data Preparation: Data Coding, Data
Cleaning, Identification Outlier, Handling
Missing Values, frequency tables, cross
tabulation.

3. Introduction to Multivariate analysis:- Nature
and techniques of Multivariate AnalysisIntroduction to dependency and interdependency
techniques, criteria on the choice of technique,
assumptions behind the techniques, criteria on
the scales of data for the usage of techniquessuitability of technique to the research problemMultiple regression, Factor analysis, cluster
analysis, Discriminant analysis, conjoint
analysis, MDS, correspondence analysis. (The
above techniques are exposed only to the details
given above and not to be dealt in detail
pertaining to analysis)
Analysis of Multivariate techniques with
statistical packages: Multiple regression,
Factor analysis
Report writing: types of reports – planning and
organizing a research project, Harvard system of
referencing – Bibliography – footnotes –
checklist - evaluation of report.
Suggested Schedule of Sessions
No. of
Sessions
Topic
Introduction to research
1
Research processes: An overview
3
Research design
4
Scales and measurements
3
Sampling
2
Survey research
4
Data Preparation with statistical
packages
3
Introduction
techniques
4
to
Multivariate
Multiple Regression
2
Factor
2
Report writing
2
Total Sessions
30