Slides of the book 'Research Methods for Business' A Skill Building Approach By Authors Uma Sekaran and Roger Bougie

1. CH. 4
THE RESEARCH
PROCESS

2. Steps 1 to 3
• The broad problem area
• Preliminary data gathering
• Problem definition

3. The Research Process

4. Broad Problem Area
• Broad problem area refers to the entire situation
where one sees a possible need for research
and problem solving.
• Such issues might pertain to:
– Problems currently existing in an organizational
setting that need to be solved
– Areas that a manager believes need to be improved
in the organization
– A conceptual or theoretical issues that needs to be
tightened up for the basic researcher to understand
certain phenomena
– Some research questions that a basic researcher
wants to answer empirically

5. Preliminary Data
Collection
• Interviews
• Literature research: the documentation of
a comprehensive review of the published
and unpublished work from secondary
sources of data in the areas of specific
interest to the researcher.

6. Literature Survey
• The purpose of the literature review :
– To ensure that no important variable that has been in
the past been found repeatedly to have had an
impact on the problem is ignored
– To prevent researcher to “discover” something that
has already been thoroughly researched
– Could be the basis of qualitative research
– Provide the foundation for developing a
comprehensive theoretical framework from which
hypotheses can be developed for testing

7. Literature Survey
(Cont’d)
• Extracting the relevant information:
– Detailed information on the problem that was
researched
– The design details of the study (such as
sample size and data collection methods)
– Ultimate findings

8. Problem Definition
• Problem: many situations where a gap
exists between the actual and the desired
ideal states.
• Problem definition or problem statement:
a clear, precise, and succinct statement of
the question or issue that is to be
investigated with the goal of finding an
answer or solution

9. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
• Managers sometimes look at the symptoms in
problematic situations and treat them as if they
are the real problems, getting frustrated when
their remedies do not work.
• antecedents–problem–consequences sequence
• Managers who realize that correct problem
definition is critical to ultimate problem solution,
do not grudge the time spent in working closely
with researchers, particularly at this stage.

10. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
• Managers sometimes look at the symptoms in
problematic situations and treat them as if they
are the real problems, getting frustrated when
their remedies do not work.
• antecedents–problem–consequences sequence
• Managers who realize that correct problem
definition is critical to ultimate problem solution,
do not grudge the time spent in working closely
with researchers, particularly at this stage.