Business Research

Dao Thanh Tung,

PhD, FBM

2021 Faculty of Business Management

 Course Overview

• Why we study Business Research?

• Course materials
• Grading and requirements
• Course objective
• Course content
 Why we need Business Research
• Today business environment is most dynamic and uncertain
• Contributing factors are:
– Globalisation- toàn cầu hóa
– Free markets and vigorous competition (sự cạnh tranh
mạnh mẽ)
– Industrial revolution
– Technological advancements
– Workforce diversity (sự đa dạng nguồn lao động)
– Continuous quality improvement - TQM

 Uncertainty increase the risk of error in making decision

 A manager’s decision affects the entire organisation
 Why we need Business Research
• Managers require information both:

– Internally: work, employees, organisation…

– Externally: market, government legislations, culture,

consumers, competitors, economy…

• Business research is a management tool that aims to

provide relevant, accurate, current and unbiased
information
 Role of Research in Decision Making
• Research helps in all stages of decision making:
– Identifying problems and opportunities
– Diagnosing & assessing problems and opportunities
– Selecting and implementing a course of action

• Research reduces uncertainty & margin of error:

– Through use of scientific techniques, it tries to quantify
the solutions to a problem
– By estimating probability, it brings us closer to
certainty and effective decision making
Major Areas for Research in Business
• General Business Conditions and Corporate Research
• Financial & Accounting Research
• Research Management & Organisational Behavior

(nghiên cứu về quản trị

• Sales and Marketing Research
• Information System Research
• Corporate Responsibility Research
 Course textbook and materials
• Hussey J. And R. Hussey (1997),
Business Research: A Practical
Guide for Undergraduate and
Postgraduate Students, Palgrave
Publishers Ltd
• Zikmund W. (2010), Business
Research Methods, Thomson
• Other materials as advised
 Gradings and Requirements
• Requirements:

Students are required to attend all

class sessions and to participate
actively in discussions. For
participation to be meaningful,
students should read assigned
material before coming to class.
• Gradings:

- Attendance and Participation: 10%

- Mid-term assignment: 40%
- Final research report: 50%
 Course Objectives
• The aim of this course is to provide a
systematic introduction to the business
research process. Specific attention is given
to research on organisation and management

• Upon successful completion of this course,

it is hoped that you should be able to:
 describe the stages in the business
research process
 identify the key issues that need to be
addressed at each stage of the business
research process
 develop a research proposal in business
 complete a full research report in
business
 Course Content
Course consists of the following main topics:

1. Understanding research
2. Writing Research Proposal
3. Determining Research Design
4. Collecting Data
5. Analysing Data
6. Writing up Research Report
 Chapter 1: Understanding research
• The objectives of this chapter are:
– To examine the definition and purpose of business research
– To describe the main types of research
– To analyse the different stages in conducting research
– To understand characteristics of good and poor research
projects
 What is Business Research

Intuitive
Experiences
Information

Management
Questions

Existing Systematic
Understanding Information
 Business Research
“The systematic and objective process of collecting,
recording and analysing information for aid in making
decision”
William G. Zikmund (2010)

 Purpose is to help managers shift from intuitive

information gathering to systematic and scientific
investigation.
 Types of Research
• There are four types of research
– Exploratory research
– Descriptive research
– Analytical research
– Predictive research
 Exploratory research
• Exploratory research is conducted into research problem
when there is very few or no earlier studies conducted on
this issue
• The aim is to look for patterns, ideas or hypotheses
rather than testing or confirming a hypothesis
• Typical techniques: case study, observation, interview
• Rarely provide conclusive answers to problems, but give
guidance on what future research should be conducted

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 Descriptive research
• Descriptive research is research describing phenomena
as they exist
• It may answer such question as:
– What are the feelings of workers faced with
redundancy?
– What are the qualifications of different groups of
employees?
• Data collected is often quantitative
• Statistical techniques are usually used to summarise the
information

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 Analytical research
• Analytical research is to explain why and how it is
happening
• Analytical research aims to understand phenomena by
discovering and measuring causal relations among tham
• Example:
– How can we reduce the number of complaints made
by customers?
– How can we improve the delivery times of our
products?

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 Predictive research
• Predictive research establish an explanation for what is
happening in a particular situation
• Predictive research attempts to answer such questions as:
– In which city would it be most profitable to open a
new retail outlet?
– Will the introduction of an employee bonus scheme
lead to higher levels of productivity?

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 Types of Research
• Basic Research – research intended to:

– Expand the boundaries of knowledge itself

– Verify the acceptability of a given theory

– Discover more about a particular concept

• Not directly concerned with the solution to a pragmatic

problem.
 Types of Research
• Applied Research – research undertaken to:
– Answer questions to a particular problem
– Make decision about a specific course of action
– Make policy decision

• Directly concerned with the solution to a specific real-

life problem.
 Research Approach
• Qualitative approach: cho 2 re đầu( đơn giản)

• Quantitative approach: cho 2 re sau( phức tạp hơn)

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 Qualitative approach
• Qualitative approach is more subjective in nature
• Emphasize meanings and experiences related to the
phenomena
• Data collection methods: interview, case study,
observation

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 Quantitative Approach
• Quantitative approach is objective in nature
• Concentrates on measuring variables or count
occurrences of phenomena
• Involve collecting and analysing numerical data and
applying statistical tests

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 Stages in Business Research
1. Collect reseaIdentify research topic
2. Define research problem
3. Determine how to conduct research
4. rch data
5. Analyse and interpret research data
6. Write research report
 Identifying a Research Topic/
Defining a Research Problem
• Topic (general area of interest) needs to be narrowed
down to a specific issue/problem
• Sources of research topics/problems:
– personal work experience
– information provided by practitioners
– media (general & business/professional)
– personal reading of the literature
– views of previous researchers

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Issues Relevant to Determining a Good Research
Topic

• Researcher’s ability/interest: suitable to your ability

• Value/scope of the research
• Assess to required data
• Time required
• Symmetry of outcomes sự đối xứng trong kết quả NC
• Financial support

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 The Management-Research
Question Hierarchy

3 Research Questions

2 Management Question

1 Management Dilemma
 Management Dilemma

• Management Dilemma
– The symptom of an actual problem
– Not difficult to identify a dilemma, however choosing
one to focus on may be difficult
• Such as:
Rising costs, increasing tenant move-outs from an
apartment complex, declining sales, employee turnover,
an increasing number of letters and phone complaints
about postpurchase service, etc.
 Management Question
• The Management Question restates the dilemma in
question form:
-- What should be done to reduce employee turnover ?
-- What should be done to increase tenant residency and
reduce move-outs ?
-- What should be done to reduce cost ?
 Working with the Hierarchy
Management Question
Management Question Categories
– Choice of purposes or objective
“what do we want to achieve ?”
– Generation and evaluation of solutions
“how can we achieve the ends we seek ?”
– Troubleshooting or control situation
“monitoring or diagnosing”, such as “how well is our
program meeting its goals ?”
 The Nature of Management Question

• To subdivide a broadly stated management question,

look for the underlying causes of the management
dilemma.
• Q1: “How can we improve our profit picture ?”
is refined to become :
Q1a: “How can we improve deposits ?”
Q1b: “How can we reduce costs ?”
 Processes embedded in the Hierarchy

• Exploration– begin with published data

– Recent developments
– Predictions by informed figures about the prospects
of the technology Identification of those involved in
the area
– Accounts of successful ventures and failures by
others in the field
• Interviewing with specialists
 Example:
Level of Competition within Industry
Management Question:
How to Improve Level of Competion within Industry A?

Research Question:
Factors influence on Level of Competition within Industry A?

MICHEAL PORTER’S MODEL

Level of Competition
within Industry

Power of Buyer Input

Supporting
Industry
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 Research Question

• At this stage, a clear picture of the management and

research questions begins to emerge
• Fine tune the research question
– Examine concepts and constructs
– Break research questions into specific second-and-
third-level questions
– Verify hypotheses with quality tests
– Determine what evidence answers the various
questions and hypothesis
– Set the scope of your study