BITM Business Research Methods
bitmsemester 6
Business Research Methods
Subject Code: RCH201
Course Title: Business Research Methods
Course No: RCH201
Nature of Course: Theory & Practical
Full Marks: 60
Pass Marks: 30
Credit Hours: 3
Course Description
The course has a preliminary focus on problem identification, theoretical framework development and hypothesis formulation. The course will then deal with research design issues, measurement, sampling, data collection and analysis. This encompasses the overall understanding and application of appropriate research techniques and research statistics, and report writing and presentation skills.
Course Objective
This course is an introduction on how to do business research with an emphasis on applied problem solving and report writing. The objective of this course is therefore to provide knowledge and understanding of basic principles of business research methods.
Course Contents
| Course Contents | Teaching Methodology | Teaching Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1: Introduction (8 Hrs.) | ||
| Meaning of research | Lecture | |
| Scientific research-features, Types of research-basic research and applied research | ||
| The scientific research process | ||
| Paradigm shifts-Positivism vs. interpretivism philosophies | ||
| Management research-concept, nature, and value in business decision making | ||
| applying scientific thinking to management/business problems | ||
| Ethical issues in business research | ||
| Unit 2: Literature Searching and Theoretical Framework (5 Hrs.) | ||
| Concept, purposes and steps in literature survey | Lecture | |
| Literature search through the internet | ||
| Theoretical framework | ||
| Research problem | ||
| Statement of research objectives | ||
| Formulation of research hypothesis | ||
| Approaches-deduction and induction | ||
| Unit 3: Research Design (5 Hrs.) | ||
| Concept of research design | Lecture | |
| Quantitative research designs -descriptive, correlational, causal-comparative, and experimental | ||
| Qualitative research - case study, ethnography and grounded theory | ||
| Unit 4: Measurement, Scaling and Sampling (8 Hrs.) | ||
| Variables (independent, dependent and moderating) and measurement scale (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) | Lecture | |
| Nature of measurement | ||
| Scale construction for attitude measurement | ||
| Scales commonly used in business research (rank order rating scale, semantic differential scale, likert scale) | ||
| Validity and reliability of measurement | ||
| Sources of measurement problems | ||
| Sampling process | ||
| Types of sampling -probability sampling (simple random, systematic, stratified and cluster) and non-probability sampling (convenience, judgmental and quota) | ||
| Sampling and non-sampling errors | ||
| Determination of sample size | ||
| Unit 5: Data Collection and Analysis (12 Hrs.) | ||
| Types of data and their sources-secondary data, advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data | Lecture | |
| Primary data-sources and methods | ||
| Questionnaires-design, components and principles of questionnaire writing | ||
| Research interviews- face-to-face and telephone interviews, computer assisted interviewing | ||
| Observation-concept and methods | ||
| Presenting data in tables, diagrams and graphs, Quantitative data analysis methods - descriptive and inferential statistics | ||
| Methods of collecting qualitative data | ||
| Qualitative data analysis methods - content analysis, narrative analysis, discourse analysis, grounded theory analysis | ||
| Chi-square test for goodness of fit and independence of attributes with examples | ||
| Unit 6: Research Proposal and Report Writing (10 Hrs.) | ||
| Topic selection | Lecture | |
| Research proposal – purpose, types and structure | ||
| Writing research reports -the reporting process, procedure for writing, and style of writing | ||
| Typing and layout of the research report | ||
| Citations and references by using APA format | ||
| Essentials of a good research report |
Text Books
1. Bryman, A. and E. Bell. Business Research Methods. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
2. Pant, P. R. Fundamentals of Business Research Methods. Kathmandu: Buddha Academic Enterprises.
3. Zikmund, and G. William. Business Research Methods. New Delhi: Thomson India.
Reference Books
1. Chawla, D. and N. Sondhi. Research Methodology-Concepts and Cases. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House.
2. Cooper, D. R. Business Research Methods. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd.