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• Title page
• Imprint page
• Table of contents
• Preface
• About the Authors
• List of Tables and Figures
• Chapter 1: Methods of Business Research: An Introduction
• Learning Outcomes
• 1.1 Introduction
• 1.2 Business Research Defined
• 1.3 Systematic Research Versus Common Sense
• 1.4 The Nature of Business and Management Research
• 1.4.1 The importance of research to management
• 1.4.2 The managerial value of business research
• 1.5 Types of Business Research Strategies
• 1.5.1 Descriptive research
• 1.5.2 Exploratory research
• 1.5.3 Causal research
• 1.6 Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
• 1.6.1 Qualitative research
• 1.6.2 Quantitative research
• 1.6.3 Qualitative versus quantitative research
• 1.7 Scientific and Non-Scientific Approaches
• 1.7.1 Reliability and validity
• 1.8 Ethical Issues in Business Research
• 1.8.1 Rights and obligations of parties
• 1.8.2 Rights and obligations of the researcher
• 1.8.3 Rights and obligations of the user
• 1.8.4 Rights and obligations of the respondent
• Case Study 1: The Daimler-Chrysler Merger: Too Much Hunch, Not Enough Research?
• Case study questions
• Case Study 2: No Sweat at Jeep
• Case study questions
• Bibliography
• Chapter 2: The Research Process: How Business Research Is Conducted
• Learning Outcomes
• 2.1 Introduction to the Research Proposal
• 2.2 Research Ideas
• 2.2.1 Research questions versus research themes
• 2.2.2 Generating research questions
• 2.2.3 Safe versus risky research
• 2.2.4 Evaluating research ideas
• 2.2.5 Creating a bad impression
• 2.2.6 Tips: Idea-generation techniques
• 2.3 The Mechanics of Doing a Literature Review
• 2.3.1 What is a literature review?
• 2.3.2 Identification of literature
• 2.3.3 Selection of literature
• 2.3.4 Note-taking
• 2.3.5 Analysis of the literature
• 2.3.6 Synthesis of the literature
• 2.3.7 Some practical advice for conducting a literature review
• 2.3.8 Conclusion
• 2.4 Research Designs
• 2.4.1 Introduction to research designs
• 2.4.2 Research designs
• 2.4.3 The nature of a good research design
• 2.4.4 The threefold classification of research designs
• 2.4.5 Experimental research designs
• 2.4.6 Quasi-experimental designs
• 2.4.7 Non-experimental designs
• 2.5 Data-Collection Methods
• 2.5.1 A brief overview of some basic methods of data collection
• 2.6 Levels of Measurement
• 2.6.1 Introduction
• 2.6.2 Why is level of measurement important?
• 2.6.3 Levels of measurement
• 2.7 Measurement Scales
• 2.7.1 Comparative scales
• 2.7.2 Non-comparative scales
• 2.7.3 Summary
• 2.8 Sampling
• 2.8.1 Introduction
• 2.8.2 What is a sample?
• 2.8.3 What is sampling?
• 2.8.4 What is the purpose of sampling?
• 2.8.5 The reasons for sampling
• 2.8.6 The sampling distribution
• 2.8.7 Accuracy of sampling
• 2.8.8 Types of samples
• 2.9 Sample Size
• 2.9.1 General principles of sample size
• 2.9.2 The 65, 95, 99 per cent rule
• 2.9.3 A brief outline of some common research terms
• Case Study: The Ecology of Leadership
• Research design
• Rationale
• Background
• Methodology
• Budget
• Timeline/Schedule
• Case study question
• Bibliography
• Chapter 3: Techniques for Data Analysis in Business Research
• Learning Outcomes
• 3.1 Basic Elements of Data Analysis
• 3.1.1 Descriptive statistics
• 3.1.2 Selecting a method to analyse data
• 3.2 The Number of Groups in the Study
• 3.2.1 The number of variables in the study
• 3.3 Data Preparation
• 3.3.1 Editing
• 3.3.2 Coding
• 3.3.3 Special data problems
• 3.3.4 The use of percentages
• 3.3.5 Tabulation
• 3.4 Data Presentation
• 3.5 Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median and Mode
• 3.5.1 The mean
• 3.5.2 The median
• 3.5.3 The mode
• 3.6 The Measurement of Variability: Variance and Standard Deviation
• 3.7 Measures of Location
• 3.8 Graphical Representation of Data
• 3.9 Measures of Relationship (Correlation and Regression)
• 3.9.1 The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient
• 3.9.2 Simple linear regression
• 3.9.3 Multiple regression
• 3.10 Inferential Statistics
• 3.10.1 Hypothesis-testing
• 3.11 Statistical Testing Procedures
• 3.12 Tests of Significance
• 3.12.1 The one-sample case
• 3.12.2 Parametric tests for one-sample cases
• 3.12.3 Non-parametric tests for one-sample cases
• 3.12.4 The two-sample case
• 3.12.5 Two related samples
• 3.12.6 Parametric test for related samples
• 3.12.7 Two independent samples
• 3.12.8 K-sample case
• 3.13 Some Common Non-Parametric Methods
• 3.13.1 The sign test
• 3.13.2 The Mann-Whitney U test
• 3.13.3 The Wilcoxon signed-rank test
• 3.13.4 Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient
• 3.14 Further Multivariate Statistical Approaches
• 3.14.1 Discriminant function analysis
• 3.14.2 Factor analysis
• 3.15 Concluding Remarks on Statistical Tests and Their Uses
• 3.15.1 The power of a statistical test
• 3.15.2 Practical significance of research results
• 3.15.3 Multi- or meta-analysis
• 3.15.4 Triangulation
• 3.16 The Use of Qualitative Data in Research
• Case Study: MR Manufacturing Company
• Case study question
• Bibliography
• Chapter 4: Communicating Business Research Proposals and Results
• Learning Outcomes
• 4.1 Introduction
• 4.2 The Research Proposal
• 4.2.1 The purpose of the research proposal
• 4.2.2 Example: An abbreviated version of a research proposal for the South African Revenue Service (
• 4.3 Communicating Research Results
• 4.4 The Research Report
• 4.5 Focus on Research Report Writing
• 4.5.1 Research report evaluation criteria
• 4.5.2 Report writing criteria
• 4.5.3 The structure of the report
• 4.6 Formal Referencing in Reports and Dissertations
• 4.6.1 What is referencing?
• 4.6.2 How referencing is done
• 4.7 Some Style Rules for Report and Dissertation Writing
• 4.7.1 Abbreviations and acronyms
• 4.7.2 Plurals of abbreviations
• 4.7.3 Avoiding biased and pejorative language
• 4.7.4 Current use of the terms ‘gender’ and ‘sex’
• 4.7.5 Sensitivity towards labels
• 4.7.6 Language usage in dissertations and reports
• 4.8 Assessment Criteria for Dissertations
• Case Study: Oakridge Hospital: A Report that Tells
• Case study questions
• Bibliography