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Research Methods
Research methods is a broad term. While methods of data collection and data analysis represent the core of research methods, you have to address a range of additional elements within the scope of your research.
The most important elements of research methodology expected to be covered in business dissertation at Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD levels include research philosophy, types of reseaerch, research approach, methods of data collection, sampling and ethical considerations.
Let’s look briefly at each of them separately.
1. Research philosophy
Research philosophy is associated with clarification of assumption about the nature and the source of knowledge. All studies are based on some kind of assumptions about the world and the ways of understanding the world. There is no consensus among philosophers about the most appropriate ways of understanding the world; therefore, you are expected to clarify the philosophy you have chosen to understand your research problem.
In simple words, research phislophy refers to your beliefe about how data should be collected, analysed and used. Accordingly, clarification of reseaerch philosophy is a starting point for the choice of research methods.
Positivism and phenomenology are the two main contrasting research philosophies related to business studies. Positivism is an objective approach which relies on facts and quantitative data. Phenomenology, on the contrary, takes into account subjective human interests and focuses on meanings rather than hard data. You have to specify in your dissertation which philosophy you are following.
You can read more about research philosophy here.
2. Types of Research
Reseach methods also depend on the type of research accprding to the purpose of the study. Specifically, according to their purpose, studies can be classified either as applied research or
fundamental research.
Applied research, also known as action research, aims to find solution for immediate and specific problem(s). Accordingly, findings of applised studies are valuable on practical levels and can be applied to address concrete problems. Fundamental research, on the other hand, also known as basic research or pure research, aims to contribute to the overall scope of knowledge in the research area without immediate practical implications. Findings of fundamental studies cannot be used to solve immediate and specific business problems. You can read more about types of researches here.
3. Research approach
Research approach is another important element of research methodology with directly effects the choice of specific research methods. Research approach can be divided into two, inductive and deductive categories. If you decide to find answer to specific research question(s) formulated in the beginning of the research process, you would be following an inductive approach. Alternatively, if you choose to achieve research objective(s) via testing hypotheses, your research approach can be specified as deductive. The choice between the two depends on a set of factors such as the area of study, research philosophy, the nature of the research problem and others. You can read more about research approach here.
4. Research design
Research design can be exploratory or conclusive. If you want merely explore the research problem and you do not want to produce final and conclusive evidences to the research problem, your research design would be exploratory. Conclusive research design, on the contrary, aims to provide final and conclusive answers to the research question. Conclusive research be further divided into two sub-categories.
You can read more about research design here.
5. Data collection methods
There are two types of data – primary and secondary. Primary data is a type of data which never existed before, hence it was not previously published. Primary data is collected for a specific purpose, i.e. they are critically analyzed to find answers to research question(s). Secondary data, on the other hand, refers to a type of data that has been previously published in journals, magazines, newspapers, books, online portals and other sources. Dissertations can be based solely on the secondary data, without a need for the primary data. However, the opposite is not true i.e. no research can be completed only using primary data and secondary data collection and analysis is compulsory for all dissertations. Primary data collection methods can be divided into two categories: qualitative and quantitative. The main differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods can be summarized in the following points:
