Why Business Research and the Characteristics of Good

Why Business Research and the Characteristics of Good Business Research 李天行

Contents of This Chapter l Today’s Research Environment l Why Business Research l Different Types of Research l What is a Good Business Research l The Essences of Scientific Method l Research Procedures Suitable for Business Research

Today’s Research Environments (1/3) l Explosive growth and influence of the internet. l Stakeholders demanding greater influence. l More vigorous competition, both globally and domestically. l More government intervention. l Customers change and demand more. l More complex decisions. l Maturing of management as a group of disciplines.

Today’s Research Environments (2/3) l New perspectives on established research methodologies. l Greater computing power and speed: ¡ Low cost data collecting devices. ¡ Better visualization tools. ¡ Powerful computing facilities. ¡ More integrated database. ¡ More and faster access to information. ¡ Advanced analytical tools for enhanced insights. ¡ Customized reporting.

Today’s Research Environments (3/3) l To do well in a fast changing environment just described, researchers need to understand how to identify quality information and to recognize the solid, reliable business research on which your high-risk decisions as a manager can be based. You also need to know how to conduct such research. Developing these skills requires the scientific method as it applies to the decision making environment. And this is the objective of this course-to help you become familiar with information collecting, processing, evaluating, and decision making.

研究的分類 l 理論或基礎研究 (basic research) l 應用研究(applied research) l 探索性研究(exploratory research) l 描述性研究(descriptive research) l 質化研究(qualitative research) l 量化研究(quantitative research) l 混合研究(mixed research)

What Is a Good Business Research? l Purpose clearly defined l Research process detailed l Research design thoroughly planned l High ethical standards applied l Limitations frankly revealed l Appropriate research methodology adopted l Adequate analysis for decision maker’s need

What Is a Good Business Research? l Findings presented unambiguously l Managerial conclusions and implications justified l Suitable strategies proposed l Researcher’s experience reflected

Business research is problem (decision) driven!

Different research problems will have totally different research contents!

The Essences of Scientific Method l Direct observation of phenomena l Clearly defined variables, methods, and procedures l Empirically testable hypotheses l The ability to rule out alternative hypotheses l The statistical/quantitative rather than linguistic justification of conclusions l The self-correcting process

Research Procedures Suitable for Empirical Study l Encounters a curiosity, doubt, or suspicion l Struggles to state the problem: moves from an emotional to an intellectual confrontation with the problem l Proposes hypotheses to explain the facts may be related to the problem l Justify outcomes or consequences of the hypotheses: attempts to discover what happened if the results support or against the expectations

Research Procedures Suitable for Empirical Study (Cont) l Formulate several alternative hypotheses l Conduct a crucial and complete empirical study with various possible outcomes l Draws a conclusion, an inductive inference, based on rejection or failing to reject the hypotheses l Feeds information back into the original problem, modifying it according to the strength of the drawn conclusion

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