Research Methodology, as a core subject of study in most business education curriculum of most universities and Business Schools, has contributed significantly for the development of core competence of the managers of tomorrow. Research Methodology provides a decision-making base to managers to take sound managerial decisions. When manager themselves conduct a, Research Methodology tells what quality research is.
As a student of business education, one should know the conceptual toots and techniques to empower oneself about the (i) Scientific method to be applied in a business setting (ii) to decide whether the research is well conducted and (iii) to adopt planning and control of any business research. Even the teachers of Research Methodology should know the ins and outs of ft to teach this subject in a comprehensive manner. Business researchers lace certain conflicts when they start planning a research concerning a business problem. It may be between the objectives to be incorporated in research, which may oppose to each other or a conflict between traditional and modern research methods. To avoid these conflicts many follow the traditional methodology. Wherever the research is complex in nature, researchers adopt modern IT solutions like SPSS tool to avail correct results and to save time in conducting research.
This title is written for beginners of research to understand in a simple way the methodology of research. As a subject of study in core area of degree level, most of the universities offering business education (B.Com., BBM, BBA, etc.,) have introduced Research Methodology as one of the essential subjects of study for the reasons cited above. In this context, this title is prepared to give a broad outline of Research Methodology covering mainly the syllabus content at degree level. Written in a simple style, many Research Methodology models are given at each and every chapter to give an insight into methodology. The whole Research Methodology process is explained in a sequential order commencing from exploring and identifying the research problem to development of research design to collection of data to analysis, interpretation of data and reporting. In annexure, certain latest tools and techniques are given. At the end of each chapter graded questions and practical exercises are given for self-study.
Contents –
MODULE – 1 FUNDAMENTALS OF RESEARCH
Introduction, Meaning, Definition, characteristics and objectives of research, Types of research, Research approaches (Induction and deduction) Ethical Issues in Research – Plagiarism and its types, Steps in Research Process, Problem formulation-Criteria of good research problem, Sources of problems, Selection and definition of research objectives.
MODULE – 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Meaning, Importance and Purpose of Literature Review – Types of Literature Review– Sources of literature review-Process in conducting literature review: (Search Strategy, Note-Taking, Synthesizing and Evaluating Literature) AI Tools for literature review: Zotero, Mendeley, Connected Papers, Scholarcy, Semantic Scholar Research Rabbit(Concepts only), Research gaps and its types(Concepts only).
MODULE – 3 RESEARCH DESIGN
Meaning Characteristics and significance of research design, Types of research Design( Exploratory, Descriptive and Causal), Components of research design, Meaning of variable Types of Variables (Dependent, Independent, Discrete, Continuous, Extraneous Control, Mediating, Moderating, Numerical, Categorical.)
Sampling- Meaning of Sample, Sampling Frame, Sampling Error, Sample size, characteristics of a good sample, Types of Sampling- Probability and Non-Probability, Sampling and Non sampling errors
Hypotheses formulation- Meaning, Characteristics of Hypothesis Basics concepts relating to hypothesis testing, Types
MODULE – 4 DATA COLLECTION & HYPOTHESES TESTING
Data Collection: Primary Data: Observations, Interviews, Questionnaires, Focus Groups (used in Indian market research). Secondary Data: Government Portals (MOSPI, RBI, SEBI), Reports (CMIE, ASSOCHAM, FICCI), Journals, News Archives.AI-powered Data Collection: Chatbots (for customer surveys), Google Forms, Typeform, KoboToolbox.
Hypothesis Testing: Steps involved in testing of hypothesis-Level of significance- Chi Square Test- T-Test- Z-Test- Using Excel/SPSS.
MODULE – 5 DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORT WRITING
Meaning, Steps in data analysis, Classification and Tabulation(Concepts only) Types of Data Analysis: Descriptive, Inferential, Qualitative, Quantitative. Basic descriptive tools in Excel or SPSS: (Mean, Median, Mode, SD).Graphical Representations using Excel/SPSS Bar Charts, Pie Charts, Histograms. Introduction to AI tools for analysis: ChatGPT (for qualitative summaries), MonkeyLearn, Orange Data Mining(Concepts only) Report Writing: Meaning and purpose of Report Writing–Types of Research Reports Report Sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methodology, Data Analysis, Conclusion, Writing Bibliography: Writing Bibliography-APA and MLA format
