In business studies most researchers need to collect some primary data to answer their research question. This entails deciding what kind of data collection method to use, which depends upon an overall judgement on which type of data is needed for a particular research problem. One important aspect is to identify the scope of the study and unit of analysis and what type of analysis is needed. After looking briefly at the chief differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches, the chapter looks at different qualitative methods and when to use them.

Qualitative research imposes specific analytical challenges. This chapter addresses important characteristics of qualitative research and qualitative data. Strategies and procedures to handle the analytical challenges are also dealt with, as well as validity and reliability issues in qualitative research.

This chapter deals with some conceptual (theoretical) foundations of research. Practical business research is often thought of as collecting data from various statistical publications, constructing questionnaires, and analysing data by using computers. Research, however, also comprises a variety of important, non-empirical tasks, such as finding/‘constructing’ a precise problem, and developing perspectives or models to represent the problem under scrutiny. In fact, such aspects of research are often the most crucial and skill demanding. The quality of the work done at the conceptual (theoretical) level largely determines the quality of the final empirical research. This is also the case in practical business research. Important topics focused on in this chapter are the research process and the role of concepts and theory.

The most commonly used technique for the analysis of quantitative data in business research is multiple regression analysis. This is a powerful technique for understanding the relationships between variables, which variables have the most impact, and for prediction. In this chapter, we consider how to specify regression models, how to estimate the models, and how to use the estimated models to undertake some simple hypothesis tests. We emphasize that the researcher has to exercise his/her judgement in deciding not only the specification of the initial model but also in how to adapt and interpret the model in response to the various statistical tests.

In business studies most researchers need to collect some primary data to answer their research question. This entails deciding what kind of data collection method to use, which depends upon an overall judgement on which type of data is needed for a particular research problem. One important aspect is to identify the scope of the study and unit of analysis and what type of analysis is needed. After looking briefly at the chief differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches, the chapter looks at different qualitative methods and when to use them.

Qualitative research imposes specific analytical challenges. This chapter addresses important characteristics of qualitative research and qualitative data. Strategies and procedures to handle the analytical challenges are also dealt with, as well as validity and reliability issues in qualitative research.

This chapter explains what we mean by research in business studies and to discuss differences between systematic research and common sense or practical problem solving. It looks at what we mean by knowledge and why we do research, examining different research orientations and approaches and the influence of the researcher’s background and basic beliefs concerning research methods and processes. We stress the importance of learning to think and work systematically and developing analytical capabilities in order to produce accurate and reliable results. We also discuss researchers’ moral responsibility towards both their subjects and the readers of their reports.

Problems, that is ‘questions’, drive research. Without research questions there would hardly be any research at all. Research problems are not ‘given’, however; they are detected and constructed. How research problems are captured and framed drives subsequent research activities. In normal research situations, we first select a topic and then formulate a research problem within that topic. The process of constructing a research problem is not straightforward and often involves a lot of back-and-forth adjustments and refinement. In this chapter we particularly focus on how to construct and adequately capture research problems. The role of reviewing past literature to identify weaknesses and gaps is also examined.

A huge array of statistical methods are available to the researcher, of variable levels of sophistication, and a comprehensive survey would be well beyond the scope of this textbook. Here we outline three methods which are widely used in business studies research, namely factor analysis, structural equation modelling, and event study analysis. In each case, we explain the key elements of each method, the underlying intuition, and how to interpret the results, and then provide an example from the business literature.