Research in Business

Aims of this Unit

As a practicing manager it is essential to know whether or not you can rely on the veracity of conclusions provided by researchers to business issues. Having confidence in evidence-based insights backed by conceptual frameworks appropriate to your business context provides a good foundation upon which management action can be based.

This unit aims to introduce you to the foundations of business research by examining the core concepts, methods and values involved. The unit will explore both qualitative and quantitative research methods and the appropriate frameworks for the application of each to researching business problems.

Putting this into practice, the unit will guide you through the preparation of a research proposal based on a review of literature relevant to an issue that is important to you or in your workplace. The proposal will clarify the research question(s) and develop a research methodology that can provide robust answers.

Knowledge and Understanding

This unit is designed to provide students with an understanding of:

• The variety of research methods that can be used to collect and analyse data.
• The stages in the research process so you can be more confident that the method to be used will connect with your research question(s).
• What constitutes quality research, as well as the limitations of research that you read.
• How to critically analyse and evaluate existing business research publications.

Learning Outcomes

Following completion of this unit, participants should be able to:

1.  Critically evaluate and interpret contemporary business research.
2.  Craft a written literature review around a core research question(s).
3.  Critically analyse and apply business research foundations, core concepts, methods and values.
4.  Create an evaluative report that interprets, critiques and synthesises contemporary business research case studies.
5.   Apply critical evaluation skills.