Description: These modules have been designed to provide an understanding of the principles that underpin good business research. It looks at the research process from problem definition through to project conception and finally, publication of the research outcomes. 

This course features dynamic and engaging video with audio narration, infographics and short quizzes to test your knowledge. 

Background: This subject is about creating scholar-practitioners, people who are dedicated to generating knowledge that is useful for practitioners (Wasserman, 2009). Such research has to meet two, sometimes conflictual goals, contributing to the sum of human knowledge, while at the same time helping practitioners with their everyday work.

There is a growing amount of evidence that much good research is never taken up by practitioners and one of the main reasons is that they fail to see how it is relevant to their work (Hutchinson, 2004). Research done by practitioners has two great advantages. First, it addresses issues that arise out of their day-to-day practice and therefore it is immediately relevant. Second, they can ‘sell’ their findings to other practitioners because they can explain how their findings can be used in practice. They are more likely to present their findings in public fora (such as business conferences and practitioner journals and magazines) that are designed for practitioners. Academic conferences and publications in academic journals can be daunting and pretty inaccessible to managers looking for solutions to their problems.

You will have the opportunity to focus on a management issue of your choosing and your research will aim to generate solutions that could be taken up by other managers.

Description: These modules have been designed to provide an understanding of the principles that underpin good business research. It looks at the research process from problem definition through to project conception and finally, publication of the research outcomes.

This course features dynamic and engaging video with audio narration, infographics and short quizzes to test your knowledge

Background: Creswell describes in detail the process of writing the purpose statement and research questions. To do this you will need to decide whether you want to do quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods research. Some questions to guide this decision include:
• Is this a what problem or a why problem? If you want to research what is happening then the research is usually quantitative.

If you want to know why something happens then it will need a qualitative component.
• Is this topic perfect for a case study? If so, it will be mixed methods.
• Do I have the skills to do quantitative/qualitative data analysis? Work to your current skills.

Description: These modules have been designed to provide an understanding of the principles that underpin good business research. It looks at the research process from problem definition through to project conception and finally, publication of the research outcomes. 

This course features dynamic and engaging video with audio narration, infographics and short quizzes to test your knowledge

Background: Mixed methods research refers to any research design that includes aspects of both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis (Creswell, 2015). Mixed methods research is undertaken when the research objective can only be achieved by accessing both sorts of information.

In a business context, mixed methods are often used:
• Sequentially (qualitative then quantitative, when qualitative data such as interviews is used to develop a questionnaire for a large-scale quantitative survey.,
• Sequentially, (quantitative then qualitative) when the analysis of quantitative data raises further questions that need to be addressed qualitatively. This might take the form of a survey followed by some semi-structured interviews to try and understand some of the survey outcomes, and
• Concurrently in Case Studies where both forms of data are collected and analysed at the same time in quick succession.

Description: These modules have been designed to provide an understanding of the principles that underpin good business research. It looks at the research process from problem definition through to project conception and finally, publication of the research outcomes.

This course features dynamic and engaging video with audio narration, infographics and short quizzes to test your knowledge

Background: Data collection tools are used in all forms of research. They include questionnaires to be used in surveys, interview protocols used in qualitative and quantitative interviews, focus group protocols and forms used to record details from observations.

There is a direct link between the quality of the instrument being used and the quality of the data being collected. The basic requirement is that the tool being used helps you collect the data you need to answer your research questions.

Description: These modules have been designed to provide an understanding of the principles that underpin good business research. It looks at the research process from problem definition through to project conception and finally, publication of the research outcomes.

This course features dynamic and engaging video with audio narration, infographics and short quizzes to test your knowledge

Background: A Discussion section should not be simply a summary of the results you have found and at this stage you will have to demonstrate original thinking. First, you should highlight and discuss how your research has reinforced what is already known about the area. People make the mistake of thinking that they should have found something new. In fact, very few research projects have findings that are unique. Instead, you are likely to have a number of findings that reinforce what is already known about the field and you need to highlight these, explaining why you think this has occurred.

Second, you may have discovered something different and if this is the case, you will have plenty to discuss! You should outline what is new and how this compares to what is already known. You should also attempt to provide an explanation as to why your research identified these differences. Third, you need to consider how your results extend knowledge about the field. Even if you found similarities between your results and the existing work of others, your research extends knowledge of the area, by reinforcing current thinking. You should state how it does this as this is a legitimate finding. It is important that this section is comprehensive and well structured, making clear links back to the literature you reviewed earlier in the project.