Research Methods in Business: General Concepts

Description

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.