Business Research Methods

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Designed as an introduction to doing business research, this book acts as a comprehensive guide for students embarking on their research projects. The authors, together with real students and supervisors, draw on their own experiences so that readers can take note of their tips for success and avoid making their mistakes. Developed specifically with business and management students in mind, this book explores the issues which business research entails, as well as providing students with practical advice on doing research. A new feature has been added to this edition that sees supervisors of research projects from various universities give guidance on how to decide on a project and see it through to a successful conclusion, avoiding common pitfalls. Other changes include the expansion of the discussion of ethics, an increased emphasis on practical content such as planning a project and writing it up, and a substantially updated chapter on internet research methods. Key Features The authoritative author team of Alan Bryman and Emma Bell guide the reader through the essentials of carrying out business research, drawing on their own extensive research experience. Each chapter is filled with examples, providing context for the theories and concepts being discussed in the text. A 'student experience' feature, drawing on interviews with real research students, provides helpful advice on potential pitfalls to avoid and successful strategies to emulate when undertaking a research project. The text is augmented by extensive online resources, including interviews with research students, data sets, further questions and an Excel tutorial, designed to help students develop practical skills in business research. New to this edition A new 'supervisor experience' feature has been added for the third edition, giving a supervisor's perspective on the research process and providing helpful tips for successful research projects. The practical emphasis has been increased, with expanded content on planning a research project, forming research questions, reviewing literature and writing up business research. Discussion of language in qualitative research has been expanded, as has the consideration of ethics, to make students more aware of the issues associated with these topics. The chapter on internet research methods has been substantially revised to reflect the developments within this field. Increased cross-referencing has been introduced so that students can see the links between topics more effectively.

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s Alan Bryman is Professor of Organizational and Social Research in the School of Management at the University of Leicester. Emma Bell is Senior Lecturer in Organization Studies in the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary, University of London. Table of Contents Part One 1: Business research strategies 2: Research designs 3: Planning a research project and formulating research questions 4: Getting Started: Reviewing the literature and formulating research questions 5: Ethics and politics in business research Part Two 6: The nature of quantitative research 7: Sampling 8: Structured interviewing 9: Self completion questionnaires 10: Asking questions 11: Structured observation 12: Content analysis 13: Secondary analysis and official statistics 14: Quantitative data analysis 15: Using SPSS for Windows Part Three 16: The nature of qualitative research 17: Ethnography and participant observation 18: Interviewing in qualitative research 19: Focus groups 20: Language in qualitative research 21: Documents as sources of data 22: Qualitative data analysis 23: Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis: Using NVivo V7 Part Four 24: Breaking down the quantitative/qualitative divide 25: Mixed methods research: combining quantitative and qualitative research 26: E-research: using the Internet as object and method of data collection 27: Writing up business research