Busi Chap 10 Answers

Business Research Methods

CHAPTER 10

Choosing a Research Method

Student Questionnaire Answer sheet

Look at these only after you have completed the whole questionnaire.

Question 1

What are the four key contextual issues you need to think about before choosing a research method? And why is each important?

Responses:

The four issues which will frame what you can and cannot, should and should not, choose for your research method are:

• your research

• the context

• the literature

• you.

It is important to think about the research because you need to have a clear sense of what it is that you are trying to achieve here. What is the central theme of your research? This will direct you to a literature and help you frame what you want to achieve. Where does the research take place? In which organisation(s)? What is the level of the research (for example, can you access data and people at the very top)? And is the organisation split over different geographic sites? What is the means of investigation? Are you trying to test something? This will propel you towards a very specific set of research methods. Alternatively, you may be trying to explain something. Again this will direct you towards methods which will help you to achieve the desired research outcomes.

It is important to think about the context of your research because it is often at the methodology stage that you become most aware of the potential power of the stakeholders. By considering the context you should be thinking about the demands made by the different stakeholder groups and what you would need to do in order to meet those demands. In doing this, your attention should also be drawn to the resources needed and, indeed, how the stakeholders can help you to access those resources.

The literature is your friend here! It will help to show you what other people have done, what the favoured methods are, and how well (or...