Research Methods for Business Students

Citation

Catterall, M. (2000), "Research Methods for Business Students", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 215-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/qmr.2000.3.4.215.2

This very readable research methods textbook is now in its second edition. Whilst the target audience is primarily undergraduate business and management students, the book can usefully be read by postgraduate students. I have used the first edition with both groups. It was the core text for undergraduates and a basic text for the postgraduates supplemented by readings from more specialist texts on, say, case studies and articles from the management and marketing journals, such as the British Journal of Management and Journal of Consumer Research. The authors provide clear and largely unambiguous guidance on the dissertation research process. In this respect a key strength of the book is that students who are not supported by taught research methods modules could use it. At the same time, it provides an appropriate structure for the teachers who design and deliver these modules.

The book is structured to follow the research process from identifying and selecting a researchable topic through to writing up the dissertation report. The first three chapters on the nature of management research, formulating and clarifying the research questions and objectives and preparing a critical literature review are essential reading for any student about to embark on dissertation research. For marketing students, who will normally have taken a market research module by the time they embark on their dissertations, these chapters will leave them in no doubt of the fundamental differences between a commercial or consulting research project and a marketing dissertation. There is also a very welcome table in the chapter on literature reviews that distinguishes clearly between different types of literature and, specifically, refereed, non‐refereed and professional journals. As student access to comprehensive full text bibliographic databases on the Internet continues to improve, the distinctions between these different sources can become blurred. For example, it is not unusual to work through many pages of “hits” on a keyword such as “focus groups” in ABI/Inform before locating a reference from a refereed journal. The authors provide a useful guide to on‐line sources of literature as well as some advice on searching databases.

This new edition provides an improved chapter on research approaches and strategies, giving a little more background on research philosophy and more clarification on deductive and inductive approaches. Whilst the scope and depth of the discussion is appropriate for most undergraduate students, postgraduates would need to supplement this chapter with additional readings. By contrast, the chapter on gaining access to organisations, people and information and research ethics is appropriate for both groups of students. Access can be particularly problematic for research students and it would be useful for authors of research methods textbooks to devote a little more attention to using secondary data as a stand‐alone research strategy. For example, some students undertake research based on useful and imaginative analyses of in‐company data, comparisons of companies’ published reports, Websites, and so on.

There are several chapters covering quantitative methods – sampling, questionnaire design and data analysis. Marketing students who have covered these issues in market research modules are unlikely to gain further insight from these chapters. By contrast, they are likely to benefit from the chapters on qualitative interviewing, observation and qualitative data analysis. Market research textbooks are often weakest in these areas, and especially on data analysis and interpretation. The authors take a rather structured approach to qualitative data analysis, which can be very useful for the undergraduate student. Postgraduate students would be better advised to consult other texts such as Jennifer Mason’s (1996) Qualitative Researching or articles that have been published on this subject in this and other marketing and consumer research journals.

The final chapter on writing up the project offers very clear and structured advice on the preparation of the dissertation report. Finally, the book includes a number of useful appendices. Of particular note are the very comprehensive guidelines on the Harvard system of referencing.

All the chapters are well presented with useful checklists, real‐life case studies and examples that illustrate research in practice and many concepts and processes. To illustrate, it includes an example of a research proposal and a critical literature review. Obviously these are very truncated samples but they do illustrate key features and points.

In conclusion, then, the authors provide an excellent introduction to business and management research dissertations ideally suited to undergraduates but also a useful basic text for the postgraduate students. This new second edition will remain on my students’ reading lists. The feedback from students has been very positive to date. Many have suggested that it should be included on a pre‐reading list since the book manages to demystify the dissertation research process but at the same time does not oversimplify the process or the difficult issues that need to be resolved in undertaking research.