
OBJECTIVES:
• To familarise the students to the principles of scientific methodology in business enquiry; to develop analytical skills of business research; to develop the skills for scientific communications.
UNIT I INTRODUCTION
Business Research – Definition and Significance – the research process – Types of Research – Exploratory and causal Research – Theoretical and empirical Research – Cross –Sectional and time – series Research – Research questions / Problems – Research objectives – Research hypotheses – characteristics – Research in an evolutionary perspective – the role of theory in research.
UNIT II RESEARCH DESIGN AND MEASUREMENT
Research design – Definition – types of research design – exploratory and causal research design – Descriptive and experimental design – different types of experimental design – Validity of findings – internal and external validity – Variables in Research – Measurement and scaling – Different scales – Construction of instrument – Validity and Reliability of instrument.
UNIT III DATA COLLECTION
Types of data – Primary Vs Secondary data – Methods of primary data collection – Survey Vs Observation – Experiments – Construction of questionaire and instrument – Validation of questionaire – Sampling plan – Sample size – determinants optimal sample size – sampling techniques – Probability Vs Non–probability sampling methods.
UNIT IV DATA PREPARATION AND ANALYSIS
Data Preparation – editing – Coding –Data entry – Validity of data – Qualitative Vs Quantitative data analyses – Bivariate and Multivariate statistical techniques – Factor analysis – Discriminant analysis – cluster analysis – multiple regression and correlation – multidimensional scaling – Conjoint Analysis – Application of statistical software for data analysis.
UNIT V REPORT DESIGN, WRITING AND ETHICS IN BUSINESS RESEARCH
Research report – Different types – Contents of report – need of executive summary – chapterization – contents of chapter – report writing – the role of audience – readability – comprehension – tone – final proof – report format – title of the report – ethics in research – ethical behaviour of research – subjectivity and objectivity in research.
TOTAL: 45 PERIODS
OUTCOMES:
• Students would become acquainted with the scientific methodology in business domain. They would also become analytically skillful. They would become familiar with the nuances of scientific communications.
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