Research Methodology for Management Decisions

1 Research Methodology: An Overview

1. Meaning of Research
2. Research Methodology
3. Research Method
4. Business Research Method
5. Types of Research
6. Importance of business research
7. Role of research in important areas

2 Steps for Research Process

1. Research process
2. Define research problems
3. Research Problem as Hypothesis Testing
4. Extensive literature review in research
5. Development of working hypothesis
6. Preparing the research design
7. Collecting the data
8. Analysis of data
9. Preparation of the report or the thesis

3 Research Designs

1. Functions and Goals of Research Design
2. Characteristics of a Good Design
3. Different Types of Research Designs
4. Exploratory Research Design
5. Descriptive Research Design
6. Experimental Research Design
7. Types of Experimental Designs

4 Methods and Techniques of Data Collection

1. Primary and Secondary Data
2. Methods of Collecting Primary Data
3. Merits and Demerits of Different Methods of Collecting Primary Data
4. Designing a Questionnaire
5. Pretesting a Questionnaire
6. Editing of Primary Data
7. Technique of Interview
8. Collection of Secondary Data
9. Scrutiny of Secondary Data

5 Attitude Measurement and Scales

1. Attitudes, Attributes and Beliefs
2. Issues in Attitude Measurement
3. Scaling of Attitudes
4. Deterministic Attitude Measurement Models: The Guttman Scale
5. Thurstone’s Equal-Appearing Interval Scale
6. The Semantic Differential Scale
7. Summative Models: The Likert Scale
8. The Q-Sort Technique
9. Multidimensional Scaling
10. Selection of an Appropriate Attitude Measurement Scale
11. Limitations of Attitude Measurement Scales

6 Questionnaire Designing

1. Introductory decisions
2. Contents of the questionnaire
3. Format of the questionnaire
4. Steps involved in the questionnaire
5. Structure and Design of Questionnaire
6. Management of Fieldwork
7. Ambiguities in the Questionnaire Methods

7 Sampling and Sampling Design

1. Advantage of Sampling Over Census
2. Simple Random Sampling
3. Sampling Frame
4. Probabilistic As pects of Sampling
5. Stratified Random Sampling
6. Other Methods of Sampling
7. Sampling Design
8. Non-Probability Sampling Methods

8 Data Processing

1. Editing of Data
2. Coding of Data
3. Classification of Data
4. Statistical Series
5. Tables as Data Presentation Devices
6. Graphical Presentation of Data

9 Statistical Analysis and Interpretation of Data: Nonparametric Tests

1. One Sample Tests
2. Two Sample Tests
3. K Sample Tests

10 Multivariate Analysis of Data

1. Regression Analysis
2. Discriminant Analysis
3. Factor Analysis

11 Ethics in Research

1. Principles of research ethics
2. Advantages of research ethics
3. Limitations of the research ethics
4. Steps involved in ethics
5. What are research misconducts?

12 Substance of Reports

1. Research Proposal
2. Categories of Report
3. Reviewing the Draft

13 Formats of Reports

1. Parts of a Report
2. Cover and Title Page
3. Introductory Pages
4. Main Text
5. Reference Section
6. Typing Instructions
7. Copy Reading
8. Proof Reading

14 Presentation of a Report

1. Communication Dimensions
2. Presentation Package
3. Audio-Visual Aids
4. Presenter’s Poise