Research methods for business / Joseph Hair ... [et al.]

European adaptation of the US textbook: Essentials of Business Research Methods, 2003

Includes bibliographical references and index

Ethical obligations of research participants -- Gaining access to respondents -- summary -- Defining the research problem and reviewing the literature -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- What is a good research topic -- Research questions and objectives -- Writing a research proposal -- Preparing a literature review -- Sources of literature -- Planning the literature search -- Writing a literature review -- The literature review and research questions -- Summary -- Secondary data -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Value of secondary data -- Nature and scope of secondary data -- Secondary data sources -- Internal background reviews -- External sources of secondary data -- Syndicated sources of secondary data -- Using the Internet to obtain secondary data -- Applications of secondary research in practice -- Summary -- Conceptualization and research design -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Developing a conceptual model -- Identify variables & constructs -- Specify hypotheses & relationships -- Draw conceptual model -- Basic research designs -- Exploratory -- Descriptive -- Causal -- Combining research designs -- Summary -- Sampling approaches -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Sampling -- Sampling process -- Probability sampling -- Nonprobability sampling -- Sample size -- Summary -- Data collection methods -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Data collection -- Qualitative vs. quantitative -- Observation -- Survey approaches, including panels -- Depth interviews -- Focus groups -- Case studies -- Content analysis -- Summary -- Measurement & scaling -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- What is a concept? -- How to measure concepts -- Practical decisions when developing scales -- Criteria for assessing measurement scales -- How to develop a scale -- Summary -- Designing the questionnaire -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Questionnaire design -- Questionnaire sections and sequence -- Preparing and presenting good questions -- Pretesting questionnaires -- Summary -- Basic data analysis for qualitative research -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Data preparation -- Analyzing qualitative research -- Summary -- Basic data analysis for quantitative research -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Data preparation -- Using charts and graphs -- Measures of central tendency -- Measures of dispersion -- Other diagnostic measures -- Summary -- Testing hypotheses -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Understanding hypothesized relationships -- Hypothesis testing -- Single group hypothesis testing -- Chi-square & T-test -- Multiple group hypothesis testing -- Analysis of variance -- Summary -- Assessing relationships between variables -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Types of relationships -- Covariation and variable relationships -- Analyzing association using correlation -- Prediction using regression -- Summary -- Reporting & presenting results -- Learning outcomes -- Introduction -- Written and oral communication -- The written research report -- Guidelines for the written report -- Oral presentations -- Using visuals -- Summary