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Summary: Introduction to Research Methods (IOM)
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Here is a summary of all the material you need to know for the course: Introduction to IOM Research Methods
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Week 1Business research = a systematic process of testing hypotheses through carefully executed data
analyses that are aimed to help a manager solve or minimize a problem
Three of the most common cognitive biases managers have to deal with:
1. Confirmation bias
= refers to the tendency only to consider information that agrees with ("confirms") our preexisting
beliefs
2. Availability bias (also known as the availability heuristic)
= refers to a cognitive bias in which we decide based on readily available information, even though it
may not be the best information to inform our decision
3. What-You-See-Is-All-There-Is (WYSIATI) bias
= when evaluating whether there is a relationship between an event and an outcome, we tend to
notice what is 'present', but we often forget to consider what is 'absent'. This tendency is referred to
What-You-See-Is-All-There-Is. Because of this cognitive bias, managers adopt opinions and make
decisions without examining all the data, which can easily lead to suboptimal decisions
How can you evaluate whether a journal is worthy of being considered?
1. You can check whether the articles in the journal are peer-reviewed. If they are not, the journal is
likely to be predatory.
2. You can look up the impact factor. While this is not a perfect measure, a journal with an impact
factor of at least 1.0 is less likely to be predatory.
3. In the field of business, you can consult the list of quality journals compiled by TISEM
Inductive research approach = researchers first collect data, then they try to find a pattern in the
data after which they develop a theoretical framework based on their findings
Deductive research approach = researchers first hypothesize relationships between variables based
on theory after which these hypotheses are tested using data
The 7-step deductive research process:
1. Demarcate (narrow) the business problem
2. Formulate research questions
3. Develop the theoretical framework
4. Choose a research strategy
5. Collect the data
6. Analyse the data
7. Write a report
, Week 2
Business problem = when a company encounters a threat (a difficulty to be eliminated) or an
opportunity (a situation that might be improved).
-> To research a business problem, you have to narrow it down to a single aspect of the bigger
problem
A business problem must also be relevant, possible in two ways:
1. Academic relevance = when researching the problem adds to the current state of knowledge
-> four major ways a study can contribute to the state of knowledge:
- New topic -> no prior research exists, even though the topic is important
- New context -> prior research exists, but in a different context
- Integrate scattered findings -> prior research focusses on different variables so we don’t know
relative importance
- Reconcile scattered findings -> prior research gives conflicting results
2. Managerial relevance = when one or more parties benefit from the research
- Managers (1 company, 1 industry or multiple industries?)
- End users
- Public policymakers
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