Research Methods in Business Syllabus and Reference Books

Unit I : Fundamentals of Research :  Meaning, Objectives and Significance.

Types of Research :- Basic research, Applied, Descriptive, Historical, Exploratory, Experimental, Ex-post-factor and Case study approach.

Approaches to Research:-

• Quantitative approach:-

i)           Inferential

ii)         Experimental

iii)         Simulation

• Qualitative approach:-

i)           Ethnographic

ii)         Phenomenological

iii)        Field Research

Importance of research in management decisions:-

Various areas of research in business:

a)          Marketing Research

b)         Government policies and economic systems

c)          Social relationship

d)         Planning and operational problems of research in business

Unit II : Research process:-

Selecting the topic, defining the research problem, objectives of research, literature survey, sample design, data collection, execution of project, analysis of data and hypothesis testing, generalization and interpretation and preparation of research report.

Features of good research:

Research design – Meaning, need, features of good research design, types of research design –

a)          For exploratory research

b)         For descriptive research

c)          For causal research studies

Unit III : Hypothesis:-

Meaning, importance and types. Formulation of hypothesis and testing of hypothesis. Chi-square test, Correlation Co-efficient, Regression analysis.

Sampling:-

Meaning, Sample and sampling, essentials of good sample. Sample size, methods of sampling:-

a)          Probability sampling – cluster sampling, stratified sampling, multi stage sampling.

b)         Non- probability sampling:- Purposive sampling, Quota sampling, Convenience sampling.

Unit IV : Sources and Methods of data collection:-

Primary and Secondary data.

a)          Primary sources:-i.     Observation ii.  Interview

Questionnaire

Interview schedules

b)         Secondary  sources

Data processing – Tabulation – Data analysis and Interpretation

Report writing – layout of research report

Recommended books :

1. Research Methodology – Methods & Techniques, C.R. Kothari, New Age International Publishers
2. Research Methodology, Krishnaswamy O R, Himalaya Publishing House
3. Business Research Methods, Donald R Cooper & Pamela S Schindler, –
4. Research methods in Business, Nandagopal / Rajan, Excel
5. Research Method for Business – A skill building approach, Uma Sekaram, –
6. Research Methods, Donald H McBurney, CRC Press
7. Statistics for Management, Levin & Reuben, Prentice Hall
8. Research methods for Management, Dr S Shajahan, Jaico