PART 1 SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY S ROLE IN DECISION MAKING 1
CHAPTER 1 THE ROLE OF BUSINESS RESEARCH IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS 2
OVERVIEW 3
THE NATURE OF DECISION MAKING 3
Levels of Decision Making 4
Decision-Making Processes 6
THE ROLE OF RESEARCH IN DECISION MAKING 8
Business Research Defined 8
Business Research and Ethics 9
Role In Decision Making 10
Research and the Intermational Business Setting 12
THE MANAGER-RESEARCHER RELATIONSHIP 13
PLAN OF THE BOOK 15
The Business Research Process 16
SUMMARY 19
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 19
NOTES 20
SUGGESTED READING 22
CHAPTER 2 SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY 24
OVERVIEW 25
DEFINITIONS 25
Observations,Facts 26
Concepts,Constructs,Definitions,Variables 26
Problems,Hypotheses,Laws 28
Theories,Models 30
METHODS OF THEORY CONSTRUCTION 32
Model-Based Theory 34
Functional Theory 35
Deductive Theory 35
Inductive Theory 36
RELEVANCE OF SCIENCE IN BUSINESS RESEARCH 36
Science versus Nonscience 36
Scientific Method 37
STATE OF THE ART IN BUSINESS RESEARCH 38
Levels of Scientific Endeavor 39
Computers and Business Research 41
Where Do We Go from Here? 42
SUMMARY 43
NOTES 44
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 44
SUGGESTED READING 47
PART 2 BEGINNING THE RESEARCH PROCESS 51
CHAPTER 3 SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION IN BUSINESS INQUIRY 52
OVERVIEW 53
SECONDARY DATA IN BUSINESS RESEARCH 53
Uses of Secondary Data 55
Search Strategy 57
Manual Searches 59
SELECTION OF DATA RETRIEVAL METHODS 59
Online Searches 67
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 76
SUMMARY 78
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 79
NOTES 80
SUGGESTED READING 82
CHAPTER 4 PROBLEM AND PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT 84
OVERVIEW 85
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND FORMULATION 85
Problem Identification 86
Problem Formulation 87
The Question of Value 90
PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT 92
A Typology of Business-Related Research Proposals 93
Structure of a Proposal 95
A Sample Research Proposal 96
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 102
Proposal Evaluation Mechanisms 103
Other Control Mechanisms 105
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 108
SUMMARY 108
NOTES 109
SUGGESTED READING 110
APPENDIX:METHODS OF ASSESSING THE VALUE OF RESEARCH INFORMATION 112
Bayesian Decision Analysis 112
Simple Savings Method 115
Return on Investment 116
Notes 117
PART 3 RESEARCH DESIGN 119
CHAPTER 5 FUNDAMENTALS OF RESEARCH DESIGN 120
THE NATURE OF RESEARCH DESIGN 121
OVERVIEW 121
ERROR REDUCTION THROUGH DESIGN 122
Potential Sources of Error in the Research Process 123
Managerial Strategies for Degling with Error 126
MAJOR TYPES OF DESIGNS 127
Ex Post Facto Designs 133
Experimental Designs 135
SPECIFIC DESIGN CONFIGURATIONS 137
Validity Concems 137
Specific Designs 139
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 144
SUMMARY 147
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 147
NOTES 148
SUGGESTED READING 150
APPENDIX:ADVANCED EXPERIMENTAL DEXIGNS 152
Completely Randomized Design 153
Randomized Block Design 154
The Latin Square Design 155
Factorial Design 157
Analysis of Covariance 158
Notes 158
CHAPTER 6 FOUNDATIONS OF MEASUREMENT 160
OVERVIEW 161
THE NATURE OF MEASUREMENT 161
Components of Measurement 162
The Measurement Process 163
LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT 166
Nominal 168
Ordinal 169
Interval 170
Ratio 170
EVALUATION OF MEASUREMENT SCALES 171
Validity 172
Reliability 174
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 179
SUMMARY 181
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 181
NOTES 182
SUGGESTED READING 183
APPENDIX:COMPUTATIONAL EXAMPLE OF COEFFICIENT ALPHA FOR ENERGY CONSCIOUSNESS MULTHTEM SCALE 185
CHAPTER 7 SCALING AND INSTRUMENT DESIGN 187
OVERVIEW 188
THE NATURE OF INSTRUMENT DESIGN 188
SCALE DEVELOPMENT 190
Item Phrasing 191
Response Formats 196
Frequenfly Used Scaling Techniques 197
INSTRUMENT DESIGN 201
Scale Sequencing and Layout 202
Pretesting and Collecting 207
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 207
SUMMARY 210
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 210
NOTES 211
SUGGESTED READING 213
CHAPTER 8 SAMPLING DESIGN 214
THE NATURE OF SAMPLING 215
Terminology 215
OVERVIEW 215
The Rationale for Sampling 218
The Sampling Process 218
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF SAMPLING 222
SAMPLE DESIGNS 224
Sample Design Choice Considerations 224
Probability Designs 225
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN SAMPLING 238
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 243
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 245
SUMMARY 245
NOTES 246
SUGGESTED READING 248
APPENDIX:A COMPUTATIONAL EXAMPLE ILLUSTRATING THE PROPERTIES OF THE CENTRAL LIMIT THEOREM 250
Notes 253
PART 4 DATA COLLECTION 255
CHAPTER 9 PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION 256
OVERVIEW 257
THE NATURE OF PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION(PDC) 257
PASSIVE PDC 260
Personal Interviewing 263
ACTIVE PDC 263
Telephone Interviewing 267
Mail Interviewing 268
Computerized Interviewing 275
A Comparison of Collection Methods 276
PDC VENDORS 278
PANEL VENDORS 282
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 283
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 286
SUMMARY 286
NOTES 287
SUGGESTED READING 290
APPENDIX:QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 292
Nature and Uses of Qualitative Research 292
Types of Qualitative Research 294
Notes 298
CHAPTER 10 MODEL BUILDING:SELECTION AND USE 299
OVERVIEW 300
IMPORTANCE AND TERMINOLOGY 300
VERBAL VERSUS MATHEMATICAL MODELS 302
Classification Criteria 304
TYPES OF MODELS 304
Model Specification 305
Managerial Objectives of Modeling 307
SELECTING A MODEL SOLUTION TECHNIQUE 310
Sample Decision Models and Solution Techniques 310
AN EXAMPLE OF MODEL CONSTRUCTION SOLUTION AND USE 317
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 320
SUMMARY 323
NOTES 324
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 324
SUGGESTED READING 326
PART 5 ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES 329
CHAPTER 11 PLANNING FOR DATA ANALYSIS 330
OVERVIEW 331
PLANNING ISSUES 331
SELECTING APPROPRIATE ANALYTICAL SOFTWARE 332
THE PREANALYTICAL PROCESS 336
Step 1:Data Editing 339
Step 2:Variable Development 339
Step 3:Data Doding 340
Step 4:Error Check 343
Step 5:Data Structure Generation 343
Step 6:Preanalytical Computer Check 344
Step 7:Tabulation 344
BASIC ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR BUSINESS RESEARCH 345
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 349
SUMMARY 351
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 351
NOTES 352
SUGGESTED READING 353
CHAPTER 12 BASIC ANALYTICAL METHODS 355
OVERVIEW 356
CLASSIFICATION OF ANALYTICAL METHODS BY PURPOSE 356
BASIC METHODS OF ASSESSING ASSOCIATION 362
Crosstabulation 362
Contingency Correlation 364
Spearman Rank Correlation 366
Pearson s 367
Chi-Square Test 370
BASIC METHODS OF ASSESSING DIFFERENCES 370
Z-Test for Differences in Proportions 373
t-Test for Differences in Means 374
SUMMARY 377
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 378
NOTES 379
SUGGESTED READING 380
APPENDIX:ADDITIONAL BASIC ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES 382
The Normal Distribution 382
Standardizing a Data Array 383
Caiculation of the Sample Mean X and Sample Variance S2 383
Covariation(Covariance) 384
CHAPTER 13 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE AND REGRESSION TECHNIQUES 385
OVERVIEW 386
THE NATURE OF VARIANCE DECOMPOSITION 386
LINEAR MODELS 389
One-Way Analysis of Variance(ANOVA) 389
Two-Way Analysis of Variance(ANOVA) 396
Linear Regression 405
Analysis of Covariance 419
SUMMARY 421
NONPARAMETRIC ANOVA 421
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 423
NOTES 425
SUGGESTED READING 427
APPENDIX:THE USE OF DUMMY AND EFFECT CODING TO EXAMINE GROUP DIFFERENCES USING MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSION 429
CHAPTER 14 ADVANCED MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS 432
OVERVIEW 433
INTRODUCTION TO MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS 433
SELECTION OF A MULTIVARIATE TECHNIQUE 434
ANALYSIS OF DEPENDENCY 435
Muitivariate Analysis of Variance 436
Multiple Discriminant Analysis 439
Conjoint Analysis 441
Covariance Structure Analysis 443
ANALYSIS OF INTERDEPENDENCY 445
Factor Analysis 445
Cluster Analysis 450
Mulfidimensional Scaling 451
COMMENT ON MULTIVARIATE TECHNIQUES 455
SUMMARY 455
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 456
NOTES 457
SUGGESTED READING 460
PART 6 RESEARCH REPORTING AND EVALUATION 461
CHAPTER 15 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN BUSINESS RESEARCH 462
OVERVIEW 463
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN BUSINESS RESEARCH 463
Societal Rights 465
Subjects Rights 466
Clients /Managers Rights 468
Researchers Rights 469
CODES OF ETHICS 470
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 471
SUMMARY 472
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 473
NOTES 474
SUGGESTED READING 475
APPENDIX:EXCERPTS FROM THE ICC/ESOMAR INTERNATIONAL CODE OF MARKETING AND SOCIAL RESEARCH PRACTICE 477
Introduction 477
3.2 Code 479
Appendix 1 481
CHAPTER 16 RESEARCH REPORTING 484
OVERVIEW 485
WRITTEN RESEARCH REPORTS 485
The Outline 485
Guidelines 491
ORAL PRESENTATIONS 498
COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES IN THE FUTURE 500
MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS 501
SUMMARY 502
NOTES 503
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 503
SUGGESTED READING 504
CHAPTER 17 EVALUATION OF BUSINESS RESEARCH 506
OVERVIEW 507
EVALUATING A RESEARCH REPORT 507
Evaluation:Problem Development 507
Evaluation:Research Design 523
Evaluation:Data Collection 524
Evaluation:Analytical Procedures 524
Evaluation:Reporting 525
Overall Evaluative Score 526
SUMMARY 526
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 527
SUGGESTED READING 527
APPENDIX A APRACTITIONER S GUIDE TO SECONDARY BUSINESS INFORMATION SOURCES 528
RESEARCH GUIDES AND BIBUOGRAPHIES 529
ENCYCLOPEDIAS,DIRECTORIES,DICTIONARIES AND HANDBOOKS 532
INDEXES 535
STATISTICAL SOURCES 537
REFERENCES FOR INDIVIDUAL COMPANIES 541
OTHER SOURCES:INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 542
A NOTE ON THE STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION(SIC) 544
APPENDIX B SELECTED STATISTICAL TABLES 547
TABLE B.1 RANDOM NUMBERS 548
TABLE B.2 AREAS UNDER THE NORMAL CURVE 549
TABLE B.3 DISTRIBUTION OF t 550
TABLE B.4 DISTRIBUTION OF x2 552
TABLE B.5 FDISTRIBUTION 554
TABLE B.6 FISHER S z TRANSFORMATION OF lxy 569
INDEX 570