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The Research Process


“You think you are thinking. But what you are doing is simply to let your thoughts, feelings, emotions flood your mind and overwhelm you. Thinking is a process of applying our mind to distinguish the various aspects of a phenomenon. And clearly you are not thinking.” Said Dr. Vijayashree Lakshman (You can check out her facebook page and send a friend request to interact with her! When you send her friend requests after reading this blog, make sure you mention that you have read this blog and would like to interact with her. If you want to look at her profile, look here) of PES School of Engineering. Tanveer was sitting in her chamber to discuss his dilemma. He had now many many thoughts about how to go forward and was not able to choose which one to follow. He had sought her help.

“Well! Tell me how to proceed.” He asked her.

She smiled and continued to look at him.

“Okay! Okay! I have to figure it out. Lets begin with what I know. First, I have to state my dilemma clearly and out of my observations, if possible define “Hypotheses”. These hypotheses are based on my own observations and not necessarily scientifically valid statements.”

She nodded.

“Second, we figure out what information is required in order to validate our views, i.e., hypotheses. We will clearly identify what information we already have and what we do not have on hand. What we already have on hand we shall see how useful it is and arrive at a conclusion of what first hand information is required. We will then identify where this first hand information resides and plan how to get that information.”

She smiled and nodded.

“Third, we get that information and neatly tabulate it in such a way that it is amenable for doing analysis. Fourth, we use statistical tools to analyze the information and arrive at inferences. These inferences would let us know whether our hypotheses are valid or invalid. Fifth, we put together our inferences to form conclusions about the various alternatives that we have when we began. Finally, we make the choice and implement it.”

“But, remember what you learnt from Charan!” Said she. “His approach was very systematic and his logic was very good. One could easily follow through and reach to the same conclusion as he did. He based his observations on facts and not on his own assumptions.”

To summarize the following is The Process of Business Research:

  1. Clarifying Research Questions
    1. Discover the Management Dilemma
    2. Define the Management Question
    3. Define the Research Question
  2. Prepare Research Proposal
  3. Research Design
    1. Data Collection Design
    2. Sampling Design
  4. Data Collection and Preparation
  5. Data Analysis and Interpretation
  6. Research Reporting
  7. Management Decision


    Concept Map



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