Nature, Process, and Strategy of Business Research

Discuss about the Reflective Journal for Strategy of Business Research.

Business research necessitates creativity, innovation and process improvement in companies. In this assignment, I have presented my reflection on my learning experience throughout the twelve lessons on business research. The assignment has been presented in a structured way to include all the topics, my learning experience during the lessons, my initial perceptions and the applications of my experiences in my career, personal and academic life. I have also reviewed how the knowledge of business research related to the two assignments that I previously did.

The first topic related to the nature, process, and strategy of business research. From this topic, I learned that business research relates to some features of a business such as production, marketplace trends, financial practices and production processes.  Business research is essential as it helps the management to predict trends in sales, identify opportunities and avoid some problems (Palinkas et al., 2015, p. 533). Interestingly, this topic related to my first assessment. In the first assessment, I analyzed open data, its importance in business research, significance and limitations. Ideally, business research can be conducted using open data, which is freely available on the internet.

The second topic related to research designs and research planning. Before, studying this topic, I held a perception that a research design only provides an outline of research. However, after studying the topic, I was able to understand that research design is the glue that holds a research study together. It is a combination of methods and processes used in gathering and analyzing measures of the variables highlighted in the research problem (Yilmaz, 2013, p. 312). It identifies the study type. Therefore I was able to gain clear insights concerning study types like descriptive, experimental, correlation and meta-analytic kinds of research. I used the knowledge from this topic in designing my research proposal in assessment two. In writing the proposed project, I will use a descriptive research design as it can enhance a perfect analysis of different types of models and concepts related to the research problem. The knowledge of this topic will also enable me to accurately use different research designs to handle my future research projects.

Before doing any research, scholars should conduct literature reviews to identify different contributions made by previous researchers on the same topic. This enables the researchers to identify the research gap (Collis & Hussey, 2013, p. 5). In topic three, I was able to gain the right skills and knowledge of conducting literature reviews. This was also part of the first assessment whereby I was prompted to conduct a literature review about open data and business innovation. This topic was pivotal in enabling me to accomplish the assessment. The knowledge from this topic will be essential to me in future while doing my project as I will do a literature analysis concerning the impacts of innovation on business growth. In future, I intend to use my literature review skills to conduct different research studies.

Research Designs and Planning

The most important topic to me was ethics and legal considerations in business research. Indeed, ethical and legal issues form a primary component of modern research, related to the researcher and the subject. Some ethical considerations in business research include confidentiality, informed consent, plagiarism and professional conduct (Wallace & Sheldon, 2015, p. 268). The research participants should participate willingly and with informed consent regarding the effects of their participation. Furthermore, a researcher is not allowed to leak confidential information about the participants to unauthorized parties. Also, while doing the research, works of other scholars should be properly cited. Initially, I cited the literature review to acknowledge the scholars who did specific works. However, I have realized from this topic that citing sources is a crucial requirement in research to avoid plagiarism. The knowledge of this topic enabled me to cite the literature review part of assignment two accurately. It will also help me in the project and other future projects to observe ethical considerations like informed consent, confidentiality, and plagiarism.

The nature of qualitative research, participant observation, and sampling was the fifth topic. Studying this topic enabled me to appreciate the nature and importance of qualitative research. As explained by Lewis (2015, p. 474), qualitative research aims at attaining a deep understanding of an event or organization rather than a superficial description of a large population sample. Due to limited resources, researchers cannot use the whole population in research. This calls for sampling. The most important part of this topic is participant observation. By studying this topic, I have gathered skills in participant observation which may be covert or overt. This will help me in collecting qualitative data concerning companies in my research project. The knowledge of this topic will also enable me in my future career to do business research for specific companies whereby I will be able to observe participants, make notes and derive appropriate conclusions.

Another topic which we handled in week six involved interviewing, focus groups and quantitative language research. My critical consideration of this topic was focus groups. Focus groups are relevant especially in business research as they are diverse and their reactions are important in market research (Merriam, 2015, p. 127). Focused groups can be interviewed in open discussions about a new product, or innovation. The knowledge of this topic will enable me to conduct focus group discussions to determine reactions of different customers and company employees in my research project.  Furthermore, in my future career life, the ability to engage in an open focus group discussion will be critical especially when gathering opinions from the customers about a specific company product.

Conducting Literature Reviews

Besides, topic seven talked about quantitative data analysis. This is a collection of procedures and approaches through which the collected quantitative data is transformed into a specific form of understanding, explanation, and evaluation of the situation under investigation (Graue, 2015, p. 6). This topic equipped me with practical quantitative data analysis skills. I also had experience with SPSS method of data statistical data analysis. This knowledge will enable me to analyze complex statistical data during my project. It will also enable me to analyze different company data in my future career life.

Nature and sampling techniques in quantitative research were the eighth topic. My major concern in this topic was the sampling techniques and sample size in quantitative research.  I learned that while sampling, a person needs to consider the sampling units (organizations, people, data) to be included in the ample. Sampling may be probabilistic or non-probabilistic (Palinkas et al., 2015. P. 534). No matter the technique adopted, a person should select the right sample to avoid over or undersampling. The knowledge from this topic will aid me in sampling during my research project. In the proposal, I have stated that the quantitative analysis will involve a large sample size and a backup of enough funds to aid the survey.

There are many ways through which a researcher may gather information from the respondents. One of these ways is by use of structured questionnaires. A questionnaire consists of a series of questions which are asked of the participants to gather statistically useful information about an issue (Levashina et al., 2014, p. 241). A discussion relating to questionnaire design has been given in topic nine. This topic is especially useful to me in my project as I will be able to design a structured questionnaire to obtain information from the participants. In future, I will also be able to design different survey questionnaires for organizations which may seek to determine customer satisfaction with a given product or even customer preference for an organization’s product. The topic has also equipped me with the knowledge of the ways of survey administration such as face-to-face interviews, phone calls and emails. In the proposal in assessment three, I proposed to use face-to-face interviews in administering the project questionnaire.

As discussed in topic ten, a structured observation entails a checklist of presence, incidences or frequency of a prescheduled evidence to be observed in a particular situation which may either refute or support a perception. This topic has particularly enhanced my skills in structured observation. I am therefore able to observe scenarios and compare them with preconceived theories to derive an appropriate conclusion. In my future career and general life, I will be able to observe scenarios and situations, analyze them and compare them with the existing perceptions to discover the truth. By studying topic eleven, I was able to receive knowledge of the two approaches to secondary analysis- research question-driven and the data-driven perspective. Secondary data analysis encompasses utilization of existing data collected in a prior study. The analysis must evaluate the compatibility of such data with the current research (Bryman, 2017, p. 58). I will use the knowledge from this topic to get and analyze existing data for my project. It will also enable me to analyze different company data from open sources in an attempt to evaluate competition, customer preference and product market in my future career.

Ethical and Legal Considerations in Business Research

Finally, topic eleven related to secondary and quantitative data analysis while topic twelve pertained to mixed research methods research. This is “a form of research whereby the researcher mixes both qualitative and statistical data, methodologies methods and paradigms in a single research inquiry” (Bryman, 2017, p. 59). By studying this topic, I have gained knowledge of different mixed research designs like convergent parallel, exploratory sequential, transformative, embedded and multiphase among other designs. My major concern in this topic was the timing of mixed research. It is critical consider the timeline of the research study and when the strands of quantitative and qualitative methods to occur. The knowledge from this topic will enable me to use mixed methods for my project. In future, I will also have the capability of utilizing the knowledge of mixed research to research for different organizations to improve their competitiveness.

Going by the above discussions, I can evaluate that I had a good learning experience. I also did two assignments whereby I used my research skills to conduct the literature reviews in both assignments and to structure my research proposal in the next assignment. The knowledge of research methods and processes gained from this subject will enable me to accomplish successful research projects in future. During my studies, I was also able to involve in group discussions which helped me improve my team cooperation skills. I future, I will be able to work successfully with teams and conduct successful personal and organizational research projects.

Conclusion

In conclusion, studying business research has equipped me with the right research skill and knowledge in academic and professional research. I am therefore able to understand the nature of business research, conduct research planning, and design, and perform a well-cited literature review. Furthermore, I have gained an understanding of the ethical considerations in business research, sampling techniques, qualitative and quantitative research techniques and interview methods. Besides, my knowledge of mixed methods research, secondary data analysis, content analysis and questionnaire design will enable me to handle successful qualitative and quantitative studies in future.

References

Bryman, A., 2017. Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Further Reflections on their Integration. In Mixing Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Research (Pp. 57-78). Routledge.

Collis, J. & Hussey, R., 2013. Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students. Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 1-460

Graue, C., 2015. Qualitative Data Analysis. International Journal of Sales, Retailing & Marketing, 4(9), Pp.5-14.

Levashina, J., Hartwell, C.J., Morgeson, F.P. & Campion, M.A., 2014. The Structured Employment Interview: Narrative and Quantitative Review of the Research Literature. Personnel Psychology, 67(1), Pp.241-293.

Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. Health Promotion Practice, 16(4), Pp.473-475.

Merriam, S.B., 2015. Qualitative Research: Designing, Implementing and Publishing a Study. In Handbook of Research on Scholarly Publishing and Research Methods (Pp. 125-140). IGI Global.

Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N. & Hoagwood, K., 2015. Purposeful Sampling for Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis in Mixed-Method Implementation Research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), Pp.533-544.

Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N. & Hoagwood, K., 2015. Purposeful Sampling for Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis in Mixed-Method Implementation Research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), Pp.533-544.

Wallace, M. & Sheldon, N., 2015. Business Research Ethics: Participant Observer Perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(2), Pp.267-277.

Yilmaz, K., 2013. Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Traditions: Epistemological, Theoretical, and Methodological Differences. European Journal of Education, 48(2), Pp.311-325.