A good manager needs to have insight into the previous happenings as well as the present situation in a business so as to be able to identify the underlying trends to develop short-term and long-term business strategies. These trends could relate to managing employees, using financial resource, studying target consumers, designing or formulating products, and promoting products effectively. Collecting useful information and analyzing it to identify underlying patterns require knowledge of research methods.
Business Research Methods is intended to provide opportunities to learn about research methods (both qualitative and quantitative) and to apply them in the real business context through class-room discussions and exercises. Designed as a guide to students, researchers, and individuals carrying out business projects, this book explains how to formulate research questions, design a research plan, develop a survey questionnaire, and solve critical issues of sampling and data collection including detailed illustrations of statistical data analyses, interpretation of output, inference, and report writing. With this book, readers will get a firm grounding of each and every critical concept, method, and illustration.
About the Author
William G. Zikmund (1943–2002)
A native of the Chicago area, William G. Zikmund was a professor of marketing at Oklahoma State University. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in business administration with a concentration in marketing. Before beginning his academic career, Bill worked in research for Conway/Millikin Company (a marketing research supplier) and Remington Arms Company (an extensive user of marketing research). He also has served as a marketing research consultant to several business and nonprofit organizations. During his academic career, Bill published dozens of articles and papers in a diverse group of scholarly journals, ranging from the Journal of Marketing to the Accounting Review to the Journal of Applied Psychology. In addition to Business Research Methods, Professor Zikmund authored Essentials of Marketing Research, Effective Marketing, and a work of fiction, A Corporate Bestiary. Professor Zikmund was a member of several professional organizations, including the American Marketing Association, the Academy of Marketing Science, the Association for Consumer Research, the Society for Marketing Advances, the Marketing Educators’ Association, and the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators. He served on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Marketing Education, Marketing Education Review, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of Business Research.
Barry J. Babin
In addition to coauthoring four textbooks, Barry Babin has published over 70 research publications in prestigious periodicals such as the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Retailing, Psychological Reports, Psychology and Marketing, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Dr. Babin also has won numerous honors for his research, including the University of Southern Mississippi Louis K. Brandt Faculty Research Award (on three occasions), the 1996 Society for Marketing Advances (SMA) Steven J. Shaw Award, and the 1997 Omerre DeSerres Award for Outstanding Contributions to Retail and Service Environment Research. His research focuses on the effect of the service environment on employees and customers, and his expertise lies in building successful outcomes that support long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with employees and customers. He also has expertise in encouraging creativity in the workplace and in wine marketing. Dr. Babin’s primary teaching specialties involve consumers and service quality, marketing research, and creative problem solving, and he is a popular and frequent international presenter, having lectured in Australia, South Korea, France, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Dr. Babin is current president of the Academy of Marketing Sciences, former president of the Society of Marketing Advances, and marketing editor for the Journal of Business Research.
Jon C. Carr
Jon is Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at TCU where he teaches courses in the area of New Ventures and Organizational Behavior. He previously taught at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has published articles in journals such as Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Management, and the Journal of Business Research.
Atanu Adhikari
Atanu Adhikari is Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, India. He earned his bachelor degree in Engineering, and MBA (Gold Medalist) and Ph.D. in Marketing Management. He was selected as an Emerging Scholar in 2011 by the Academy of Marketing Science, USA. His current area of research includes consumer choice behavior, experience product marketing, pricing, and applications of Bayesian econometrics in marketing research. He is actively involved in scholarly academic research and has published his research work in many national and international peer reviewed academic journals and edited books published by leading publishers. At IIM Kozhikode, he teaches Marketing Research, Marketing Management, Strategic Marketing at postgraduate level, and Advanced Marketing Research at doctoral level. Dr. Adhikari has received several awards and honors from national and international bodies, which include recognition as an Emerging Scholar from the Academy of Marketing Science; Meritorious Teaching Award from the Marketing Management Association, USA; and Best case award from EFMD, Belgium, in addition to several research grants from international bodies. He was a Runner up in the Oikos International Case Writing Competition, Switzerland. He was a fellow member of the Royal Statistical Society, London. He is affiliated with American Marketing Association and is an editor of a few international academic publications.
Mitch Griffin
Mitch is an Associate Professor of Management at Bradley University. Mitch has previous teaching experience at Southern Illinois University, the University of Minnesota, and Louisiana State University. His current teaching interests include Principles of Marketing, Pricing and Product Strategies, Sales Management, Marketing Research, and Advanced Marketing Research. In recognition of his teaching, Dr. Griffin received the Foster College of Business Administration 1994 Midwest Grain Products Inc. Outstanding Teaching Award. His research has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing, and Advances in Consumer Research.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 The Role of Business Research
Chapter 2 Information Systems and Knowledge Management
Chapter 3 Theory Building
Chapter 4 The Business Research Process: An Overview
Chapter 5 The Human Side of Business Research: Organizational and Ethical Issues
Chapter 6 Problem Definition: The Foundation of Business Research
Chapter 7 Qualitative Research Tools
Chapter 8 Secondary Data Research in a Digital Age
Chapter 9 Survey Research: An Overview
Chapter 10 Survey Research: Communicating with Respondents
Chapter 11 Observation Methods
Chapter 12 Experimental Research
Chapter 13 Measurement and Scaling Concepts
Chapter 14 Attitude Measurement
Chapter 15 Questionnaire Design
Chapter 16 Sampling Designs and Sampling Procedures
Chapter 17 Determination of Sample Size: A Review of Statistical Theory
Chapter 18 Fieldwork
Chapter 19 Editing and Coding: Transforming Raw Data into Information
Chapter 20 Basic Data Analysis: Descriptive Statistics
Chapter 21 Univariate Statistical Analysis
Chapter 22 Bivariate Statistical Analysis: Differences Between Two Variables
Chapter 23 Bivariate Statistical Analysis: Measures of Association
Chapter 24 Multivariate Statistical Analysis
Chapter 25 Communicating Research Results: Report Generation, Oral Presentation, and Follow-Up
Appendix: Statistical Tables
Glossary of Frequently Used Symbols
Glossary
Endnotes
Index
