The Research Cycle

Paper Summary:

This study analyzes the major research methods and provides an estimation of their main strengths and weaknesses for their exploitation in managerial decision analysis, which is generally one of the areas where these research methods are exploited. The study briefly discusses the application of qualitative and quantitative research methods for technology for top management decision purposes.

Overview:
Introduction
Brief Research History
Steps Within Research
Qualitative Research Methods

From the Paper:

" Questionnaires are sent out to focus people to obtain necessary for the research information. These answers typically are biased by the fact that they are not direct, also, response rates are often very low if there is no personal motivation for the participants to be involved. Questionnaires must be also very well worked out as interviews, they are rather time and cost consuming. Questionnaire is a good qualitative research methodology as it studies personal or group attitudes to some phenomenon, it is rather inexpensive to be conducted compared with some other study methods, it explored and gives researchers information on real thinking of the participants, they can provide objective answers as they are treated anonymously by respondents, majority of questionnaires have high validity and thus the results obtained within this kind of research and the analysis of the closed-ended questionnaires is rather easy. This methodology has its' weaknesses, such as they typically have to be very short if the analyst wishes respondents to answer the questions objectively, open-ended questionnaires might be rather difficult to interpret and draw conclusions from, and this analysis will thus be rather costly and time inefficient. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Abercombie, N., Hill, S., Turner, B. S. Dictionary of Sociology, Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1994.
• Anderson, Sweeney, Williams. Quantitative Methods for Business. South-Western College, Publishing,1995.
• Available from: http://www.iuj.ac.jp/faculty/akita/qta03f.html
• Available from: www.wikipedia.org
• Boot, J. C. G., Cox, A. Statistical Analysis for Managerial Decisions. Statistician, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1972), p. 147.

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