21751 Management Research Methods

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

This subject contributes to the students' vocational and professional competencies by giving training in the analytic and research skills that can be applied to the solution of problems encountered in their professional lives. It provides the necessary expertise in research methodology for the project-based subjects which are a part of the students' postgraduate programs. Topics include survey research, experiments and quasi-experiments, case studies, content analysis and interviews.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. understand a range of research methods used in management and organisational research
2. choose appropriate research designs and methods for their own projects, and critically evaluate the work of other researchers
3. analyse and present results from a variety of different types of research studies
4. use some of these research methods and analyse and report the results
5. understand the ethical considerations relevant to the carrying out of management research.

Required text(s)

Veal, AJ, 2005, Business Research Methods: A Managerial Approach, 2nd edn, Sydney, Addison Wesley Longman

Faculty of Business, 1999, Guide to Writing Assignments, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney.

Indicative references

Babbie, E. R. (1995). The practice of social research (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Berg, B. L. (1998). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (3rd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Bouma, G.D. (1993). The Research Process. Melbourne: Oxford University Press Australia.

Burns, R.B. (1994). Introduction to Research Methods. (2nd ed.) Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.

Campbell, D.T. and Stanley, J.T. (1966). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Cassell, C., & Symon, G. (Eds.). (1994). Qualitative methods in organizational research: A practical guide. London: Sage.

Cavana, R.Y., Delahaye, B,L., and Sekaran, U. (2001) Applied Business Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. New York: Wiley.

Cooper, D. R., & Emory, C. W. (1995). Business research methods (5th ed.). Chicago, IL: Irwin.

Cornford, T., & Smithson, S. (1996). Project research in information systems. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. (eds.) (1994). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Dixon, B. R., Bouma, G. D., & Atkinson, G. B. J. (1987). A handbook of social science research – A comprehensive and practical guide for students. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press.

Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Lowe, A. (1993). Management Research: An Introduction. London: Sage Publications.

Francis, G. (1996). Introduction to SPSS for Windows. Sydney: Prentice Hall.

Gay, L. R., & Diehl, P. L. (1992). Research methods for business and management. New York: Macmillan.

Ghauri, P. and Gronhaug, K. (2002) Research Methods in Business Studies: A Practical Guide. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Gummesson, E. (1991). Qualitative methods in management research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Hair, J.F., Tatham, R.L., Anderson, R.E. and William Black, W. (1998) Multivariate Data Analysis (5th Edition). Essex, England: Pearson Education.

Hammersly, M. (1989). The dilemma of qualitative method: Herbert Blumer and the Chicago tradition. New York, London: Routledge.

Hussey, J. and Hussey, R. (1997). Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students. London: MacMillan.

Jorgenson, Danny L. (1989). Participant Observation. Applied Social Research Methods Series, 15. Newbury Park: Sage.

Jorgensen, D. (1990) Participant Observation. Beverly Hills: Sage.

Judd, C. M., Smith, E. R., & Kidder, L. H. (1991). Research methods in social relations (6th ed.) Fort Worth, Tex.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Kellehear, A. (1993). The unobtrusive researcher: a guide to methods. St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.

Kerlinger, F. N. (1986). Foundations of behavioral research (3rd ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston..

Kirk, J., & Miller, M. L. (1986). Reliability and validity in qualitative research. Beverly Hills: Sage

Krueger, R. (1988). Focus groups: A practical guide to applied research. Newbury Park: Sage.

Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Lee, T.W. (1999). Using qualitative methods in organisational research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Lofland, J. (1995). Analyzing social settings: a guide to qualitative observation and analysis (3rd ed.). Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth

Mason, J. (1997). Qualitative researching (5th ed.). London: Sage.

McNiff, J. (1992) Action Research: Principles and Practice. London: Routledge.

Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage.

Morgan, D. (1988). Focus groups as qualitative research. Newbury Park: Sage.

Nachmias, C., & Nachmias, D. (1996). Research methods in the social sciences (5th ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press.

Neuman, W. L. (1997). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (3rd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Remenyi, D., Williams, B., Money, A. & Swartz, E. (1998). Doing research in business and management: An introduction to process and method. London: Sage.

Sapsford, R., & Jupp, V. (1996). Data collection and analysis. London: Sage, in association with the Open University

Schuman, H., & Presser, S. (1996). Questions and answers in attitude surveys: experiments on question form, wording, and context. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Seidman, I. E. (1991). Interviewing as qualitative research. New York: Teacher's College Press.

Sekaran, U. (1992). Research methods for business: A skill-building approach (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.

Silverman, D. (1985). Qualitative Methodology and Sociology. Aldershot, UK: Gower.

Sommer, B. B., & Sommer, R. (1997). A practical guide to behavioral research: tools and techniques (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Strauss, A. & Corbin,J. (1990). Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park: Sage.

Templeton, J. F. (1987). Focus groups. Chicago, IL: Probus. Van Maanen, John (1988). Tales from the Field: On Writing Ethnography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wadsworth, Y. (1997) Do it Yourself Social Research Victorian Council of Social Service.

Weber, R. P. (1985). Basic content analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Weitzman, E. A., & Miles, M. B. (1995). Computer programs for qualitative data analysis: A software sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Whyte, W. F. (1991). Participatory action research. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage.

Wolcott, H. F. (1990). Writing up Qualitative Research. Qualitative Research Methods Series, 20. Newbury Park: Sage.

Yin, R.K. (1994). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. (2nd ed.) Newbury Park: Sage.

Zickmund, W. (2003) Business Research Methods. (7th ed.) Mason, Ohio: Thomson, South Western.