Part 1 – Defining Your Research Project

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The 4-D model of business and management
research (Maylor & Blackmon 2005, 2017)

•Making sense of your findings •Understanding what academic

•Presenting your research to others research is
•Reflecting on and learning from •Generating and clarifying ideas
your research •Using sources of information
•Writing a literature review
D4 D1 •Choosing a research approach
Describing Defining
your your
research research
project project
D2
D3
Designing
Doing your
your
research •Choosing a research design
•Practical considerations in doing research
research project •Collecting data using quantitative
•Describing data using simple
project methods
statistics •Collecting data using qualitative
methods
•Carrying out simple statistical
tests •Integrating qualitative and
quantitative methods
•Interpreting words and actions

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What is research? Introducing the research process

3
What is research?

Research is a process of systematic investigation (Maylor &

Blackmon 2005).

4
Other Research Definitions

A systematic process that includes defining, designing, doing

and describing an investigation into a research problem.
Business and management research relates to ‘undertaking
systematic research to find things out about business and
management’ (Saunders et al., 2003: 3) .

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Process-based view to Research

Non-value added activities

Quality at the source/zero-defect/Jidoka
Preventive versus problem solving approach
Finding the root causes of problems

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What are the characteristics of business and
management research?

Can be thought of in terms Business and management

of Kipling’s six questions draws on other disciplines,
words (what, why, when including:
how, where, and who) Economics
Sociology
Law
Psychology
Mathematics
Engineering
Humanities (postmodern and
critical studies)
And many more

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Kipling Questions

Rudyard Kipling wrote a short poem outlining a powerful set of

questions:
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

You can use Kipling’s six question words to start thinking about your
research project:
Why am I doing this research project, and what do I want to get out of it?
What do I want to find out?
Where is the information that I want to find out?
Who will want to know what I find out?
How will I be assessed?
When can I start, and when must I finish, my work?

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Business and Management Research Objects

9
What are the characteristics of business and
management research?

Good research is:

Original
Relevant
Immediate

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Varieties of research

What colour is the sky? Mode II research

Why is the sky blue?

What colour is the sky on

other planets? Applied
research
What are the physics of light
Development
scattering?

Basic research

Research aimed at Research aimed at Research aimed at a

solving fundamental solving particular particular problem
Mode I research
problems or problems with wider rather than generating
investigating new implications based on new knowledge.
areas. findings.

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Source: Saunders; Easterby-Smith et al. (2012); Hedrick et
al. (1993)
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What research is not

Research is not journalism Research is not consulting

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What research is not

Research is not journalism Research is not consulting

Usually done by different Sometimes done by the
people same people
Usually published in different Sometimes published in the
places same places
Different standards of fact- Different standards of fact-
checking and rigour checking and rigour
Evanescent Evanescent
Particularistic Particularistic
Commercial Proprietary

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Defining your research idea - overview

Research idea

Research Theoretical lens Level of analysis Research

problem context or
The field of A social unit or setting
An issue with study and/or collectivity
theoretical and the mid-level about which The
practical costs theory that will you will collect environment
that you guide your and analyse within which
propose to research data your social unit
investigate is embedded
through
collecting and
analysing data

Research
design

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What is a research problem?

A research problem identifies the area that you propose to

investigate.
Good research focuses on real problems and is concerned
with theory (Daft, 1984).
Research problems may start with:
Problems reported by managers or organisations that are not
satisfactorily addressed in the academic literature;
Opportunities in the academic literature to refine, integrate, apply, or
extend what is already known;
Significant research is “good, valuable, innovative, and
interesting” (Lundberg 1999).

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What is a research question?

A research question identifies the specific aspects of the

research problem that you propose to investigate.

A research question will normally begin with one of Kipling’s

six questions: who, what, when, where, why, or how.

We can draw on the Toyota “Five Why’s” for refining research

questions (iterations to the base level where we go no more).

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What is a research context or setting?

Your research context or setting describes the real-world

(empirical) location from which you will collect your data.
Three organisational settings for “projectification” (Lundin et
al. 2015: 24-25):
Project-based organisations (PBOs) – organisations delivering projects
as their business
Project-supported organisations (PSO) – organisations making use of
projects in the traditional parts of their organisations (also known as
project-led organisations)
Project networks (PNWs) – inter-organisational networks of projects
and/or people.

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Level / unit of analysis

Society

Region or
Event Industry
nation-state

Government NGO Company

Administrative
Sub-unit
unit

People People

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How to Manage Your Research Project

Begin with the end in mind (see Stephen Covey’s book The
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (2005)
Visualize your final dissertation and decide how you would
make it happen
Think of your research not as an arrow that you shoot into the
air, which may hit a target only by luck, but as a target pulling
the arrow towards it.
Avoid procrastination!
Keep a reflective diary or research notebook

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Tips for reflective diary or research notebook

What has gone well in relation to each experience?

Why?
What has not gone so well in relation to each experience?
Why?
What adjustments will/did I make to my ongoing research following
my reflection?
Why will/did I make these adjustments?
(Looking back) how could I have improved on these adjustments?
Why?
What have I learnt in relation to each experience?
How will I apply what I have learnt from each experience to new
situations

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 Why Are You Doing a Research?

Not just to get a degree!

Doing research has long-term benefits, such as improving:
Your understanding of the research problem you study
Your competence in doing a research project
Your ability to manage research as a systematic process
Your ability to build on other people’s research, increasing the credibility
of your own work.
You can apply your research skills beyond business and
management, to:
Test accepted or new ideas to see if they are true
Discover new things about the world
Make sense of the world around you.
Improve your analytical skills as well as critical skills

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 Check the Assumptions

One company continually worked hard to reduce new product lead

times, that is, how long from start to finish it took them to develop new
products. Reducing lead times became a real obsession in the firm, but
whenever anyone was asked why it was so important, they usually
answered: ‘Oh, you know that study ...’. However, not one person could
identify the original source of ‘that study’.
From detailed questioning of the managers, it became clear to the
researcher that this study was actually a one-line statement quoted in
Fortune magazine based on some simplistic calculations carried out by a
consultancy. Perhaps not coincidentally, the consultancy trained
companies to reduce new product lead times. If the managers had
approached the study from a more critical perspective, they might have
raised questions such as: How reliable is this study? Do these
recommendations apply to us?
The point is that we must be able to evaluate the foundations on which
we are basing our work or decisions.

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Check the Assumptions

Be cautious when selecting your theories, research questions,

and measures.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Two-Factor Theory, McClelland’s Theory
of Needs
Kolb learning style
Measures that are commonly used in the business world and are
mainly developed for commercial purposes
Measures used only in Persian studies (e.g., for testing personality
traits).
Meta-analytical reviews

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How can I make my project original, relevant, and
immediate?

Student research is
often based on existing
Your research
research problems and
questions
questions

Relevance: Research problem Immediacy: Impact on

with real costs of not knowing academic knowledge and
the answer managerial practice
Your research
project Student research is
Student research is
often based on well-
often based on
established research
convenience samples
designs

Your research Originality: One new element Your research

setting or the combination of elements design

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What are practical considerations when doing
business and management research?

Your own personal situation (resources, limits, preferences,

behaviours, etc.)
Good research takes account of ‘SMART’ objectives:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-Framed

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What should I study? Generating and clarifying
ideas for a research project

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How can I find an idea for my research project?

Generating research ideas from what you already know (Lundberg

1999):
Notice an anomaly (an unexplained or surprising event), and try to
explain it.
Notice the level of analysis (e.g., individual, organisation, society) that
dominates the explanation of something, and try an explanation at
another level.
Notice (or create) language that may enrich explanation and explore it
(theory work).
Notice common or simple activities or things and exploit them as
metaphors
Notice the context of an explanation, and apply the explanation to
another context (jazz vs symphony)
Notice commonly accepted knowledge or practices, and pursue possible
counterintuitive explanations.

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Question what is generally “taken for granted”
(Murray S. Davis, 1971)

Phenomenon Area “Taken-for-granted” Proposition

Single Organisation Disorganised Organised
Composition Single phenomenon Different elements
Abstraction Individual level Societal level
Generalisation Local General
Stability Stable and unchanging Unstable and changing
Evaluation Bad or inefficient Good or efficient
Multiple Relationship Unrelated Related
Coexisting Cannot coexist
Positively co-vary Negatively co-vary
Similar Opposite
Independent variable Dependent variable

.
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How do I generate ideas?

Organisation

Rhetoric or
Phenomenon
discourse

Research
Strategy focus Unit of
analysis
(social unit)

Research
Process
setting

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How many ideas should I generate and when should
I stop?

Too many A few No

ideas good ideas ideas

Generate
ideas

Find out
more about
ideas
Work out
feasibility

Develop
research
proposal
One good
idea (plus
backup) 31
Evaluating potential research topics

Is this research topic of theoretical interest?

Is this research topic of practical interest?

Does it have an obvious relationship to my organisation or

course of study?

Is it feasible with the time and other resources I can spend on

it?

Does it have symmetric outcomes?

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Asymmetric outcome
BRUCE’S FRUIT MARKET

Bruce was asked to investigate a major supermarket’s supply chain for

fresh fruit. The project brief stated that he should investigate the supply
chain and identify where suppliers were consolidating their products. If,
as the supermarket expected, this was in northern France, how might the
supermarket influence the supply chain by providing additional facilities,
warehousing, and so on?
In the first phase of his study, Bruce found that suppliers mainly
consolidated and stored fruit in the UK. This meant that the second part
of Bruce’s project, which had originally been intended to be the main
part of the investigation, was now irrelevant because the supermarket
already had enough warehouse facilities in the UK. Thus, he could only
complete half of the project, which left him without enough material to
flesh out a full research project.

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How can I design my research to ensure
symmetrical outcomes?

Be careful if:
You are relying on another person or organisation to provide
you with key resources such as:
A data set
Access to key individuals
You are doing research in your own organisation with:
People that you manage
People that manage you
Later stages of your research depends on what you find out in
earlier stages
Your research timings are very tight or your time is limited

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Will this research project satisfy my stakeholders?

Does it meet my
goals?
Does it add value
Yourself to the
Can you do it with organisation?
the available time Employer
Family
and resources?
Does it meet MSc
Do the benefits as standards for
a whole outweigh Others Yourself University
Oxford?
the costs?

Participants Examiners
Is it fair, ethical, Does it meet the
and a good use of Supervisor project guidelines?
their time?
Is it worth
supervising?

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The emotional life cycle of a research project

36
Plan your research project as well as its content

Finding a supervisor

Going from proposal to project

Managing the research process

Managing your supervisor

Managing yourself

Managing other key stakeholders

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Managing your research supervisor

What you should discuss with your supervisor before you start
working (“learning contract”):
What you want to get out of your project (e.g., personal, professional,
sponsor goals)
What your supervisor expects in terms of outcomes
What you need to do to accomplish each stated objective
Your role in completing each learning task
What roles others will take in helping to design, coordinate, or assist
the you with the learning tasks
How long each major element should take
What kind of feedback your supervisor will give and when

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Learning contract

At a minimum, should cover:

Meetings
How many and how long
Who will take the responsibility for organising them
Drafts
Feedback
How many and when
Availability
Student availability
Supervisor availability
Dispute resolution

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Writing a research proposal

What you propose to research

Why it is worth researching
How you will research it
What you expect to find out
What resources you will need
How long it will take
Any issues that need to be addressed (e.g., ethics)

Most of this is recycled as the introduction to the completed

research project.

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How do I find out what is already known about this
topic?

41
What do I need to search for and why?
The theoretical background
and lenses on your concepts
and relationships (in
Your research systematic literature review,
questions this becomes part of the
research design)

Information about the Your research The methodological

research setting and project literature on philosophy,
social units that you designs, and methods
plan to study (and for data collection and
occasionally the data analysis
itself)
Your real-world Your research
context design

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Where can I find relevant information?

Information about theory, Information about real-

models, and concepts world social units and
settings

Academic Newspapers,
journals magazines, and
other media
Academic books Managerial journals
(monographs and
edited books) Market reports

Dissertations and
theses (gray Business books Web pages
publications)
Working papers and Company
reports publications

Both 43
What sources are relevant to my research problem?

What are some journals that are specifically relevant to major

programme management?

What are some journals that are relevant to management

topics that are of interest in MPM?

What are some journals that provide good models for framing
research problems, research questions, etc.?

How would you find out what these journals are and how to
get access to them?

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What am I actually investigating? Components of a
theory (Bacharach 1989)

Boundary: Assumptions about Time, Space, Place

Propositions
Generalisability

Construct(s) Construct(s)

Hypotheses
Variable(s) Variable(s)

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How can I search for information?

Type of resource Example

Search engines Google
Scholarly archives Google Scholar
Subscription databases EBSCO
Publishers Wiley Interscience
Journal websites International Journal of Project
Management
Library metasearch E-journals (Bodleian)
Online repositories ResearchGate
Library catalogues British Library
Professional societies PMI, APM

46
How can I find what I’m looking for?
Snowball Keyword search
(egocentric)
search
J Cited by Keyword Keyword Keyword
A B A or B D

H Cited by
A

Keyword
Paper A
A

B Cited A C Cited A

E Cited B Keyword Keywords

D Cited B F Cited C C D and E
and C

G Cited E

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How do I find just the right amount of information?

Smart searching
Too few results? Widen the search
Too many results? Narrow down the search
Remember that “absence of evidence” is not “evidence of absence”

How to make your search wider or narrower

Geographic
Historical
Theoretical lens

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What should I do with what I find?

Academic Real-world
Literature review Research setting / social
Conceptual model units
Hypotheses or propositions Sampling

Research methods
Data on social units
First step in conducting a
systematic literature review First step in conducting a
case study (or other
secondary analysis)

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Why do I write a literature review?

“A review of prior, relevant literature is an essential feature of any

academic project. An effective review creates a firm foundation for
advancing knowledge. It facilitates theory development, closes
areas where a plethora of research exists, and uncovers areas
where research is needed.”
“Authors of literature reviews are at risk for producing mind-
numbing lists of citations and findings that resemble a phone book-
impressive case, lots of numbers, but not much plot. [In contrast] a
coherent review emerges only from a coherent conceptual
structuring of the topic itself. For most reviews, this requires a
guiding theory, a set of competing models, or a point of view about
the phenomenon under discussion [Bem 1995, p. 172].”
Jane Webster and Richard T. Watson. Analyzing the Past to Prepare for the
Future: Writing a Literature Review, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Jun.,
2002), pp. xiii-xxiii.

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What is a literature review and how do I prepare
one?

Identify your
question

Search the
Write the review
literature

Synthesise
Writing a Read and take
literature review notes

Manage your
Fill any gaps
references

Critically analyse
and evaluate

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How can I keep track of the contents of my
readings?
Mind mapping and/or brainstorming of ideas,
concepts and relationships
Effects on
followers

Emotion
Links between
emotions and
Measurement leadership
scales
Personality

Emotional
Definitions Leadership
intelligence
Zeitgeist

Transformational
Mental ability leadership
Social
Associated Forms of intelligence
intelligence
competencies

Cognitive intelligence

52
How can I use a conceptual model to focus my
literature review?

Literature on Literature on
emotional project
intelligence success

Concept Concept
definition Emotional definition
Project success
intelligence and
and
measures measures

Literature
review on
the Formal hypotheses
relationship (a priori) or
between the propositions (post
two hoc)

53
Structuring a literature review

All literature reviews start with individual readings.

The least sophisticated type of literature review is a

description of a sequence of individual readings (“Laundry
List”).
Synthesis and integration can be accomplished by:
Teleology – how the literature has evolved, and any gaps that remain;
Clustering – common foci among sets of readings, and the gaps
between them;
Thematic – the development of themes across readings, and
similarities and differences between them.

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Where does the literature review fit with research
design?

Conducting a literature review positions your research.

It is part of defining your research; it is not part of doing your

research.

The only exception is if you are conducting a systematic

literature review as your research method; however, in that
case you would conduct your literature review to identify your
research problem, etc., and then conduct a literature search
in which published research becomes your source of data,
which you would then analyse and so on.

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