Siva Sivani Institute of Management

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS Batch : PGDM-TPS Term: 20th Batch 3rd term Credits: 3 (Full Course) Prerequisite: The students should read the basics of statistics for management.
And students should have the deep interest for learning.

Facilitator: Dr.Kompalli Sasi Kumar Email: kompalli99@rediffmail.com Alternative email: sasikumarkompalli @ gmail.com Mobile: 98481 92864 Course Folder: TPS -20th Batch (FTP BRM) Objective
Research is a creative process and the topic of research methodology is complex and varied. So the course is designed to provide a clear guide on how to undertake research as well as highlighting the realities of undertaking research, including the more common pitfalls. The course is designed to help you to undertake a research project with the necessary knowledge and skills acquired by you after studying this course. Overall this course prepares the students for identification of a research problem, enquiry into a problem, collection of data, classification and tabulation of data & analysis and interpretation of data, inferring from the data.

Grading
Case Analysis Assignment Quizzes End Term : 20% : 15% : 15% : 50 %

Class Participation
This course requires the full participation of all the students. The facilitator will keep track of class participation in order to determine your marks. The participation in real terms refers to preparation to the class, concentration in learning the self-learning topics, and getting the solution to the exercises. The students are expected to give their critical comments on the concepts and theories discussed in the class. Contradicting and criticizing the developed accounting concepts will be the right way of understanding the subject. Any questions raised on requesting the meaning or definition of basic concepts which can be read in the text book; will prove that you havent prepared for the class. Certain set of questions from the pre-reads will be asked to randomly selected students for the sake of assessment. If any answers given for the individual question not asked to you will prove your class misbehavior. Only in an extreme case a student may ask more than three questions in one session.

Text Book and Reading Material

The text book ; Naval Bajpai , Business Research Methods 1st edition, Pearson Company Ltd. will be followed very closely. For Optimum utilization of textbook and also for better learning, you may visit the website of this book, textbook is simple, comprehensive and illustrative. This textbook is widely used in management schools across the world. It is found to be a good guide for students expecting to be an human resource accountant. The students are expected to use the library extensively for thorough learning, read articles and research articles from various journals like Finance India, Journal of Finance, and Journal of Marketing etc. for better understanding of research in the areas of finance and marketing world. Library has many specialized books on various sub topics of Business Research Methods like research process, research design, formulation of research problem etc; any student who is interested in advanced learning can refer those books. All the reading material including cases, technical notes, and research articles is made available for students through course pack, public folder, and library and internet references.

Pedagogy
The pedagogy to be followed will be completely based on the students follow up. It will be mix of case based lecture, class discussion, and students presentation. The majority of the learning will happen on the classroom by creating an virtual organization. Very heavy importance will be given for students preparation for the sessions. Most of the sessions will be based on concepts and a related case, which has to be first tried / discussed by the students as a group on their own. Then Facilitators effort will be focused in providing a learning environment for the student rather than spoon feeding, the student.

Case Analysis
Cases are to be discussed in class. Most of the cases do not have right answers. Being right or wrong should not be your concern, when participating or deciding whether to make a comment. The class is interested in your point of view and if there is a consensus that differs from your viewpoint, that in no way diminishes the value of your contribution. Dont be afraid to disagree with comments by your fellow students (or facilitator comments for that matter). If there is complete agreement on case solutions than something is wrong. Critical discussion and disagreement are to be expected and encouraged. A case brief (as word document) by each group has to be prepared. The groups are expected to come prepared with their own workings in excel sheet kept ready for presentation. A concise, well organized , insightful analysis is expected, Case brief should not be less than 3 pages. It should be typed and single spaced, font 12 , times new roman. Exhibits, figures and numerical calculations should be attached on separate pages. A suggested organization of a case brief : 1. Details of background knowledge required for solving the case one page. 2. Case back ground Half page 3. Various levels of problems identified in the case one page 4. Details of your analysis and your interpretations two pages 5. Specific recommendations and implementation one page 6. Final conclusion half page. In case solving, you are expected to apply the tools and principles of accountancy, as well as all your other skills, to decide how to resolve the problem identified in the case. You can use necessary assumptions in solving the case. The assumptions have to be strongly supported by

the logical explanations. Be specific and assertive. Do not hedge your bets. Make a decision. Each group is expected to come with ppt presentation on the case given. The presentation should cover understanding of the problems, analysis, (show the worksheet) comments and conclusions. Any one of the randomly called member of the group will be asked to make presentation. The presentation and case discussion mark (for the group) will be provided only on the performance of the member who presents it. The negligence of any member in case analysis can be reported to the facilitator immediately. The quality and not quantity of comments and questions count most. Any student acting as a free rider will be penalized in the process, while fully participating members of the group will receive full credit. The prepared case brief (word file) ,workings (spread sheet file), and presentation (ppt file) have to be uploaded in public folder at least two hours before the session. The case analysis will be evaluated at group level and also at individual level (eligibility level ) . The group level valuation will be on the case brief ( word file, excel file, ppt file) submitted through public folder. While submitting the case brief all the groups are expected to list out the names of the students, who have significantly contributed for the case analysis and preparation of case brief. If the names and roll nos are not listed, it will be assumed that the person who has submitted the case is the only contributor .The groups are expected to be more genuine in listing out the names.

Quizzes
Quizzes will be given periodically throughout the course for the student to determine if the theory presentations are fully comprehended and can be applied. Five quizzes will be held in the regular classes during the course. The question pattern for quizzes will be any or all of; multiple choice, fill in the blanks, true or false, very short descriptive. There will be a penalty (negative mark) for wrong answers. All the quizzes are closed book and it covers pre reads, self learning topics, case analysis. There may not be more than 15 questions to be answered in 20 minutes. All the quizzes average will be considered for evaluation.

End Term Exam

A more challenging end theme exam will be given at the end of the course. All the students will be given question paper set by the external examiners. This consists of all type of questions covering the entire syllabus. During the examination every student has to follow the examination rules and regulations.

SYLLABUS BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS I. Introduction to Business Research Learning Objective: The objective of this unit is to provide you basics of research Concepts to be Covered: Introduction, Definitions, Arbitrary Method vs Scientific Method, Characteristics and Objectives of research, Research in Management, Applications. Readings: Chapter 1 , 2 Case: WIPRO INDIA LTD- Market Expansion Decision New Market Identification- p g no 17-18. What, When and Why research Learning Objective: Research Process, research design, Scaling techniques Concepts to be Covered: Research Process- Selection of a research problem, Formulation of a research problem, Research Ideas, Research Design: Types of Design, New Designs. Sources of Business Information Interviews, Observation, Questionnaire, Survey and Indirect Techniques, Review of Literature, Measurement and Scaling - Techniques for Scaling Validity and Reliability of Scaling. Reading: chapter-3, 4 and 5 Case: Castrol India Ltd., - Research Design Preparation p g no 39-40

II.

Case : Sintex Industries Limited Consumer Attitude towards various Brands of Sintex III. Data Collection Primary and Secondary Data Collection Survey Method- Sampling DesignsProbability and Non-Probability Designs- Field Work and Data Preparation. Learning Objective : How to select a sample and size of the sample Concepts to be Covered: Sampling, types of sampling, parametric vs non parametric tests Readings: Chapter no -5, 6, 7, 9 Case : Videcon Industries Limited Questionnaire Preparation Positive Brand shift towards Videcon Industries Limited IV. Analysis and presentation of Data Learning Objective : Methodological tools for research, report writing Concepts to be Covered : Frequency Tabulation, cross tabulations, Tests of relevance, interpretation of data. Parametric and Non Parametric TestsMultivariate Data Analysis Techniques Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis, Discremeinant Analysis etc,. Readings : Chapters : 10, 11, 14 & 17, 18,

SPSS APPLICATION: Model Questionnaire and Data Sheet: Investors Perception on Mutual Funds Data sheet of 500 respondents in the form of excel sheet for class room exercise purpose- distributed to all the students through their official mail ids of the college. Data Interpretation and report Writing. Why a report? What is a report ? How to write popular reports? Purpose of a report, contents of a report. articles, and Technical papers. Reading : Chapters : 19. . Applications of Research Techniques in Finance, Marketing and Human Resource and Operations Management. Reading: Various Articles will be provided to students through soft copies. Introduction to SPSS Learning objective : Data entry through excel, use of tools, interpretation Concepts to covered : Data Processing and Analysis through SPSS SPSS-19 VERSION BASIC TEXT Nava Bajpai Business Research Methods Pearson Education India Limited- First Edition- 2011. RECOMMENDED READINGS 1. ARUN KUMAR SINGH : Tests, Measurements & Research Methods in Behavioural Sciences, TataMcGraw Hill. Research Methodology in Social Sciences Sterling. Research Method in Management, Himalaya Methods of Research in Social Sciences, Himalaya. Research Methodology in Management : Business Research Methods, TMH

V.

2. 3. 4.

SINGH. A MECHAL. V.P. KRISHNASWAMI. O.R 5. ARYA.P.P & YESHPAL 6.COOPER AND SCHINDLER

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