BUSINESS

RESEARCH

METHODS

FOURTH EDITION

ALAN BRYMAN & EMMA BELL

Abbreviations
About the authors
About the students and Supervisors
Guided tour of textbook features
Guided tour of the Online Resource Centre
About the book
Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

The nature and process of business research

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Introduction
What is meant by 'business research'?
Why do business research?
Business research methods in context
Relevance to practice
The process of business research
Literature review
Concepts and theories
Research questions
Sampling
Data collection
Data analysis
Writing up
The messiness of business research
Key points
Questions for review

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Business research Strategie:

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Introduction: the nature of business research

Theory and research
What type of theory?
Deductive and inductive theory
Epistemological considerations
A natural science epistemology: positivism
Interpretivism
Ontological considerations
Objectivism
Constructionism
Epistemology and ontology in business research
Competing paradigms

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Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

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Research strategy: quantitative and qualitative
Influences and politics on the conduct of business research
Values
Practica! considerations
Key poirtts
Questions for review

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Research designs

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Introduction
Quality criteria in business research
Reliability
Replication
Validity
Research designs
Experimental design
Cross-sectional design
Longitudinal design(s)
Gase study design
Comparative design
Level of analysis
Bringing research strategy and research design together
Key points
Questions for review

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Flanning a research project and formulating

research questions

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Introduction
Gelting to know what is expected of you by your Institution
Thinking about your research area
Using your Supervisor
Managing time and resources
Formulating suitable research questions
Criteria for evaluating research questions
Writing your research proposal
Preparing for your research
Ding your research and analysing your results
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review

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Gelting started: reviewing the literature

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Introduction
Reviewing the existing literature and engaging with
what others have written
Gelting the most from your reading
Systematic review
Narrative review
Searching the existing literature and looking for
business Information
Electronic databases
Keywords and defining search parameters

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Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Referencing your work

The role of the bibliography
Avoiding plagiarism
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review

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Ethics and politics in business research

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Introduction
Ethical principles
Harm to participants
Lack of informed consent
Invasion ofprivacy
Deception
Ethics and legal considerations
Data management
Copyright
Reciprocity and trust
Affiliation and conflicts of interest
The difficulties of ethical decision-making
The politics of business research
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review

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The nature of quantitative research

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Introduction
The main steps in quantitative research
Concepts and their measurement
What is a concept?
Why measure?
Indicators
Using multiple-indicator measures
Dimensions of concepts
Reliability
Stability
Internal reliability
Inter-rater reliability
Validity
Face validity
Concurrent validity
Predictive validity
Construct validity
Convergent validity
Discriminant validity
Reflections on reliability and validity
The main preoccupations of quantitative researchers
Measurement
Causality

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Detailed Contents

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Generalization
Replication
The critique of quantitative research
Criticisms of quantitative research
Is it always like this?
Reverse operationism
Reliability and validity testing
Sampling
Key points
Questions for review

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Sampling in quantitative research

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Introduction
Introduction to sampling
Sampling error
Types of probability sample
Simple random sample
Systematic sample
Stratified random sampling
Multi-stage Cluster sampling
The qualities of a probability sample
Sample size
Absolute and relative sample size
Time and cost
Non-response
Heterogeneity of the population
Kind of analysis
Types of non-probability sampling
Convenience sampling
Quota sampling
Limits to generalization
Error in survey research
Key points
Questions for review

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Structured interviewing

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Introduction
The structured interview
Reducing error due to Interviewer variability
Accuracy and ease of data processing
Other types of interview
Interview contexts
More than one interviewee
More than one Interviewer
In person or by telephone?
Computer-assisted interviewing
Conducting Interviews
Know the schedule
Introducing the research
Rapport
Asking questions

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Recording answers
Clear Instructions
Question order
Probing
Prompting
Leaving the interview
Training and supervision
Other approaches to structured interviewing
Critical incident method
Projective methods, pictorial and photo-elicitation
Verbal protocol approach
Repertory grid technique
Problems with structured interviewing
Characteristics of Interviewers
Response sets
The problem of meaning
The feminist critique
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 10 Self-completion questionnaires
Introduction
Self-completion questionnaire or postal questionnaire?
Evaluating the self-completion questionnaire in relation
to the structured interview
Advantages of the self-completion questionnaire over
the structured interview
Disadvantages of the self-completion questionnaire
in comparison to the structured interview
Steps to improve response rates to postal questionnaires
Designing the self-completion questionnaire
Do not cramp the presentation
Clear presentation
Vertical or horizontal closed answers?
Identifying response sets in a Likert scale
Clear Instructions about how to respond
Keep question and answers together
Diaries as a form of self-completion questionnaire
Advantages and disadvantages of the diary as a
method of data collection
Experience and event sampling
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 11 Asking questions
Introduction
Open or closed questions?
Open questions
Closed questions
Types of question
Rules for designing questions

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General rules of thumb
Specific rules when designing questions
Vignette questions
Piloting and pre-testing questions
Using existing questions
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 12 Structured Observation
Introduction
Problems with survey research on behaviour
So why not observe behaviour?
The Observation schedule
Strategies for observing behaviour
Sampling
Sampling people
Sampling in terms of time
Further sampling considerations
Issues of reliability and validity
Reliability
Validity
Other forms of structured Observation
Field Stimulation
Organizational Simulation
Criticisms of structured Observation
On the other hand...
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 13 Content analysis
Introduction
What are the research questions?
Selecting a sample
Sampling media
Sampling dates
What is to be counted?
Significant actors
Words
Subjects and themes
Dispositions
Images
Coding
Coding schedule
Coding manual
Potential pitfalls in devising coding schemes
Advantages of content analysis
Disadvantages of content analysis
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review

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Chapter 14 Secondary analysis and official statistics

Introduction
Other researchers' data
Advantages of secondary analysis
Limitations of secondary analysis
Accessing the UK Data Archive
Archival proxies and meta-analysis
Official statistics
Reliability and validity
Condemning and resurrecting official statistics
Official statistics as a form of unobtrusive measure
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 15 Quantitative data analysis
Introduction
A small research project
Missing data
Types of variable
Univariate analysis
Frequency tables
Diagrams
Measures of central tendency
Measures of dispersion
Bivariate analysis
Relationships not causality
Contingency tables
Pearson's r
Spearman's rho
Phi and Cramer's V
Comparing means and eta
Multivariate analysis
Could the relationship be spurious?
Could there be an intervening variable?
Could a third variable moderate the relationship?
Statistical significance
The chi-square test
Correlation and Statistical significance
Comparing means and Statistical significance
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 16 Using IBM SPSS statistics
Introduction
Getting started in SPSS
Beginning SPSS
Entering data in the Data Viewer
Defining variables: variable names, missing values,
variable labels, and value labels
Recoding variables
Computing a new variable

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Data analysis with SPSS
Generating a frequency table
Generating a bar chart
Generating a pie Chart
Generating a histogram
Generating the arithmetic mean, median,
Standard deviation, rnge, and boxplots
Generating a contingency table, chi-square, and Cramer's V
Generating Pearson's r and Spearman's rho
Generating scatter diagrams
Comparing means and eta
Generating a contingency table with three variables
Further Operations in SPSS
Saving your data
Retrieving your data
Printing Output
Key points
Questions for review

Chapter 17 The nature of qualitative research

Introduction
The main steps in qualitative research
Theory and research
Concepts in qualitative research
Reliability and validity in qualitative research
Adapting reliability and validity for qualitative research
Alternative criteria for evaluating qualitative research
The main preoccupations of qualitative researchers
Seeing through the eyes of the people being studied
Description and the emphasis on context
Emphasis on process
Flexibility and limited structure
Concepts and theory grounded in data
Not just words
The critique of qualitative research
Qualitative research is too subjective
Difficult to replicate
Problems of generalization
Lackoftransparency
Is it always like this?
Some contrasts between quantitative and qualitative research
Some similarities between quantitative and qualitative research
Researcher-subject relationships
Action research
Feminism and qualitative research
Collaborative and participatory research
Postcolonial and indigenous research
Key points
Questions for review

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Chapter 18 Sampling in qualitative research

Introduction
Levels of sampling
Purposive sampling
Theoretical sampling
Generic purposive sampling
Snowball sampling
Sample size
Not just people
Using more than one sampling approach
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 19 Ethnography and participant Observation
Introduction
Organizational ethnography
Global and multi Site ethnography
Access
Overt versus covert?
Ongoing access
Key informants
Roles for ethnographers
Active or passive?
Shadowing
Field notes
Types of field notes
Bringing ethnographic fieldwork to an end
Feminist and institutional ethnography
Visual ethnography
Writing ethnography
Experiential authority
Typical forms
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 20 Interviewing in qualitative research
Introduction
Differences between the structured interview
and the qualitative interview
Asking questions in the qualitative interview
Preparing an interview guide
Kinds of questions
Using an interview guide: an example
Recording and transcription
Telephone interviewing
Life history and oral history Interviews
Feminist research and interviewing in qualitative research
Qualitative interviewing versus participant Observation
Advantages of participant Observation in comparison
to qualitative interviewing

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Advantages of qualitative interviewing in comparison
to participant Observation
Overview
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review

Chapter 21 Focusgroups
Introduction
Uses of focus groups
Conducting focus groups
Recording and transcription
How many groups?
Size of groups
Level of moderator involvement
Selecting participants
Asking questions
Beginning and finishing
Group interaction in focus group sessions
The focus group as a feminist method
Limitations of focus groups
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 22 Language in qualitative research
Introduction
Fine-grained approaches
Conversation analysis
Discourse analysis
Narrative analysis
Rhetorical analysis
Context-sensitive approaches
Critical discourse analysis
Overview
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 23 Documenta as sources of data
Introduction
Personal documents
Public documents
Organizational documents
Mass media Outputs
Visual documents
Virtual documents
The world as text
The reality of documents
Interpreting documents
Qualitative content analysis
Semiotics

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Historical analysis
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 24 Qualitative data analysis
Introduction
General strategies of qualitative data analysis
Analytic induction
Grounded theory
More on coding
Steps and considerations in coding
Turning data into fragments
Problems with coding
Thematic analysis
Secondary analysis of qualitative data
Key points
Questions for review

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Chapter 25 Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis: using NVivo 605

Introduction
Is CAQDAS like quantitative data analysis Software?
No industry leader
Lack of universal agreement about the Utility of CAQDAS
Learning NVivo
Coding
Searching text
Memos
Saving an NVivo project
Opening an existing NVivo project
Final thoughts
Key points
Questions for review

Chapter 26 Breaking down the quantitative/qualitative divide

Introduction
The natural science model and qualitative research
Quantitative research and interpretivism
Quantitative research and constructionism
Epistemological and ontological considerations
Problems with the quantitative/qualitative contrast
Behaviour versus meaning
Theory tested in research versus emergent from data
Numbers versus words
Artificial versus natural
Reciprocal analysis
Qualitative analysis of quantitative data
Quantitative analysis of qualitative data
Quantification in qualitative research

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J
Thematic analysis
Quasi-quantification in qualitative research
Combating anecdotalism through limited quantification
Key points
Questions for review

Chapter 27 Mixed methods research: combining quantitative

and qualitative research
Introduction
The argument against mixed methods research
The embedded methods argument
The paradigm argument
Two versions of the debate about quantitative and
qualitative research
The rise of mixed methods research
Classifying mixed methods research in terms of priority
and sequence
Different types of mixed methods design
Approaches to mixed methods research
The logic of triangulation
Qualitative research facilitates quantitative research
Quantitative research facilitates qualitative research
Filling in the gaps
Static and processual features
Research issues and participants' perspectives
The problem of generality
Qualitative research may facilitate the Interpretation of
the relationship between variables
Studying different aspects of a phenomenon
Solving a puzzle
Quality issues in mixed methods research
Key points
Questions for review
Chapter 28 E-research: Internet research methods
Introduction
The Internet as object of analysis
Using Websites to collect data from individuals
Virtual ethnography
Qualitative research using online focus groups
Qualitative research using online personal Interviews
Using Skype
Online social surveys
Email surveys
Web surveys
Mixed modes of survey administration
Sampling issues
Overview
Ethical considerations in e-research
The State of e-research
Key points
Questions for review

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Chapter 29 Writing up business research

Introduction
Writing up your research
Start early
Be persuasive
Get feedback
Avoid sexist, racist, and disablist language
Structure your writing
Writing up quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research
An example of quantitative research
Introduction
Theory and hypotheses
Methods
Results
Discussion
Lessons
An example of qualitative research
Introduction
Review of the literature
Methods
Presentation of main themes
Discussion
Implications
Lessons
An example of mixed methods research
Introduction
The Russian context
Organizational culture and effectiveness
Research questions
Testing the model: a comparative study
Taking a closer look: four case studies
Discussion
Lessons
Reflexivity
Writing academically
Checklist
Key points
Questions for review
Glossary
References
Index of names
Subject index

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