RESEARCH METHODS:



Research Methods

Experimental Research tries to find out cause-and-effect relationship of a treatment of a variable. Experiments involve introducing a planned intervention (usually referred to as a treatment) into a situation. The goal is to infer association of intervention or treatment with a particular change in initial situation? or with a specific outcome. For example? experimental research can be successfully used to determine satisfaction level of employees working in organization. One of fundamental aspects of experimental research is separation of independent and dependent variable (Dv's). Independent variables are variables that are experimentally manipulated; Dv's are response variables that indicated effects of experimental manipulation. In principle? and when some assumption allows for a causal interpretation such that observed effects have been caused by manipulation of Independent variables. The separation of cause and effect in combination with a model that captures relation between Iv's and Dv's constitutes basis for causal explanations which is a high goal in any natural as well as in management problem solving. Thus? through use of experimental research management can find out what variables and factors are responsible to enhance satisfaction of employees and by focusing on those factors management can overcome this problem.

Scientific method is a process that outlines a number of principles for answering questions. Majoring people in day-to-day situations use scientific method. It serves as a basic tool for decision making process. Scientific method can be define as problem solving methods which include step-by-step approach consisting of: identifying and defining a problem? accumulating relevant data? formulating a tentative hypothesis? conducting experiments to test hypothesis? interpreting results objectively? and repeating steps until an acceptable solution is found.

Article Critique

Introduction

The article that has been selected is “Involvement? satisfaction? and brand loyalty in a small business services setting”. It was written by Russell-Bennett R.? Coote V. L.? and McColl-Kennedy R. J. The purpose of this study was to observe the association between attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty in a business services framework? and attempts to determine two key antecedents of loyalty in this framework. This example was chosen because it utilized the experimental approach to study the association between these variables. This study utilised behavorial loyalty? and satisfaction and involvement with the product as dependent variables while attitudinal loyalty as independent variable.

Business Research and Its Purpose

Business Research is the scholarly or scientific practice of gathering existing or new information in order to enhance one's knowledge of a specific business area. Business research is generally divided into two categories: consumer market research and business-to-business (B2B) market research? which was previously known as industrial marketing research. Consumer marketing research examines the buying habits of individual people while business-to-business marketing research investigates the markets for products sold by one business to another. In addition other forms of business research include:

Consumer marketing research - It is a form of applied sociology that concentrates on understanding the behaviors? whims and preferences? of consumers in a market-based economy? and aims to understand the effects and comparative success of marketing ...