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Research Methods for Graduate Business and Social Science Students John Adams, Hafiz T A Khan, Robert Raeside and David White Response Books, A Division of Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2007, Pages: 270; Price: Rs. 395; ISBN: 978-0-7619-3589
This book is a fair attempt in comprehensively covering separate chapters with various topics related to research methods, including research problem formulation, research design, data collection, data analysis, advanced statistical analysis and easy-to comprehend snippets on report-writing.
The book is divided into eight sections. Section 1 is a general introduction with only one chapter. The authors provide answers to questions such as what is research, why research is conducted, who does research and how research is conducted. Three major research types, such as, descriptive, explanatory and predictive, are indicated. It is highlighted that the type of research approach selected depends on the nature of the research problem at hand.
Section 2 with its single chapter focuses on the research methodology. The authors differentiate between research method and methodology. While the former is a way of conducting and implementing research, the latter is the science and philosophy behind all research. The authors opine that it is the research methodology component that allows us to comprehend the process of knowledge creation. Apart from this, one can also find in this chapter different practices of conducting research: quantitative, qualitative, pure, applied, longitudinal, and empirical. Excellent piece of information on deriving logical conclusions based on inductive and deductive reasoning that is usually not focused heavily in other business research methods books is a plus point to the reader in understanding the nitty-gritty of evolving conclusions. A small description on research ethics decries the unethical practices of obfuscation (not highlighting the results that are important or those that the researcher does not like or hiding information by producing a verbose report full of technical jargon), and plagiarism (passing off someone else's work as one's own). It also provides the reader web-links of several professional bodies that have produced codes of conduct in research including that of Royal Statistical Society.
Section 3 contains two chapters. The chapter on Research Cycle outlines the systematic procedure in carrying out the research work and includes the usual paths such as formulating the research problem, generating hypothesis, collecting...