本书主要是为MBA、管理科学硕士与经管专业的本科生而写的，也适用于博士生与处于研究初级阶段的其他研究者。大多数学院与大学都要求研究生与本科生在学业完成的最后阶段撰写学位论文或研究报告，这些学生就是本书的主要目标读者。本书采用一种综合的方法，特别适用于经管研究，对咨询人员和做研究项目、正解决某一问题以及撰写报告的商业人士也是非常有用的。

本书的目的旨在帮助学生消除那种认为研究“太过于科学化”或“太抽象”的错误观念；帮助学生了解科学与研究的语言及方法；帮助他们懂得那些结构合理与论证恰当的报告是如何比那些仅以实践方法或常识为基础的报告更令人信服和更可靠的；综合并简化研究过程，为学生提供实践指南，这样他们就能够有效地完成研究项目，写出好的论文和项目报告。

Part I  Challenges and ambiguities of business research

Introduction

1.1 Purpose

1.2 Readership

1.3 On the use of the book

2 Research in business studies

2.1 Why we do research

2.2 Research versus common sense

2.3 Different research orientations

2.4 Induction and deduction

2.5 What comes first: theory or data?

2.6 Knowledge skills and research

2.7 Why research never stops

2.8 Research and ethics

   2.8.1 The researcher and the respondent

   2.8.2 The researcher's moral responsibility

Further reading

Questions

Exercises

Part II  The research process

3 The research process

3.1 The process perspective

   3.1.1 The international dimension

3.2 Levels of research

3.3 Research and knowledge

3.4 What comes first: theory or research?

3.5 Some important concepts

   3.5.1 Concepts

   3.5.2 Definitions

   3.5.3 Theory

   3.5.4 Methods

  3.6 Concluding remarks

  Further reading

  Questions

  Exercises

4 Research problems

  4.1 Research ideas

  4.2 Wrestling with research problems

  4.3 Models in research

   4.3.1 General concepts and specific use

   4.3.2 Model purposes

  4.4 The role of reviewing past literature

  Further reading

  Questions

  Exercises

5 Research design

  5.1 The design problem

5.2 Problem structure and research design

   5.2.1 Exploratory research

   5.2.2 Descriptive research

   5.2.3 Causal research

5.3 The problem of 'cause'

   5.3.1 The importance of theory

5.4 The classic experiment

5.5 Validity threats

5.6 Other research designs

   5.6.1 Cross-sectional designs

   5.6.2 Time series

   5.6.3 The one-shot case study

5.7 Requirements in research design

   5.7.1 Research and choices

Further reading

Questions

Exercises

6 Measurements

6.1 Defining measurement

    6.1.1 Objects, properties and indicators

6.2 Levels (scales) of measurement

    6.2.1 Nominal level (scale)

   6.2.2 Ordinal level (scale)

   6.2.3 Interval level (scale)

   6.2.4 Ratio scale

  6.3 Validity and reliability in measurements

   6.3.1 Validity and reliability

   6.3.2 Multiple indicators

   6.3.3 Construct validity

   6.3.4 Other forms of validity

  6.4 Improving your measurements

  6.5 Measurements in qualitative' research

  Further reading

  Questions

  Exercises

7 Data sources

  7.1 Secondary data

   7.1.1 Advantages of secondary data

   7.1.2 Disadvantages of secondary data

   7.1.3 Types of secondary data

  7.2 Primary data

   7.2.1 Advantages of primary data

   7.2.2 Disadvantages of primary data

   7.2.3 Types of primary data

   7.2.4 Collecting cross-cultural data

  Further reading

  Questions

  Exercises

8 Data collection

  8.1 Qualitative versus quantitative methods

  8.2 When to use qualitative methods

   8.2.1 Historical review

   8.2.2 Focus groups

   8.2.3 Case studies

  8.3 Observations

 8.4 Communication

  8.5 Surveys

   8.5.1 Constructing questionnaires

   8.5.2 Guidelines for constructing questionnaires

  8.6 Interviews

   8.6.1 Preparing for an interview

   8.6.2 Pre-interview

   8.6.3 The interview

   8.6.4 Post-interview

8.7 Focus groups

   8.7.1 Advantages/disadvantages of focus groups

   8.7.2 Conducting focus groups

Further reading

Questions

Exercises

9 Sampling in empirical research

9.1 Why take samples?

9.2 Sampling procedures

9.3 Probability samples

    9.3.1 Simple random sampling

    9.3.2 Systematic sampling

    9.3.3 Stratified sampling

    9.3.4 Cluster sampling

9.4 Determining sample size

9.5 Sampling in qualitative research

Further reading

Questions

Exercises

10 Preparation and analysis of data

10.1 Editing and coding

     10.1.1 Editing  '

     10.1.2 Coding

10.2 The role of statistics

10.3 Analysing one variable

     10.3.1 Using graphs to describe distributions

     10.3.2 Measures of dispersion

     10.3.3 Types of frequency distributions

10.4 Cross-tabulation

10.S Test of hypotheses

     10.5.1 A word of warning

10.6 Use of computers in research

Further reading

Questions

Exercises

Part III ~ Implementation

11 Quantitative data analysis

11.1 Examining differences

    11.1.1 Hypotheses about one mean

    11.1.2 Hypotheses about two means

    11.1.3 Related samples

    11.1.4 Comparison of more than two groups

11.2 Relationship (covariation) between variables

    11.2.1 The correlation coefficient

    11.2.2 Partial correlation

11.3 Explaining and predicting relationships between variables

    11.3.1 Simple linear regression

    11.3.2 Multiple regression

    11.3.3 Dummy variables

    11.3.4 Discriminant analysis

    11.3.5 Logistic regression analysis

11.4 Data reduction, structure and dimensions

    11.4.1 Factor analysis

    11.4.2 Principal component analysis

11.5 Additional methods

    11.5.1 Cluster analysis        ,

    11.5.2 Multidimensional scaling

    11.5.3 Canonical correlation analysis

    11.5.4 Multivariate analysis

    11.5.5 Structural equation modelling

Further reading

Questions

Exercises

12 Qualitative data analysis

12.1  Characteristics of qualitative research

12.2  Qualitative data

12.3 Analytical procedures

12.4 Interpretation

12.5  Strategies for qualitative analysis

     12.5.1 Analysing case studies

12.6  Quantifying qualitative data

12.7  Validity in qualitative research

12.8 Analysis of cross-cultural data

12.9  Use of computers in qualitative research

12.10 Case studies and triangulation

Further reading

Questions

Exercises

13 Writing the final report

13.1 Purpose and importance of a written presentation

13.2 Guidelines

    13.2.1  Audience

    13.2.2  Good communication

    13.2.3  Language and flow

    13.2.4  Form and style

    13.2.5  Headings

13.3 Structure of the report

    13.3.1  Title page

    13.3.2 Table of contents

    13.3.3  Executive summary

    13.3.4  Introduction and problem statement

    13.3.5  Theoretical background

    13.3.6 Methodology

    13.3.7  Findings

    13.3.8  Conclusions

    13.3.9  Footnotes

    13.3.10 Bibliography or references

13.4 Oral presentation

13.5 Writing for publication

Further reading

Questions

Exercises

References