Research Design in Business and Management: A Practical Guide for Students and Researchers

The present book project on Research Design, which is planned in English, is intended to create an innovative textbook that can be used at university undergraduate and graduate levels in internationally oriented education in the German-speaking countries. This textbook shall provide comprehensive guidance for students when tackling their (applied) research papers. Instead of reiterating qualitative and quantitative methods it focuses on how to come up with an appropriate research design that allows the student to make the intended intellectual contribution. Starting from the desired (hypothetical) conclusion or statement the student will be guided through the process of finding the appropriate Research Question that will be answered by such a statement and the required Research Design consisting of data collection and data analysis, that allows for such a statement as the conclusion of the study. Common Research Designs in Business and Management, i.e. well beyond the standard Research Designs of Social Sciences and curtailed to the focus area, will be described with regard to their suitability to answer specific kinds of questions as well as the idiosyncrasies of the these Designs and their impact on the written research reports. Examples for each Research Design will be provided as well as guidance about how to write about such research.