Masters of Business Administration:Research Methodology

Course Objective

To help the students to understand the Concept and Methods of Business Research.
To provide the knowledge to the students so that they will be able to plan, design and execute research proposals
To familiarize the students with the various methods of data analysis and prepare the research reports.

Course Contents
Unit I: Introduction (05)
Meaning and Objectives, Types of Research, Scope of Research, Research Process, Features of Good Research, Problems in Research.

Defining the Research Problem: Definition, Techniques involved in defining a Research Problem,

Unit II: Research Design (04)

Meaning and Need of Research Design, Different Research Designs (Completely Randomized Design, Latin Square Design, and Factorial Design),

Unit III: Sampling Methods (06)
Introduction, Definition of Population and Sample, Need, Sampling Unit, Sampling Frame, Sampling Process, Different Types of Sampling Design, Probability Sampling (Simple Random, Systematic, Stratified, Cluster, Area) and Non-probability Sampling (Convenience, Judgment, Quota), Characteristics of a Good Sample Design.


Unit IV: Methods of Data Collection (05)
Primary and Secondary Data, Basic Methods of Collecting Data (Observation Method and Questionnaire Method, Interview, Mail, Telephone Survey.
Designing the Questionnaire: Process, Characteristics of a Good Questionnaire, and Types of Questions (Open, Multiple Choice, and Dichotomous).
Unit V: Attitude Measurement and Scales (5)
Types of Scales (Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, Ratio) Semantic Differential, Thurstone, Likert, Constant Sum, Paired Comparisons, Disguised Scaling Techniques (Word Association, Sentence Completion Test, Thematic Apperception Test).
Unit VI: Data Analysis (10)

Hypothesis Testing: Definition, Null and Alternative Hypothesis, Type I and Type II errors, Level of Significance, Critical and Rejection Regions, One Tailed and Two Tailed Tests, Confidence Interval, Hypothesis Testing (of Means, for Difference Between Means, for Comparing Two related samples, of Proportions, for Difference Between Proportions), Limitations.

Types of Hypothesis Tests: Z-test., t- test, One Sample Tests (Sign test, Chi Square, Run Test for Randomness), F-test, One Way ANOVA, Two Way ANOVA.

Unit VII: Interpretation and Report Writing (3)
Meaning of Interpretation, Techniques of Interpretation, Precautions in Interpretation, Significance of Report Writing, Types of Reports (Technical and Survey Based Research Reports), Report Format.