Almost all students of business or management will face the puzzle of producing a report of a major research project or a dissertation. They will ponder, even agonise over, the questions of what is required and how to go about it? To the research supervisor, the reasoning is clear – the purpose of learning to research, in the business and management context, is to aid decision making by helping to reduce uncertainty. Such a study transcends personal experience and classroom learning by producing new learning through application of concepts and techniques. Indeed, the “Report of an investigation” (499) project is a defining feature of our own Bachelor in Management Studies programme here at the Waikato Management School. Students use theories from the classroom and textbooks to help a sponsoring manager to address a real management problem in the workplace or marketplace.
This is the book that directly addresses the novice researcher's questions, and covers both research for extending knowledge and understanding, and research for problem‐solving. The author's stated aim is to provide the uninitiated researcher with a comprehensive, but general, guide to the issues and options that they must confront to succeed in completing a systematic research project as part of a formal qualification programme. In this, the author has a resounding success. Professor Baker is a vastly experienced and highly distinguished supervisor of student research projects, and an accomplished academic and commercial researcher and publisher. What better source of guidance and a wealth of practical thinking could we recommend to our students?
The book is structured around six aspects of preparing for and conducting a research project, in 15 chapters. Crucially, the reader is guided through considerations of reasons for researching before discussions of design and planning issues, methods of primary data generation and secondary data acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data, writing‐up and publishing, and presentation of findings in conference.
Chapter 1 examines the role of research in business and management studies, while Chapter 2 draws out some philosophical issues concerning the nature of social science, and distinguishes quantitative and qualitative methods, with some particular emphasis on the choice of qualitative method. The structuring of a research proposal is discussed in Chapter 3, and the written literature review is treated in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 provides some helpful advice on finding information through the internet. The author then moves substantively into selecting a research approach, in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 is devoted to considerations of qualitative methods, and emphasises the scope of observation as a general approach to describing and explaining individual and group behaviour. Chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11 examine those aspects of survey work that often particularly challenge novice researchers: sampling, questionnaire design, interviewing, and questionnaire completion. I note that Chapter 8 emphasises the balancing of technical quality and pragmatism in terms of cost and error in decision making. The book has a strong emphasis on surveys via questionnaire, including detailed practical guidance on design and completion. This parallels the strong tendency among business and management students to equate research with surveying. Perhaps more could be done to broaden perspectives. Chapter 12 then takes us into a (worthy) diversion to examine the possibilities and limitations of conducting online primary research. The world wide web is promoted as a primary research channel for interaction with respondents, and this complements the coverage of Chapter 5 on secondary research resources. This discussion highlights some fascinating possibilities for synchronous and asynchronous interaction for research purposes, through online interviewing and email and web page surveys, and even observation (technology permitting). The author of this chapter (Anne Foy) raises some ethical issues of data protection, copyright, and consent, and a range of pitfalls, including getting noticed, response bias, and sampling difficulties. The advantages of speed, immediacy, efficient data capture, and extent of self‐disclosure are highlighted. Attention is also drawn to disadvantages such as the technical limitations and incompatibilities of the equipment, confirmation of identities, and making contact. We then head back into data interpretation (Chapter 13), writing‐up and publishing (Chapter 14), and presenting research findings to an audience. Chapter 13 is a long chapter on techniques for interpreting data. This is an interesting choice of terminology, given the bias towards a positivist/scientific philosophy of knowledge and quantitative methods. Seemingly, the author backed off from “analysis”. The appreciation of techniques provided here should guide data generation methods employed by researchers, and thus the form of the research questions and any hypotheses. Chapter 14 provides practical guidance on writing for readers, including consideration of the various expectations of readers in the roles of examiner, editor, and reviewer. The attractive notion of “coping strategies” (p. 342), frustratingly, remained unexplained.
This book is particularly strong in a number of ways. This particular author brings a 50 years' accumulation of experience to bear on a challenge that many students will have to face for the first time. There is key advice on getting started, in setting‐up a project and preparing a proposal. This crucial point of departure is given only scant attention in most other “research methods” texts. There is very extensive practical guidance of reviewing literature, including the common problem of citation and referencing, with lots of illustrative examples. The guidance on using the world wide web as a resource for both secondary and primary research is fascinating – read this to increase your sophistication!
Without denying the excellence of this book, I found some disappointing aspects of the presentation. It is a shame that so many typographical errors slipped through the editorial and production process. While something of a distraction in places, these errors can be easily forgiven, as the book is so readable and the expert advice so accessible. The cover imagery is not especially inspiring, and belies the very valuable content.
The author falls, unwittingly, into the somewhat prevalent trap of conflating “methodology” with “strategy”. One would not say “I selected a psychology to study buyer‐seller interaction”. Yet, we slip all too readily here into expressions of selecting and doing a “methodology”. The term methodology is more correctly applied to mean the inquiry into epistemology, ontology, logic, and axiology, that properly precedes the choice of methods, in light of the anticipation of making a particular claim to a form of produced knowledge. This necessarily establishes a stance in terms of philosophy of knowledge and learning. Research “methodology” is dismissed here in just four pages preceding consideration of empirical strategies. I wonder why this was not integrated into Chapter 2 in the discussion of “philosophical issues”?
I also wonder why the author chose to hold back methodology until Chapter 6 after discussion of literature review and internet use? Chapter 2 covers methodology, and Chapter 6 is about research strategy, i.e. how to accomplish research objectives through observation, experimentation, or survey. I sense in this discussion that strategy has been equated to method. Why is there (a rather short) excursion into qualitative research techniques in Chapter 6? The author draws on Blaikie's sensible distinction of research methodology, research strategy, research design, and research methods – but then does not adopt it in setting out his own discussion. Much of the so‐called “methodology” discussion here is actually description and advice on methods.
On first inspection, the topic sequence seems odd. There are three chapters on research rationale and proposal. Then literature reviewing is examined, followed by use of the Internet as a tool for finding information. Then research strategy re‐appears. For example, moving from qualitative methods to sampling is an obvious disconnect. Chapter 7 argues for exploratory work, then Chapter 8 presumes that survey is necessary. The author takes it that information is “elicited” from respondents. Could it not be that data is generated in the interaction of researcher and the researched? In Chapter 9 questionnaires are taken to be tools for the collection of data. Could it not be that data is co‐generated. Later, there is a jump from Internet use to data interpretation. The linear structure of a book can always impose compromises on the logic of discussions, but this is not easily accepted in this case. A more logical sequence could have easily been achieved if a sequence of focal issues had been identified: nature, purpose, planning, execution, reporting, presenting. Perhaps the chapters on online resources could have been placed at the back of the book?
There are a few unfortunate slips. Comments are made about an observer being unknown to subjects. It is not clear if this means unknown in the sense of not aware of, or aware of but at a distance. Covert acts may be unethical (p. 129). On page 131, lung cancer is taken to be contagious. On page 123, the phrase “primary research methods” could be construed as implying that these are favoured/preferable/more legitimate than others. A balanced discussion of positivist and interpretivist options is preferable, so that researchers can make their own justified choice. On page 200, the author makes an important practical and attitudinal point about clear communication, then uses the phrase “vade‐mecum”. What is that supposed to mean to students who have never learned Latin? As it happens, I have a dictionary of Latin phrases and can see that it shows this to mean “go with me” – a small notebook or guide that can be carried around as an aide. How many readers would know that? Was this intended as a playful irony? The use of Latin in modern English‐speaking communities does not obviously create clear communication. In several places, there appear to be conflations or confusing synonyms: qualitative = subjective; perception = subjective judgement; methodologies = approaches = methods = strategies. These terms are used interchangeably, and not always consistently.
This a practical guide for research students, managers‐as‐researchers, and research users, as well as a highly readable refresher for supervisors of student research projects. As a purposeful distillation, it is a powerful short‐cut to a wealth of knowledge on principles and practice of researching – and I have adopted it as recommended reading for students in my department. This book is the product of a vastly experienced leader in the field, so it would be a shame to dismiss it as merely a guidebook. Reading it gives much insight into Professor Baker's way as a role model for aspiring marketing academics. Careful (and critical) reading, and retention as a desk reference, will broaden the options for most aspiring researchers, providing a grounded, pragmatic, but not simplistic framework for the systematic design of systematic investigations.
The book reads like a practitioner's diary, packed full of insights from someone who has thoughtfully reflected on their wide experience of extensively doing research. Although the author describes this as a “textbook”, it is not in the sense of it not reading like an abstract impersonal technical account. Reading this book conjured up, for me, the sense of a master‐class, in written form, with Professor Baker. This has been a privileged experience for only a relatively few students who have been able to attend with him in person. Publication of this guide opens up that experience to so many more. As such, this is remarkable value for money, and highly readable. Thus, I highly recommend it to students, to academic supervisors, and to professional decisions makers.
