Table of Contents:
- Ethical obligations of research participants
- Gaining access to respondents
- summary
- Defining the research problem and reviewing the literature
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- What is a good research topic
- Research questions and objectives
- Writing a research proposal
- Preparing a literature review
- Sources of literature
- Planning the literature search
- Writing a literature review
- The literature review and research questions
- Summary
- Secondary data
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Value of secondary data
- Nature and scope of secondary data
- Secondary data sources
- Internal background reviews
- External sources of secondary data
- Syndicated sources of secondary data
- Using the Internet to obtain secondary data
- Applications of secondary research in practice
- Summary
- Conceptualization and research design
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Developing a conceptual model
- Identify variables & constructs
- Specify hypotheses & relationships
- Draw conceptual model
- Basic research designs
- Exploratory
- Descriptive
- Causal
- Combining research designs
- Summary
- Sampling approaches
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Sampling
- Sampling process
- Probability sampling
- Nonprobability sampling
- Sample size
- Summary
- Data collection methods
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Data collection
- Qualitative vs. quantitative
- Observation
- Survey approaches, including panels
- Depth interviews
- Focus groups
- Case studies
- Content analysis
- Summary
- Measurement & scaling
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- What is a concept?
- How to measure concepts
- Practical decisions when developing scales
- Criteria for assessing measurement scales
- How to develop a scale
- Summary
- Designing the questionnaire
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Questionnaire design
- Questionnaire sections and sequence
- Preparing and presenting good questions
- Pretesting questionnaires
- Summary
- Basic data analysis for qualitative research
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Data preparation
- Analyzing qualitative research
- Summary
- Basic data analysis for quantitative research
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Data preparation
- Using charts and graphs
- Measures of central tendency
- Measures of dispersion
- Other diagnostic measures
- Summary
- Testing hypotheses
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Understanding hypothesized relationships
- Hypothesis testing
- Single group hypothesis testing
- Chi-square & T-test
- Multiple group hypothesis testing
- Analysis of variance
- Summary
- Assessing relationships between variables
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Types of relationships
- Covariation and variable relationships
- Analyzing association using correlation
- Prediction using regression
- Summary
- Reporting & presenting results
- Learning outcomes
- Introduction
- Written and oral communication
- The written research report
- Guidelines for the written report
- Oral presentations
- Using visuals
- Summary.