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With over 500,000 copies sold, Research Methods for Business Students by Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill is the definitive textbook for Business, Marketing, and Management students conducting a research-led project or dissertation.
This fully revised 9th edition provides excellent coverage guiding you through the entire process, from deciding on a research topic to writing your dissertation or project and presenting your academic poster. By taking a transactional approach, the textbook will help you choose your project through critically reviewing the literature and designing your research, answering key questions such as:
- How do I generate a research idea and design my research?
- How do I review the literature critically?
- Why is research philosophy relevant to my research?
- How do I collect and analyse my data?
- When and what do I need to write?
- How can I do research virtually?
This comprehensive guide to conducting research will support you step-by-step at every stage of the process, offering a wealth of thought-provoking features and activities, such as tips and tricks from other students' experiences on their research projects and a complete glossary of terms. It provides case studies, news, and articles based on the latest virtual and face-to-face methods, discussing how research is used in practice within organisations worldwide. Self-study prompts will further encourage you to apply what you have learned to your own research project.
Get data-confident with the worked examples, self-test questions, and downloadable datasets, and take the Heightening Awareness of Research Philosophy survey (HARP) to understand more about your own research philosophy and how it affects your research project.
Written by experts in the field, this resource guides you through developing your research skills by taking a clear, concise, and transparent approach, helping you complete and successfully present your research.
This edition is also available in Revel®.
Revel® is Pearson's newest way of delivering respected content. Fully digital and highly engaging, Revel replaces the textbook and gives you everything you need for the course, and more.
Informed by extensive research on how people read, think, and learn, Revel® is an interactive learning environment that enables you to read, practice, and study in one continuous experience — for less than the cost of a traditional textbook.
Research Methods for Business Students introduces a range of features, including a glossary of terms, case studies and articles, and self-study prompts that will encourage your students to apply what they have learned to their own research project.
- Research, reflective diaries and the purpose of this book
- Generating a research idea and developing your research proposal
- Critically reviewing the literature
- Understanding research philosophy and approaches to theory development
- Formulating the research design
- Negotiating access and research ethics
- Selecting samples
- Obtaining and evaluating secondary data
- Collecting primary data using observation
- Collecting primary data using interviews and diaries
- Collecting primary data using questionnaires
- Analysing data quantitatively
- Analysing data qualitatively
- Writing and presenting the project report
- Appendix 1: Systems of referencing
- Appendix 2: Calculating the minimum sample size
- Appendix 3: Guidelines for non-discriminatory language
- Clear and concise text with a glossary of clear definitions for over 750 research-related terms explains concepts and their use in practice.
- Checklists provide further guidance.
- Case studies written by academics include a range of organisations, from public finance to manufacturing to services, across the world from Tehran to Tanzania.
- Boxed examples of news articles, student research experiences, and published management research encourage students to apply learning to their project.
- Progressing your research offers your students practical guidance, planning, and opportunities to check their own learning and progress with their research accordingly.
- Online datasets offer students opportunities to manipulate and analyse data.
With over 500,000 copies sold, this is the definitive textbook for the students conducting a research-led project or dissertation, and an essential resource to guide them through the entire process - now in a new, fully revised edition.
Find out how your students can get the most out of their study of the book here, and hear the author's top study tips.
New and updated features of this titleListen to the author discuss the new features of this edition here.
Updated and revised content according to recent developments in the field reinforces student learning and practical application.- Chapters fully updated, incorporating visual methods throughout the text, along with detailed insights on the drafting of a critical literature review.
- Updated content, incorporating sustainability throughout, Internet-mediated access, and associated ethical issues using purchased data lists.
- New section evaluates interview practices, use of visual methods and offers more insights into transcription and qualitative data analysis
- New cases use up-to-date scenarios at the end of each chapter.
- Worldwide coverage of processes and issues raised through new end of chapter case studies from Australia, Iran, New Zealand, Switzerland, UK and the USA, on a wide range of organisations, from public finance to manufacturing to services to finance and film.
- An updated glossary of clear definitions now includes over 750 research-related terms.
- Research methods adapted according to challenging recent changes and the COVID-19 pandemic, such as gaining access and recruiting participants.
- Impact of the pandemic including the shift from face-to-face interviews to online and telephone interviews.
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Biographical note
Mark NK Saunders is Professor of Business Research Methods and Director of Global Engagement at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham.
Philip Lewis was a Principal Lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire.
Adrian Thornhill was a Head of the Department at the University of Gloucestershire.