Business Research – Definition and Significance – the research process – Types of Research – Exploratory and causal Research – Theoretical and empirical Research – Cross –Sectional and time – series Research – Research questions / Problems – Research objectives – Research hypotheses – characteristics – Research in an evolutionary perspective – the role of theory in research.

Research design – Definition – types of research design – exploratory and causal research design, Descriptive and experimental design – different types of experimental design – Validity of findings – internal and external validity – Variables in Research – Measurement and scaling – Different scales – Construction of instrument – Validity and Reliability of instrument.

Types of data – Primary Vs Secondary data – Methods of primary data collection – Survey Vs Observation, Experiments – Construction of questionnaire and instrument – Sampling design - meaning - concepts - steps in sampling - criteria for good sample design - Sampling plan – Sample size – determinants optimal sample size – sampling techniques – Sampling methods.

Data Preparation – editing – Coding –Data entry – Validity of data – Qualitative Vs Quantitative data analyses – Measures of Central tendency – Standard deviation – Correlation – Simple, partial and multiple correlations – Path analysis – Auto correlation – Regression models – OLS ordinary least square methods – Multiple regression – Applications of Bivariate and Multivariate statistical techniques, Factor analysis – Discriminant analysis – Cluster analysis – Multidimensional scaling – Conjoint Analysis – Application of statistical software for data analysis.

Research report –Types – Contents of report – need for executive summary – chapterization – contents of chapter – report writing – the role of audience – readability – comprehension – tone – final proof – report format – title of the report – ethics in research – Ethics in research – Subjectivity and Objectivity in research.