Business Management And Accounting And Appropriate Data Analysis Techniques

Cooper, D., & Schindler, P. (2012). Business research methods (Twelfth ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Business research is a methodical process in which a company or manager recognizes a need for data in order to make effective business making decisions. “More specifically, it is a process of planning, acquiring, analyzing, and Disseminating relevant data, information, and insights to decisions makers in ways that mobilize the organization to take appropriate actions that, in turn, maximize performance” (Cooper and Schindler, 2011, p. 10).

Quantitative research deals with numbers and is measurable. Some examples of quantitative data are cost, number of participants and time. This type of research is systematic and uses the more traditional scientific method of data collection and presentation. Qualitative research has data that is nonnumeric in nature and it is difficult to measure. As the root of the same suggests, it gives a quality description of the data being viewed. It can include descriptions or verbal responses. Qualitative data is subjective in the sense that the answer can be different amongst various people.

A qualitative study addresses the complexity of human experience, focusing on the big picture (Rebar & Gersch, 2015); while a quantitative study breaks a problem down into small pieces and focuses on specific parts to see how they all relate (Rebar & Gersch, 2015). Qualitative methods focus on subjective information, and never try to predict or control the phenomenon of interest (Rebar & Gersch, 2015); on the other hand, quantitative methods focus on statistics and objective information, and can yield predictions and control (Rebar & Gersch, 2015).

Business researchers utilize various forms of approaches to analyze and obtain information and data, and two of the most popular approaches used are the qualitative research approach and quantitative research approach. Each approach can be beneficial or in some cases may cause inconclusive results depending on the type of research being conducted and what the nature of the study is. The following will assess two different peer reviewed articles: one which uses a qualitative approach and the other a quantitative approach. It

This study will implement a mixed methods design to include both quantitative and qualitative methods.

& Lancaster, G. (2008) “Research Methods: A Concise Introduction to Research in Management and Business Consultancy” Butterworth-Heinemann

Zikmund, W., Babin, B., Carr, J., & Griffin, M. (2012). Business research methods (9th ed.): Cengage

General speaking, quantitative research is thought to be objective, however qualitative research often involves a subjective element. There are differences designs in qualitative research in comparison to quantitative research. Qualitative research involves words, pictures, or objects; Quantitative involves data in the form of numbers and statistics.

The main differences between quantitative and qualitative research consist in respect to data sample, data collection, data analysis, and last but not least in regard to outcomes. (Newman, 2016) Data collection in qualitative research is not seldom based on unstructured or semi-structured, but methodologically

Researchers will gain insight on numerical, statistical data when studying quantitative studies (Polit & Beck, 2017). Whereas, qualitative research will show human behaviors and experiences (Polit & Beck, 2017).

A research decision involves the application of a design in which the research will be developed. During the application of this design, the worldview assumptions must be taken into consideration to enhance the study from different perspectives. Research design, which Creswell refers to as the plan or proposal to conduct research, “involves the intersection of philosophy, strategies of inquiry, and specific methods” (Creswell, 2009, p. 5). This study must imply the assumptions in which this research will make about how to obtain and gain knowledge and reality about this business phenomenon. Even though these philosophical worldviews remain for the most part unseen and form only one portion of the research design, they have great

There are also some differences between these study designs, which may cause some problems for the inexperienced researcher. “Quantitative research is objective; qualitative research is subjective. Quantitative research seeks explanatory laws; qualitative research aims at

This section is mainly about the study of the method that will be used to examine the research problem. Method acts as a tool or instrument for measuring variable stated in the objectives or the way of the study being conducted. Once researcher have chosen the scientific method as the means of inquiry, researcher must make some decisions about how researcher are going to gather all information (Kenneth & Bruce, 2005). There are two types of research method can be used to collect data either quantitative method or qualitative method.

According to Naoum (2013) quantitative research is “enquiry into a social or human problem based on testing a hypothesis or a theory composed of variables, measured with numbers and analysed with statistical procedures in order to determine whether the hypothesis or the theory hold true”(Naoum 2013,p.39). The approach is objective in nature and not abstract. It is associated with tangible, measurable and numerical data that may be analysed to produce conclusive and generalized answer. It is mostly applied when researchers want to prove or disprove a set of hypothesis and when enquiring realities about the theory, query or attributes (Saunders et al. 2012) by using primary collected data (Fellows 2003). Quantitative research is more structured and well defined that allow the researcher to do extensive planning before the actual research starts. In most cases the actual work tends to be consistent with the predetermined research question and conceptual framework (Bell 2014). This allows for easy forecast of ethical challenge and a plan on how to handle the challenges can be put in place before the actual work begins. It may be carried out by survey, structured interview or observation (Saunders et al. 2012).