About us

Started in 2011 by John Dudovskiy, research-methodology.net is an educational portal that offers knowledge, resources and practical insights for conducting business studies. John Dudovskiy is a seasoned dissertation adviser and he has experience in assisting hundreds of students with their dissertations, reports and essays in business discipline.

All materials published at research-methodology.net are designed to support and inspire professionals and students at all levels to conduct studies in the area of business.

Business Analytical Tools

SWOT is a strategic analytical tool for assessing strengths and weaknesses of a business, analyzing available opportunities and threats faced by the business. SWOT analysis can be used at organizational and personal levels.

Ansoff Matrix is a marketing planning model that helps the e-commerce and cloud computing company to determine its product and market strategy. Ansoff Matrix illustrates four different strategy options available for businesses. These are market penetration, product development, market development and diversification.

PESTEL is a strategic analytical tool used to assess external factors affecting businesses. PESTEL acronym stands for political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors impacting companies. PESTEL has recently evolved from PEST analysis once intensifying forces of globalization and intensifying forces of competition in the marketplace coupled with other set of factors increased the importance and potential impact of environmental and legal factors on businesses.

The concept of marketing mix (also known as 7Ps of marketing) comprises elements of the marketing mix that consists of product, place, price, promotion, process, people and physical evidence. Companies manipulate with each element of the marketing mix according to its marketing strategy, as a part of its business strategy.

Segmentation, targeting and positioning involves a set of consequent marketing decisions that constitute the core of company’s marketing strategy. Segmentation refers to dividing population into groups on the basis of their common traits and characteristics. Targeting involves choosing specific groups identified as a result of segmentation as consumers for the brand. Positioning implies the selection of the marketing mix the most attractive to the target customer segment.

Marketing communication mix deals with individuals elements of the marketing mix such as print and media advertising, sales promotions, events and experiences, public relations and direct marketing.

Porter’s Five Forces analytical framework developed by Michael Porter (1979) represents five individual forces that shape the overall extent of competition in the industry .

Value chain analysis is an analytical framework that assists in identifying business activities that can create value and competitive advantage to the business.

McKinsey 7S model illustrates the ways in which seven elements of businesses can be aligned with positive implications on the overall effectiveness of the business. According to this framework strategy, structure and systems are grouped as hard elements, whereas shared values, skills, style and staff are considered soft elements.

Company Reports

Apple Inc. Report:

Established in 1977 in California, Apple Inc. is a global designer, manufacturer and marketer of mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players. Apple is the largest IT company in the world by revenue and total assets and the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer. The company also sells a variety of related software, services, accessories, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. Apple’s ability to design and develop its own operating systems, hardware, application software and services to provide its customers products and solutions with innovative design is placed at the core of its business strategy. As of September 2018, the Apple had approximately 132,000 full-time equivalent employees (Annual Report, 2018). The net sales of the world’s largest IT company by revenue increased 16% or USD36.4 billion during 2018 compared to 2017.

Business Research Methodology

A typical research process comprises the following stages:

Selecting the research area
Formulating research aim, objectives and research questions or developing hypotheses
Conducting the literature review
Selecting methods of data collection
Collecting the primary data
Data analysis
Reaching conclusions
Completing the research

Types of research methods can be classified into several categories according to the nature and purpose of the study and other attributes. In methodology chapter of your dissertation, you are expected to specify and discuss the type of your research according to the following classifications.

Types of Research Methods According to Nature of the Study
Types of Research Methods According to the Purpose of the Study
Types of Research Methods according to Research Design

Research approach can be divided into three types:

Deductive research approach
Inductive research approach
Abductive research approach

The relevance of hypotheses to the study is the main distinctive point between deductive and inductive approaches. Deductive approach tests the validity of assumptions (or theories/hypotheses) in hand, whereas inductive approach contributes to the emergence of new theories and generalizations. Abductive research, on the other hand, starts with ‘surprising facts’ or ‘puzzles’ and the research process is devoted their explanation.

Research philosophy is a vast topic and here we will not be discussing this topic in great details. In business and economics dissertations at Bachelor’s level, you are not expected to discuss research philosophy in a great level of depth, and about one page in methodology chapter devoted to research philosophy usually suffices. For a business dissertation at Master’s level you may need to provide more discussion of the philosophy of your study, but even there, about two pages of discussions has to be accepted as sufficient by your supervisor.

Data collection is a process of collecting information from all the relevant sources to find answers to the research problem, test the hypothesis and evaluate the outcomes. Data collection methods can be divided into two categories: secondary methods of data collection and primary methods of data collection.

Methodology chapter of your dissertation should include discussions about the methods of data analysis. You have to explain in a brief manner how you are going to analyze the primary data you will collect employing the methods explained in this chapter.

Data analysis methods in the absence of primary data collection can involve discussing common patterns, as well as, controversies within secondary data directly related to the research area.

Sampling can be explained as a specific principle used to select members of population to be included in the study. It has been rightly noted that “because many populations of interest are too large to work with directly, techniques of statistical sampling have been devised to obtain samples taken from larger populations.”

In other words, due to the large size of target population, researchers have no choice but to study the a number of cases of elements within the population to represent the population and to reach conclusions about the population.

Ethical Considerations can be specified as one of the most important parts of the research. Dissertations may even be doomed to failure if this part is missing.

According to Bryman and Bell (2007)[1] the following ten points represent the most important principles related to ethical considerations in dissertations:

Research participants should not be subjected to harm in any ways whatsoever.
Respect for the dignity of research participants should be prioritised.
Full consent should be obtained from the participants prior to the study.
The protection of the privacy of research participants has to be ensured.
Adequate level of confidentiality of the research data should be ensured.
Anonymity of individuals and organisations participating in the research has to be ensured.
Any deception or exaggeration about the aims and objectives of the research must be avoided.
Affiliations in any forms, sources of funding, as well as any possible conflicts of interests have to be declared.
Any type of communication in relation to the research should be done with honesty and transparency.
Any type of misleading information, as well as representation of primary data findings in a biased way must be avoided.

Articles

Published: 22.05.2020

Website Evaluaition Criterie and its Application: Tophams Hotel website

Generally, two alternative approaches can be used for website evaluation: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative approach, as the name suggests is closely associated with numbers and calculations such as the numbers of website visitors, visitor bounce rate, the numbers of countries the website is visited from etc. Qualitative approach, on the other hand, includes non-quantifiable criteria such as design, navigation, interactivity and others. Qualitative approach has been adopted for Tophams Hotel website evaluation, and accordingly, non-quantifiable elements have been selected as evaluation criteria. The rationale for the choice of qualitative approach relates to the fact that factors impacting website visits and visitor experiences are qualitative as well. This argument is supported by findings of the literature review provided above. Generally, two alternative approaches can be used for website evaluation: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative approach, as the name suggests is closely associated with numbers and calculations such as the numbers of website visitors, visitor bounce rate, the numbers of countries the website is visited from etc. Qualitative approach, on the other hand, includes non-quantifiable criteria such as design, navigation, interactivity and others. Qualitative approach has been adopted for Tophams Hotel website evaluation, and accordingly, non-quantifiable elements have been selected as evaluation criteria. The rationale for the choice of qualitative approach relates to the fact that factors impacting website visits and visitor experiences are qualitative as well. This argument is supported by findings of the literature review provided above.Qualitative approach has been adopted for Tophams Hotel website evaluation, and accordingly, non-quantifiable elements have been selected as evaluation criteria. The rationale for the choice of qualitative approach relates to the fact that factors impacting website visits and visitor experiences are qualitative as well. This argument is supported by findings of the literature review provided above.

The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation in Business Studies: A Step-by-Step Assistance

The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation contains step-by-step guidance derived from the experience of assisting hundreds of students who have successfully completed dissertations in business studies.

Unlike many other books devoted to this topic, The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation explains the whole process starting from the selection of the research area to the completion of the final draft in simple words.

The e-book can be used by students on both levels – Bachelors and Masters, as it explains the underlying principles and rules of writing dissertation in business studies, and these principles are equally effective for Bachelors and Masters Dissertations.