1. INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 11

• 1.1 INTRODUCTION 12
• 1.2 MEANING OF RESEARCH 12
• 1.3 PURPOSES OF RESEARCH 13
• 1.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RESEARCH 14
• 1.5 TYPES OF RESEARCH 15
• 1.6 THE PROCESS OF RESEARCH 17
• 1.7 APPLICATION OF RESEARCH IN SOCIAL SCIENCE & BUSINESS 19
• 1.8 CHARACTER/NATURE OF BUSINESS RESEARCH 20
• 1.9 SCOPE OF BUSINESS RESEARCH 20
• 1.10 SUMMARY 20
• 1.11 GLOSSARY 21
• 1.12 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS: 21
• 1.13 TERMINAL QUESTIONS 22
• 1.14 CASE STUDY 23
• 1.15 REFERENCES 25

2. FORMULATION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM 26

• 2.1 INTRODUCTION 27
• 2.2 DEFINING RESEARCH PROBLEM 27
• 2.3 GUIDELINES AND CRITERIA FOR SELECTING RESEARCH PROBLEM 27
• 2.4 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION PROCESS 29
• 2.5 COMPONENTS OF RESEARCH PROBLEM 34
• 2.6 FORMULATING RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 38
• 2.7 TYPES OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 38
• 2.8 TECHNIQUES FOR FORMULATING RESEARCH PROBLEM 39
• 2.9 WRITING A RESEARCH PROPOSAL 41
• 2.10 CONTENT OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL 41
• 2.11 TYPES OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL 43
• 2.12 SUMMARY 44
• 2.13 GLOSSARY 45
• 2.14 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 45
• 2.15 TERMINAL QUESTIONS 46
• 2.16 CASE STUDY: LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGES AT RELIANCE INTERNATIONAL 46
• 2.17 REFERENCES 48

3. RESEARCH DESIGN 46

• 3.1 INTRODUCTION 47
• 3.2 RESEARCH PLAN/DESIGN 47     * 3.2.1 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF RESEARCH DESIGN 47     * 3.2.2 RESEARCH DESIGN VS RESEARCH METHOD 47
• 3.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RESEARCH DESIGN 47
• 3.4 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH DESIGN 48
• 3.5 EXPLORATORY RESEARCH DESIGN – SECONDARY SOURCES, METHODS AND SURVEYS 51
• 3.6 DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH DESIGN 54
• 3.7 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGN 56
• 3.8 ERRORS AFFECTING RESEARCH DESIGN 57
• 3.9 CASE STUDY 58
• 3.10 SUMMARY 58
• 3.11 GLOSSARY 59
• 3.12 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 59
• 3.13 TERMINAL QUESTIONS 60
• 3.14 CASE STUDY – ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE IN KOLKATA 61
• 3.15 REFERENCES 61

4. SAMPLE SELECTION 63

• 4.1 INTRODUCTION 64     * 4.1.1 OBJECTIVES OF SAMPLING 64
• 4.2 IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES OF SAMPLING 64     * 4.2.1 SAVE TIME 65     * 4.2.2 SAVE MONEY 65     * 4.2.3 COLLECTING RICHER DATA 65     * 4.2.4 ADVANTAGES OF SAMPLING 65
• 4.3 SAMPLING CONCEPT 65
• 4.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD SAMPLING 67
• 4.5 SAMPLING DESIGN 67
• 4.6 CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF A SAMPLING TECHNIQUE 74
• 4.7 SUMMARY 75
• 4.8 GLOSSARY 75
• 4.9 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 76
• 4.10 TERMINAL QUESTIONS 78
• 4.11 REFERENCES 78

5. DATA COLLECTION 80

• 5.1 INTRODUCTION 81
• 5.2 CLASSIFICATION OF DATA 81
• 5.3 SECONDARY DATA 83
• 5.4 PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION: OBSERVATION METHOD 88
• 5.5 PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION: FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS 89
• 5.6 PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION: PERSONAL INTERVIEW METHOD 91
• 5.7 QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE DATA 94
• 5.8 SUMMARY 98
• 5.9 GLOSSARY 99
• 5.10 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 99
• 5.11 TERMINAL QUESTIONS 101
• 5.12 REFERENCES 101

6. QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN 99

• 6.1 INTRODUCTION 100
• 6.2 QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD 100
• 6.3 TYPES OF QUESTIONNAIRES 100
• 6.4 PROCESS OF QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN 104
• 6.5 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF QUESTIONNAIRE 106
• 6.6 CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE QUESTIONNAIRE 111
• 6.7 CASE STUDY: AN OVERVIEW 112
• 6.8 SUMMARY 118
• 6.9 GLOSSARY 119
• 6.10 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 119
• 6.11 TERMINAL QUESTIONS 120
• 6.12 REFERENCES 121

7. DATA PROCESSING 122

• 7.1 INTRODUCTION 123     * 7.1.1 STAGES OF DATA PROCESSING 123     * 7.1.2 TYPES OF DATA PROCESSING 124
• 7.2 DATA EDITING 125
• 7.3 CODING 126     * 7.3.1 CODING CLOSED-ENDED STRUCTURED QUESTIONS 131     * 7.3.2 CODING OPEN-ENDED STRUCTURED QUESTION 135
• 7.4 CLASSIFICATION AND TABULATION OF DATA 139     * 7.4.1 CLASSIFICATION OF DATA AND TABULAR PRESENTATION 140     * 7.4.2 TABULATION 141     * 7.4.3 CLASSIFICATION BY CLASS INTERVALS 142
• 7.5 SUMMARY 142
• 7.6 GLOSSARY 143
• 7.7 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 143
• 7.8 TERMINAL QUESTIONS: 146
• 7.9 REFERENCES 146

8. PRESENTATION OF DATA, ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 147

• 8.1 INTRODUCTION 148
• 8.2 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 148     * 8.2.1 PROCESS OF QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS: 149     * 8.2.2 QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS: 150
• 8.3 HYPOTHESIS TESTING 151     * 8.3.1 TYPES OF HYPOTHESIS TESTING 152     * 8.3.2 THE PROCESS OF HYPOTHESIS TESTING: 152     * 8.3.3 STRATEGY OF HYPOTHESIS TESTING 157
• 8.4 PARAMETRIC TEST 160
• 8.5 REPORT WRITING STEPS 165     * 8.5.1 TYPES OF RESEARCH REPORT 165
• 8.6 REPORT WRITING: STRUCTURE OF RESEARCH REPORT 167     * 8.6.1 SYSTEMATISING INFORMATION 167     * 8.6.2 ABSTRACT 168     * 8.6.3 INTRODUCTION VS BACKGROUND 170
• 8.7 END NOTES 175
• 8.8 FOOT NOTES 178
• 8.9 GLOSSARY OF TERMS 178
• 8.10 FEATURES OF A GOOD RESEARCH STUDY 178
• 8.11 CHARTS & GRAPHS 180
• 8.12 SUMMARY 181
• 8.13 GLOSSARY 182
• 8.14 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 182
• 8.15 TERMINAL QUESTIONS 184
• 8.16 REFERENCES 185
• ABOUT THE BOOK