Research Methodology for Management and Social Sciences

Abstract

Wthout having gone through a book on research methodology, students embark on the journey of research without any idea as to what a research problem should be, talk less of how to develop such a problem into a researchable work through problem statement, research questions, research objectives, and hypotheses, for research works that are quantitative. Students also often confuse questionnaire items with research questions. The issues of variables and measurement are also often not properly understood thereby leading to the misapplication of methods of analyses where methods meant for the analysis of interval variables are misapplied to nominal variables. There is also the wrong assumption that every research must be quantitative. Students often do not know that they can employ qualitative methods in their research or even a combination of the two, otherwise known as mixed methods. This book, Research Methodology for the Social and Management Sciences: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, has tried to clear some of these confusions, and many more in a language that is simple and clear to the average non-English person, with illustrations drawn from an African environment.