1. Consider a topic for business research and frame a research question (RQ) on it. Your introduction should state the importance of the topic and your research question and briefly mention its constructs (approximately 2-4 paragraphs).
2. Next, you should discuss the literature related to your RQ. While doing this, pay attention to the definitions of the focal constructs in your own research question. Similarly, describe and discuss the literature that you found regarding the relationships with your focal constructs of interest and be sure to include your assessments of the relationship statements that you found.
3. Now, based on literature review, you are ready to present and discuss your group’s own theory1 (use diagrams and graphs if necessary). Include in your discussion:a. The logic of the relationships included in your theoryb. The role of each constructc. Hypotheses (if you have any)
4. Proposed Research Methodology:
a. What are your philosophical assumptions (ontological and epistemological assumptions), research approach (inductive vs. deductive), and your research strategy (quantitative vs. qualitative) to your research question?
b. Proposed methodology, data collection and data analysis, e.g., How are you going to collect your data? What will be your research design (experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal, case study, comparative)? What type of data will you collect? How will you measure your constructs? Will you have hypotheses? How will you choose your sample? How will you ensure research quality? What are the relevant procedures for analysing the type of data you propose to collect?
c. Provide a brief critique of your methodological choices (strengths as well as limitations)
“If you decide to use an inductive approach, theory section may be more open-ended and may not include specific hypotheses. If you decide to use a deductive approach, your theory section will be more concrete and include specific hypotheses (deductive approach). We discuss this further in class (theory testing vs. theory development)”.
