A complete introduction to business research, Business Research Methods is the ideal guide for students embarking on a research project. Throughout the text, the authors draw on their own extensive experience to give readers tips for success and provide advice to help them avoid common mistakes.

Developed specifically with business and management students in mind, this bestselling textbook explores the nature and purpose of business research and the issues it entails, while also providing students with practical advice on carrying out their research. In addition to a broad range of relevant case studies, the book features a substantial discussion of ethics, a chapter on internet research methods, and a strong emphasis on practical content such as planning a project and writing it up.

Now in its fourth edition, the text featuresnew chapters on the nature of business research and on sampling in qualitative research.

Alan Bryman is Professor of Organizational and Social Research at the University of Leicester.

Emma Bell is Professor of Management and Organization Studies and Director of the Centre for Economics and Management at Keele University.

Part One
1. The Nature and Process of Business Research
2. Business Research Strategies
3. Research Designs
4. Planning a ResearchProject and Formulating Research questions
5. Getting Started: Reviewing the Literature
6. Ethics and Politics in Business Research
Part Two
7. The Nature of Quantitative Research
8. Sampling
9. Structured Interviewing
10. Self-completion Questionnaires
11. Asking Questions
12. Structured Observation
13. Content Analysis
14. Secondary Analysis and Official Statistics
15. Quantitative Data Analysis
16. Using SPSS for Windows
Part Three
17. The Nature of Qualitative Research
18. Sampling in Qualitative Research
19. Ethnography and Participant Observation
20. Interviewing in Qualitative Research
21. FocusGroups
22. Language in Qualitative Research
23. Documents as Sources of Data
24. Qualitative Data Analysis
25. Computer-assisted Qualitative Data Analysis: Using NVivo
Part Four
26. Breaking Down the Quantitative/Qualitative Divide
27. Mixed Methods Research: Combining Quantitative and qualitative research
28. E-Research: Internet Research Methods
29. Writing up Business Research