Introduction

We'll be adding content to these pages to help graduate students. If you have suggestions, then please contact us [1].

Click on the links below to find research help for:

• Finance [2]
• Luxury goods and services [3]

Reading list for writing and researching a thesis

The list below was created for a graduate research seminar and contains links to Amazon for some of the books. All the books and chapters in the list come with my personal recommendation. If you need to know more, please contact me.

General Books on Research

• Bell, J. (1999) Doing your research project [4]: a guide for first-time researchers in education and social science. 3rd ed. Buckingham: Open University Press.
• Bryman A. and Bell, E. (2003) Business research methods [5]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Collis, J. and Hussey, R. (2003) Business research: a practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students [6]. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Fisher, C. (2004) Researching and writing a dissertation for business students [7]. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
• Jankowicz, A.D. (2000) Business research projects [8]. 3rd ed. London: Thomson Learning.
• Murray, R. (2006) How to write a thesis. 2nd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
• Saunders, M, Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003) Research methods for business students [9]. 3rd ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

Research Designs

Experimental Designs

• Shadish, W.R., Cook, T.D., and Campbell D.T. (2002) Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference [10]. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Walliman, N. (2004) ‘How can I create a mini world to manipulate? Experiments and models,’ in Your undergraduate dissertation [11]: the essential guide for success. London: Sage, pp. 202-216.

Survey (Cross-Sectional) Designs

• Foddy, W. (1993) Constructing questions for interviews and questionnaires [12]: theory and practice in social research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Case Study Designs

• Yin, R.K. (2003) Case study research: design and methods [13]. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Qualitative Designs

• Esterberg, K.G. (2001) Qualitative methods in social research [14]. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Mixed Designs

• Creswell, J.W. (2003) Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches [15]. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Research Methods

Focus Groups

• Krueger, R.A. and Casey M.A. (2000) Focus groups: a practical guide for applied research [16]. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Interviews

• Rasiel, E.M. (1998) 'Chapter 8: Conducting interviews', in The McKinsey way [17]: using the techniques of the world's top strategic consultants to help you and your business. New York: McGraw Hill, pp. 77-92.

Questionnaires

• Bradburn, N.M., Sudman, S., and Wansink, B. (2004) Asking questions [18]: the definitive guide to questionnaire design for market research, political polls, and social and health questionnaires. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. (* Please note that the Amazon link is not the same edition)

Secondary Research

• Jenster, P. and Hussey, D. (2001) 'Chapter 10: Industry analysis', in Company analysis: determining strategic capability [19]. Chichester: John Wiley, pp. 227-254.
• Porter, M.E. (1980) 'Appendix B: how to conduct an industry analysis', in Competitive strategy [20]: techniques for analysing industries and competitors. New York: Free Press, pp. 368-382.
• Rasiel, E.M. (1998) 'Chapter 7: Doing research', in The McKinsey way [21]: using the techniques of the world's top strategic consultants to help you and your business. New York: McGraw Hill, pp. 71-76.

Writing the Research Report

• Hart, C. (1998) Doing a literature review [22]: releasing the social science research imagination. London: Sage.
• Pears, R. and Shields G. (2005) Cite them right [23]: the essential guide to referencing and plagiarism. Newcastle upon Tyne: Pear Tree Books.
• Tufte, E.R. (1983) The visual display of quantitative information [24]. Cheshire: Graphics Press.