Research methods in dissertation reports: some advices

To begin with, a typical dissertation report has the following report structure:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature review
Chapter 3: Research methods
Chapter 4: Findings and analysis
Chapter 5: Conclusions and recommendations
References
Appendix

There are textbooks and website resources on dissertation writings and research methods; thus, I do not have to write my own lecture notes on them. Still, I need to point out that your "Chapter 3: Research methods" should be theory-driven (relevant theories should have been discussed in Chapter 2) and should be clearly related to your dissertation objectives and questions (objectives and questions should have been explained in Chapter 1). You need to explain your research methods and justify them in Chapter 3. For that, obviously, you need to spare time to familiarise yourself with the various Research Methods philosophies, methods, and concepts. It is an engaging learning processand it takes time.

Research methods are fundamentally about producing valid and relevant knowledge. It is not just an academic skill for developing knowledge of interest to the academics. Business research skill is a practical skill: it enhances our problem-solving capability when we know more how to obtain and evaluate information. If you believe in the practical and humanistic values of this subject and are committed to continuous professional development, you have the appropriate mindset that enables you to effectively learn research skills. [I am aware that my favoured view on Business Research Methods is a pragmatic science view.]

Besides reading textbooks on Research Methods, reading academic journal articles (the good ones, I mean) will also improve your knowledge in Research Methods. I think reading literature related to contemporary systems thinking is very useful for you to enhance your research methods knowledge. For example, the concept of inquiry system in Mitroff and Linstone (1993) is about how to create valid knowledge; this concept is highly related to the subject of Research Methods, which concerns the production of valid knowledge.

When writing the chapter on Research Methods, it is useful to locate your specific research methods in specific places in the theoretical framework diagram that you might have developed in your chapter on Literature Review. By doing so, your dissertation report readers can easily relate your Research Methods exercises (e.g. survey, interview, document study, etc.) to your dissertation's theoretical framework. That makes your research methods more explicitly theory-driven.

References

1. Chalmers, A.F. (1992) What is this thing called science? Open University Press
2. Mitroff, I.I and Linstone, H.A. (1993) The Unbounded Mind, Oxford University Press.
3. Research methods tutorials: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/tutorial/tutorial.htm
4. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003) Research Methods for Business Students, Prentice Hall.