Modernizing the Academic Teaching and Research Environment

216 Pages·2018·7.551 MB·English

by  Jorge Marx Gómez, Sulaiman Mouselli

Progress in IS
Jorge Marx Gómez
Editors
Sulaiman Mouselli
Modernizing the
Academic Teaching
and Research
Environment
Methodologies and Cases in Business
Research
Progress in IS
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10440
ó
Jorge Marx G mez Sulaiman Mouselli
(cid:129)
Editors
Modernizing the Academic
Teaching and Research
Environment
Methodologies and Cases in Business
Research
123
Editors
Jorge Marx Gómez Sulaiman Mouselli
Department ofComputing Science Department ofBanking andFinance
University of Oldenburg Arab International University
Oldenburg Damascus
Germany SyrianArab Republic
ISSN 2196-8705 ISSN 2196-8713 (electronic)
Progressin IS
ISBN978-3-319-74172-7 ISBN978-3-319-74173-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74173-4
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Preface
In recent years, the value of publications and research activities have grown sig-
nificantly, attracting momentous attention from both academics and higher educa-
tion institutions. Numerous books have been published on research methodologies
that range from highly theoretical and conceptual definitions to deep statistical
models of the latest research approaches in business. Why, one might ask, should
one read—let alone write—another book on the subject?
This book “Research Methodologies” presents the work package WP 6.2. The
overall objective of (WP) 6 was the establishment of the center knowledge
resources within MATRE (Modernizing Academic Teaching & Research
EnvironmentinBusiness&EconomicsatLebanonandSyria)project.Thislatteris
funded by the European Commission under the TEMPUS IV—Sixth call for
Proposals;ProjectNumberis:(544001-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-DE-TEMPUS-JPHES).
Therefore, the first motivation for this book is derived from MATRE project and
shows how academic and collaborative researchers are putting many pieces of
research puzzle together to provide an exceptional support tool and an enjoyable
piece of reading.
Thismanuscriptprovidesarichsourceofknowledgeonresearchmethodologies
and explores the experiences of primary teachers and researchers from different
countriesanddisciplines,differentbackgroundsfromdifferentcultures,workingin
an international environment and collaborating together to develop key ideas and
guidelines in the field of academic research. The result of studies offive countries
(Spain, Germany, Lithuania, Syria, and Lebanon) participating in the MATRE
project has created what makes the book unique in the context of other similar
books or all books in the research area.
Thus, the distinguished feature of this book, which the reader will quickly
recognize, is the wealth of experience brought by the contributors of different
chapters of this book. Moreover, many topics that have been covered are rarely
addressedinotherbooksorarticlesasuniquetopics.Thosefeaturesmakethebook
a must-read book and should be recommended for all young business researchers.
v
vi Preface
Thisbookprovidesanelementaryoverviewofskillseachresearcherinthefield
shouldacquiretoproducesoundpeaceofresearch.Thepurposeofthisbookisnot
tosurveythelatestdevelopmentsinresearchmethods,sinceitrequiresupdatingat
rates far exceedingthe publication cycles of books. Rather,the aim of this bookis
to constitute a valuable manual for early researchers who need to grasp the intri-
cacies of research process while avoiding biases and mistakes usually uninten-
tionally make.
Likewise, one of the main objectives of this book is to assist researchers, irre-
spective of their discipline, in developing the most suitable methodology for their
research studies. As the title suggests, this textbook provides cases and examples
fromBusinessandEconomicsresearchinLebanonandSyriatosupportandclarify
discussion and arguments.
This book consists of twelve chapters, well organized in a coherent manner.
Chapter “Research Methodology: An Introduction” is an introduction to the
research methodology. Chapter “Planning the Research” covers key aspects of
planning the research. Chapter “Basic Research Methods” presents the basic
methods of research. Chapter “Research Topic Identification” highlights the main
tasks that the researcher needs to undertake in order to identify the research topic.
Different measurement and scaling techniques have been consistently described in
Chapter “Measurement and Measurement Scales”. Chapter “Common Biases in
Business Research” presents the common biases in business research, their con-
sequences,andtheirproposedtreatmentmethods.Chapter“ResearchEthics”deals
with the ethics in research. Chapter “Thinking Out of the Box. Non-typical
ResearchMethodsinBusiness”describessomeofnon-typicalresearchmethodsin
business. Chapter “Research Skills for Business Researchers” introduces the
research skills for business researchers. Chapter “Surveys and Questionnaires”
examines the survey questionnaire as an instrument of primary data collection in
business research. Chapter “Case Study on the Causes of Plagiarism in Some
Higher Education Institutions in Syria?” tackles the causes of plagiarisms in some
higher education institutions in Syria. In Chapter “The Case of MATRE
Questionnaire for Academics: Measurement Scales, Lessons and Questions
Reformulation”, a case study has been presented to examine the design and
application of self-administered questionnaire methodology.
The book has benefited from the active coordination of the University of
OldenburgandtheblendedcooperationofallMATREpartnersandmembersofthe
project network who met in Alicante, Oldenburg, Vilnius, and Lebanon over a
two-year period.
We would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the
European Commission, the source of inspiration, who strives toward the modern-
ization of education and research in higher education at Lebanon and Syria.
Especially,wewouldliketoexpressourgratitudeforexcellentworkdonebythe
project officer Dr.-Ing. Tariq Mahmoud. We are grateful and appreciate all what
Tariq have done in order to make this book real.
Preface vii
Also, we would like to thank all the members of the MATRE network who
contributed to the first edition of the current book. We would like to thank Viktor
Dmitriyev and Christian Osorio from the Carl von Ossietzky University of
Oldenburg,aswellasDr.MarieK.AboujaoudeandKhalilFeghalifromLebanese
University who helped to compile this book.
Itisourhopethatthisintegratedviewofresearchmethodologieswillinspireour
readers and make their research an enjoyable journey. Since research is a contin-
uous learning process, we can confidently say that a revised edition of this book
might appear in the future.
Oldenburg, Germany Jorge Marx Gómez
Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic Sulaiman Mouselli
Contents
Research Methodology: An Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Vida Davidavičienė
Planning the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Marie Karim Aboujaoude, Khalil Feghali and Charbel Kfouri
Basic Research Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Jurgita Raudeliūnienė
Research Topic Identification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Tariq Mahmoud, Viktor Dmitriyev and Oana Madalina Driha
Measurement and Measurement Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Serene Dalati
Common Biases in Business Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Sulaiman Mouselli and Hiba Massoud
Research Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Maya Azoury, Bassem Kaissi and Latifa Attieh
Thinking Out of the Box. Non-typical Research Methods
in Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Kinaz Al Aytouni and Kinan M. Naddeh
Research Skills for Business Researchers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Bayan Khalifa
Surveys and Questionnaires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Serene Dalati and Jorge Marx Gómez
ix
x Contents
Case Study on the Causes of Plagiarism in Some Higher Education
Institutions in Syria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Victoria Khnouf
The Case of MATRE Questionnaire for Academics: Measurement
Scales, Lessons and Questions Reformulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Serene Dalati