Research methods for business students

Business research demands more than choosing a technique; it requires a coherent alignment between research purpose, philosophical assumptions, methodological approach, design strategy, and data collection choices. This theoretical orientation introduces business students to core research paradigms (positivism, interpretivism, and pragmatism), the three broad method families (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods), and commonly used strategies in applied business inquiry (survey research, case studies, and experiments). The paper clarifies how each choice shapes the types of questions that can be answered, the standards for evaluating quality, and the kinds of claims that can be justified. Two summary tables are provided to support rapid design decisions and to illustrate how data collection techniques (interviews, questionnaires, and observation) can be combined for richer inference. The goal is to help novice researchers design studies that are defensible, feasible, and fit for purpose in business settings.