Business Research Methods (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series Operations and Decision Sciences) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This text offers coverage of the fundamentals of research concepts and practical applications. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 857 pages
• Publisher: Irwin/McGraw-Hill; 8th edition (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072498706
• ISBN-13: 978-0072498707
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #746,903 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars VERY Thorough but Cumbersome..., September 15, 2002

By	Mr. JKW "jkw" (Honolulu, Hawai'i) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Business Research Methods (Hardcover)

"Business Research Methods" is a very thorough text describing the research process and is ideally suited for MBA programs or public administration programs. While a thorough text (no stone is left unturned), it does have a major drawback - namely its size and accessibility.

THE GOOD:

Cooper and Schindler offer up a thorough text which takes the reader/student through the complete research process from start to finish. Again, it is very detailed about the research process and any student who can make it through the text will come away from a very solid grounding in the research process. The research process is well described and real life examples abound through case studies which bring the topics close to home.

THE BAD:

At about 700 pages the text is VERY cumbersome and quite the chore to finish. The great thing about this book is that it is very detailed. The problem with this though, it that it is TOO detailed. The writing, while thorough, can probably best be described as "bland" (like the subject itself). Research methods, more than likely, DOES NOT top most students' list of favorite courses to take no matter how smart or motivated they are. Having a humongous tome of a subject that is not all that popular or accessible probably does not score points with most people. Research methods for most is an archaic subject, very difficult to understand or enjoy. This text, because of the subject matter, its size and bland tone, will probably fly over the heads of most students. If you are a student planning to read this book or if you are an instructor thinking of using this text, keep this in mind.

This textbook was used as one of the texts for a graduate level research methods course I took. The vast majority of those in my class (myself included) barely did any of the readings from this text. It was a very "dry" read.

THE VERDICT:

While Cooper and Schindler do an awesome job of covering the ins and outs of the research process, I find it unlikely most students will actually take the time to read this. This book, while thorough, is just not that accessible to the average student. If you are an instructor, think to yourself, when you were a student would YOU have read a 700 page, hard to read, book on a subject that you probably at best didn't really care about all that much?

For an alternative text of this subject I recommend Leedy and Omrod's "Practical Research."

It is safe to say that on a whole, when it comes to buy back time at the college bookstore, this book will probably be in "near mint" condition for most students.

Mild Recommendation

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Business Research Methods, February 2, 2001

By	Jeff Stevens (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Research Methods (Hardcover)

Cooper & Schindler provide an easy-to-understand approach to conducting research for business, or other related fields such as public administration. In developing this latest revision, the authors consider both the academic and applied researcher with a presentation strongly grounded in scientific methods and statistical techniques. The authors' straightforward writing style and in-depth content make this guide an excellent resource text for use in any business or public administration research methods course.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well structured but dull, November 4, 1999

By	M. Halai "mnh" (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Business Research Methods (The Irwin/McGraw-Hill series, operations and decision sciences) (Hardcover)

The text is structured well for teaching purposes but the cases and
vignettes all relate to one ongoing example which gets quite
complex. Also, it means you have to take the chapters in the order
given and none other, otherwise the cases don't make much sense....