Introduction to Business
Research Methods
What is Research
Re – Again + Search – To find something
§ Research is the process of finding solutions to a problem
after a thorough study and analysis of the situational factors.
Observation Analysis of
Person Phenomena Decision
Again and Again observations
More Details:
http://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit01/infoage01_03.phtml
Business Research
How to get an answer to the following questions?
§ What is the target market of the product?
§ How to decrease the amount of excess inventory in hand?
Use research to make a decision about the Business
phenomenon.
Business Research: Application of scientific method in
searching for truth about business phenomenon.
Business Research
These activities include
• Business opportunities and problems
• Generating and evaluating ideas
• Monitoring performance
• Understanding business process
Business Research
Helps
• strategize for maximizing business profit.
• determine which product/service is most profitable or in
demand
• Monitoring performance
• Understanding business process
Applicability of Business Research
Business research: Types and
Methodologies
1. Quantitative Research Methods: Deals with
numbers using statistical tools.
The following are some of the research methods
used to carry out business research:
Survey Research: Widely used methods to gather
data especially for conducting business research.
Surveys involve asking various questions to a set of
audiences through online polls, online surveys,
questionnaires, etc.
Business research: Types and
Methodologies
Correlational Research: Conducted to understand
the relationship between two entities and what
impact each one of them has on the other.
• Help understand patterns, relationships, trends,
etc.
• Manipulation of one variable is possible to get the
desired results as well.
• Generally, a conclusion cannot be drawn only on
the basis of correlational research.
Business research: Types and
Methodologies
Causal-Comparative Research: Deduce the cause-
effect relationship between variables.
• Involves establishing an independent variable and
analyzing the effects on the dependent variable.
• Changes are observed on the variables or groups
under the influence of the same changes.
• Drawing conclusions through such research is a
little tricky as independent and dependent
variables will always exist in a group.
Business research: Types and
Methodologies
Experimental Research: To prove a theory.
• Useful as it can let the company know some
behavioral traits of its consumers, which can lead
to more revenue.
• In this method, an experiment is carried out on a
set of audiences to observe and later analyze their
behavior when impacted with certain parameters.
Business research: Types and
Methodologies
Online-Offline Research: Involves gathering
information from existing documents, annual reports,
etc.
• Research online/offline for any information about
the topic or the organization.
• Used mostly by marketing and salespeople in the
business sector to understand the market or their
customers.
• Care should be given while choosing the source of
information.
Business research: Types and
Methodologies
2. Qualitative Research Methods: Involves gathering
information through open-ended conversational
means of communication like
• Interviews
• Focus group surveys
• Website visitor profiling
• Case study research and others
Advantages
• Identify opportunities and threats.
• Identify problems and using this information, wise
decisions can be made to tackle the issue
appropriately.
• Understand customers better and hence can be
useful to communicate better with the customers or
stakeholders.
• Risks and uncertainties can be minimized by
conducting business research in advance.
Advantages
• Financial outcomes and investments that will be
needed can be planned effectively.
• Track competition in the business sector.
• Enable a company to make wise decisions as to
where to spend and how much.
• Enable a company to stay up-to-date with the
market and its trends and appropriate innovations
can be made to stay ahead in the game.
Disadvantages
• Business research can be a high-cost affair, time
consuming
• Based on assumptions
• Inaccurate information due to biasness or a small
focus group.
• Outcomes change because of the fast-changing
markets
The Research Report
n Researh proposal
n Research report
n Research presentation
