The Business Research Process: An Overview

1–1
Decision Making Terms
• Business opportunity
 A situation that makes some potential competitive
advantage possible.
• Business problem
 A situation that makes some significant negative
consequence more likely.
• Symptoms
 Observable clues that serve as a signal of a problem
because they are caused by that problem.
 Different stages of a Research Process

A Question Formulation Research

Suggest Literature
is raised of Research Design
Hypotheses Review
Questions Formulation

Research Design Formulation

Report
Hypotheses Data
Writing & Data Analysis Acquire Data
Support Interpretation
Presentation
 Characteristics of Different Types of Business Research

Uncertainty Influences the Type of Research Conducted

Defining the Research Objectives
• Research objectives
 The goals to be achieved by conducting research.
• Deliverables
 The consulting term used to describe research
objectives to a research client.
Example Decision Statements, Research Objectives, and
Research Hypotheses