Business Research Methods

The Business Research

Process

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 Decision Making

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 cues that serve as a signal of a problem because they are caused by that
problem.
decision making
The process of developing and deciding among alternative ways of resolving a problem
or choosing from among alternative opportunities.
 Problem definition

A research problem can be defined as a gap or uncertainty in

the decision makers’ existing body of knowledge which
inhibits efficient decision making.
The gap could be academic & theoretical (basic) or real time
and action oriented (applied).

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 An example problem definition process

Symptoms: our clients are complaining, they seem unhappy

and we may loose them.
True Problem: our clients began to perceive our products as
low quality but still expensive.
Research objective: to identify the ways to convince our
clients about our products’ quality.
Unit of analysis: individual buyers.

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An exemplary problem definition process
Variables: customer satisfaction, re-buying intention,
product characteristics, customers’ demographics, etc.

Research question: what are the drivers of customer

satisfaction, what are the relations among customer
perceptions about the product characteristics, customer
satisfaction, and re-buying intention?

Hypothesis: old fashioned products are percieved by the

young customers as low quality.

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 Types of Research

Business research can be classified on the basis of either

technique or purpose. Experiments, surveys, and
observational studies are just a few common research
techniques.

The following section introduces the three types of business

research:
1. Exploratory
2. Descriptive
3. Causal

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 Exploratory Research

➢ An exploratory research is undertaken when not much is

known about the situation at hand or no information is
available on how similar problem or research issues have
been solved in past .
➢ It is a preliminary research .

➢ Usually exploratory research is a first step, conducted with

the expectation that additional research will be needed to
provide more conclusive evidence.
Like news channels or people ask randomly question.

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 Methodologies of Exploratory Research
Primary research methods
Survey
Interviews Focus group
Observations

Secondary research methods

Online research
Literature review

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 Descriptive Research
Descriptive research is a research method describing the
characteristics of the population or phenomenon studied.

It describes characteristics of objects, people, groups,

organizations, or environments.

This research describes the who, what, when, and where

regarding the current economic and employment situation.

Unlike exploratory research, descriptive studies are conducted

after the researcher has gained a firm grip on the situation

For Ex. Gender, age grouping, number of business courses

taken
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 Descriptive Research Methods
Observational Method

It is the most effective method to conduct descriptive research

and both qualitative and quantitative observations are used in
this research method.

Case Studies

Survey Research

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 Examples of Descriptive Research Methods
Causes of unemployment in abc company (Qualitative)
Teachers attitude towards about using technology in the class
room (Qualitative)
Who are heavy consumer of organic food (Quantitative)

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 Casual/Explanatory Research
Causal research seeks to identify cause-and-effect
relationships.

It is to connect the different ideas and the understand the

different reasons causes and their effect

Hypothesis testing is undertaken to explain the variance in the

dependent variable or to predict organizational outcomes.

For ex. If we increase the advertisement, it will effect on sells.

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 Casual/Explanatory Research Methods
Focus group research
In-depth study of a every single problem
Case analysis
Literature review

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QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW
AND CRITICAL THINKING
Consider the following list, and indicate and explain whether each best fits the
definition of a problem, opportunity, or symptom:

a. A 12.5 percent decrease in store traffic for a children’s shoe store in a medium-sized
city mall.
b. Walmart’s stock price has decreased 25 percent between 2007 and 2009.
c. A furniture manufacturer and retailer in North Carolina reads a research report
indicating consumer trends toward Australian Jarrah and Karri wood. The export of
these products is very limited and very expensive.
d. Marlboro reads a research report written by the U.S. FDA. It indicates that the
number of cigarette smokers in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase dramatically
over the next decade.
What are the three types of business research? Indicate which type each item in the
list below illustrates. Explain your answers.

a. Establishing the relationship between advertising and sales in the beer industry
b. Ranking the key factors new college graduates are seeking in their first career
position
c. Estimating the five-year sales potential for CAT scan machines in the Ark-La-Tex
(Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas) region of the United States
d. Testing the effect of “casual day” on employee job satisfaction
e. Discovering the ways that people who live in apartments use vacuum cleaners, and
identifying cleaning tasks for which they do not use a vacuum
What type of research design would you recommend in the situations below? For each
applied business research project, what might be an example of a “deliverable”?
Which do you think would involve testing a research hypothesis?

a. The manufacturer of flight simulators and other pilot training equipment wishes to
forecast sales volume for the next five years.
b. A local chapter of the American Lung Association wishes to identify the demographic
characteristics of individuals who donate more than $500 per year.
c. Caterpillar Inc. is concerned about increasing inventory costs and is considering
going completely to a just-in-time inventory system.
d. A food company researcher wishes to know what types of food are carried in
brown-bag lunches to learn if the company can capitalize on this phenomenon.
e. A researcher wishes to identify who plays bingo.
A New “Joe” on the Block-case study

1. What are the top three key decisions faced by Joe?

2. What are the key deliverables that an outside researcher should produce to help Joe
with the key decisions?
3. How relevant are the coffee taste studies cited above? Explain.
4. What flaws in the coffee taste studies should Joe consider in trying to weigh the
merits of their results?
5. Briefly relate this situation to each of the major stages of the marketing research
process.
6. Try to do a quick search to explore the question: “Are American consumer
preferences the same all across the United States?”
7. Would it be better for Joe to do the research himself or have a consultant perform
the work?
8. If a consultant comes in to do the job, what are three key deliverables that would
likely be important to Joe in planning to launch the “A Cup of Joe” coffee shop?
 Reference

William G. Zikmund, Business Research

Methods, Latest Edition, Thomson Learning,
chapter 4.