BUISNESS RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY
What is Research?

 The term research comprises of two words ‘re’ and ‘search’. ‘Re’ means
again and ‘search’ means to find out.
 A detailed and careful study of something to find out more information about
it.
 Research is a careful and detailed study into a specific problem, concern, or
issue using the scientific method. 
 To begin researching something, you have to have a problem, concern, or
issue that has turned into a question. These can come from observing the
world, prior research, professional literature, or from peers. Research really
begins with the right question, because your question must be answerable.
 There is general agreement that research is :
1.Process of inquiry and investigation
2. Systematic and methodical
3. Increases Knowledge
What is Business Research

 Business Research can be simply defined as a process of gather

comprehensive data and information of all the areas of business and
incorporating this information for sales and profit maximization.
 It is a systematic management activity helping companies to determine which
product will be most profitable for companies to produce.
 Example:
Let say there’s an automobile company that is planning to launch a car that runs
on CNG. In order to promote cleaner fuel, the company will be involved in
developing different plans and strategies to identify the demand for the car they
are intending to launch.
Importance of Business Research
 It helps businesses gain better insights about their target customer’s
preferences, buying patterns, pain points, as well as demographics.
 Business Research also provides businesses with a detailed overview of their
target markets, what’s in trend, as well as market demand.
 By studying consumers’ buying patterns and preferences as well as market
trends and demands with the help of business research, businesses can
effectively and efficiently curate the best possible plans and strategies
accordingly.
 The importance of business research also lies in highlighting the areas where
unnecessary costs can be minimized and those areas in a business which need
more attention and can bring in more customers and hence boost profits.
 Businesses can constantly innovate as per their customers’ preferences and
interests and keep their attention towards the brand.
 Business Research also plays the role of a catalyst as it helps business thrive
in their markets by capturing all the available opportunities and also meeting
the needs and preferences of their customers.
 Characteristics of Research
 1. Generalized:The researcher usually divides the identified population into
smaller samples depending on the resource availability at the time of
research being conducted. This sample is understood to be the appropriate
representative of the identified population therefore the findings should also
be applicable to and representative of the entire population.
 Controlled: The concept of control implies that, in exploring causality in
relation to two variables (factors), you set up your study in a way that
minimizes the effects of other factors affecting the relationship. Some
variables are classified as controlling factors and the other variables may be
classified as possible effects of controlling factors. Laboratory experiments as
in pure sciences like chemistry can be controlled but any study that involves
societal issues cannot be controlled.
 Rigorous : One must be careful in ensuring that the procedures followed to
find answers to questions are relevant, appropriate and justified. Again, the
degree of rigor varies markedly between the physical and social sciences and
within the social sciences.
 Empirical:The processes adopted should be tested for the accuracy and each
step should be coherent in progression. This means that any conclusions
drawn are based upon firm data gathered from information collected from
real life experiences or observations.
 Systematic: The procedure or process being developed to undertake a study
should be carefully drafted to ensure that resources utilization is optimized.
Chaotic or disorganized procedures would never yield expected outcomes.
The steps should follow a logical sequence to get to the desired outcome.
 Reliability:It is the extent to which an experiment, test, measuring
procedure, research, research instrument, tool or procedure yields the same
results on repeated trials.
 Validity & verifiability: : It is the extent to which a concept, conclusion or
measurement is well-founded and likely corresponds accurately to the real
world. The word "valid" is derived from the Latin validus, meaning strong.
Methods of Research

 Qualitative
 Quantitative
Qualitative Research

 Qualitative research is a method that collects data using conversational

methods, usually open-ended questions. The responses collected are
essentially non-numerical. This method helps a researcher understand what
participants think and why they think in a particular way.
 This method is not only about “what” people think but also “why” they think
so.
 For example, on successfully interviewing female customers, visiting the
nearby stores and malls, and selecting them through random sampling, it was
known that the store doesn’t have enough items for women and so there were
fewer women visiting the store, which was understood only by personally
interacting with them and understanding why they didn’t visit the store,
because there were more male products than female ones.
Quantitative Research
 Quantitative methods deal with numbers and measurable forms. It uses a
systematic way of investigating events or data. It answers questions to justify
relationships with measurable variables to either explain, predict, or control
a phenomenon.
 Quantitative research collects information from existing and potential
customers using sampling methods and sending out online surveys, online
polls, questionnaires, etc., the results of which can be depicted in the form
of numerical. 
 An example of quantitative research is the survey conducted to understand
the amount of time a doctor takes to tend to a patient when the patient
walks into the hospital. A patient satisfaction survey template can be
administered to ask questions like how much time did a doctor takes to see a
patient, how often does a patient walks into a hospital, and other such
questions.
Type of Quantitative Research
Research Process

 formulating the research problem

 extensive literature survey\
 developing the hypothesis
 preparing the research design
 determining sample design
 collecting the data
 execution of the project
 analysis of data
 hypothesis testing
 generalizations and interpretation, and
 preparation of the report or presentation of the results,i.e., formal write-up of conclusions
reached
Formulating Research Problem

1. Identify a general area of interest

2. Learn more about the problem
3. Review the context of the information
4.  Determine relationships between variables
5.  Select and include important variables
6. Receive feedback and revise
Unit-II
Research variables

  A variable is defined as an attribute of an object of study.

 A variable is anything that can take on differing or varying values.
 The values can differ at various times for the same object or person or at the
same time for different objects or persons.
 Eg: Production units, Absenteeism, Motivation
Types of variables

 According to type of data: Quantitative and Categorical variables

 Quantitative data represents amounts.
 Categorical data represents groupings.
 A variable that contains quantitative data is a quantitative variable; a
variable that contains categorical data is a categorical variable.
Quantitative variables
 When you collect quantitative data, the numbers you record represent real
amounts that can be added, subtracted, divided, etc. There are two types of
quantitative variables: discrete and continuous.

Discrete vs continuous variables

Type of variable What does the data Examples

represent?
Discrete variables (aka Counts of individual items •Number of students in a
integer variables) or values. class
•Number of different tree
species in a forest

Continuous variables (aka Measurements of •Distance

ratio variables) continuous or non-finite •Volume
values. •Age
Categorical variables
 Categorical variables represent groupings of some kind. They are sometimes
recorded as numbers, but the numbers represent categories rather than
actual amounts of things.
 There are three types of categorical variables: binary, nominal,
and ordinal variables.
Binary vs nominal vs ordinal variables
Type of variable What does the data Examples
represent?
Binary variables (aka Yes/no outcomes. •Heads/tails in a coin flip
dichotomous variables) •Win/lose in a football
game
Nominal variables Groups with no rank or •Species names
order between them. •Colors
•Brands
Ordinal variables Groups that are ranked in •Finishing place in a race
a specific order. •Rating scale responses in
a survey*
Independent Variable
 An independent variable is the variable you manipulate or vary in
an experimental study to explore its effects. It’s called “independent”
because it’s not influenced by any other variables in the study.
 Independent variables are also called:
 Explanatory variables(they explain an event or outcome)
 Predictor variables (they can be used to predict the value of a dependent
variable)
 Right-hand-side variables (they appear on the right-hand side of a regression
equation).
Dependent Variable
 A dependent variable is the variable that changes as a result of the
independent variable manipulation. It’s the outcome you’re interested in
measuring, and it “depends” on your independent variable.
 In statistics, dependent variables are also called:
 Response variables (they respond to a change in another variable)
 Outcome variables (they represent the outcome you want to measure)
 Left-hand-side variables (they appear on the left-hand side of a regression
equation)
Review of Literature
 A literature review is a comprehensive summary of previous research on a
topic. The literature review surveys scholarly articles, books, and other
sources relevant to a particular area of research. 
 It is selection of available documents (both published and unpublished) on the
topic, which contain information ,ideas, data and evidence written from a
particular standpoint to fulfil certain aims or express certain views on the
nature of the topic and how it is to investigated ,the effective evaluation of
these documents in relation to the research being proposed
 It provides a short description and critical evaluation of work critical to the topic
 It offers an overview of significant literature published on a topic.
Sources of Literature review

 Textbooks
 Journals
 Theses
 Conference Proceedings
 Unpublished manuscripts
 Government reports
 Newspapers
 The Internet
Process of Literature Review
• Formulate a problem - which topic or field is being
 examined and what are its component issues?

• Search the literature for materials relevant to the

 subject being explored.
 searching the literature involves reading and
 refining your problem

• Evaluate the data - determine which literature makes a

 significant contribution to the understanding of the topic

• Analyze and interpret - discuss the findings and

 conclusions of pertinent literature

• Format and create bibliography

Research Design
 A Research Design is simply a structural framework of various research methods as well
as techniques that are utilized by a researcher.
 The research design helps a researcher to pursue their journey into the unknown but
with a systematic approach by their side.
 The way an engineer or architect frames a design for a structure, likewise the
researcher picks the design from various approaches in order to check which type of
research to be carried out. 
According to William Zikmund :
 "Research design is defined as a master plan specifying the methods and procedures for
collection and analyzing the needed information.“
According to Kerlinger :
 "Research design is the plan, structure, and strategy of investigation conceived so as to
obtain answers to research questions and to control variance".
Features of Research Design
 Objectivity
Objectivity refers to the ability of the research instruments to give conclusions
that are free from observer's personal biases.
 Reliability 
The instruments used in research should be able to provide similar responses to a
question asked from a respondent. 
 Validity 
Its ability to answer the questions in the way it was intended to. It should focus
on the objective of the research and make specific arrangements or plan for
achieving that objective. 
 Generalisability
A research design is said to be generalizable if the outcome of the research is
applicable on a bigger population from which the sample is selected.
 Sufficient Information
The research design should be able to provide sufficient information to the
researcher so that he can analyse the research problem in a broad perspective. 
Research Design Process
Types of Research Design
 Descriptive Research Design
In Descriptive Research Design, the scholar explains/describes the situation or case in depth in
their research materials. 
Design is purely on a theoretical basis where the individual collects data, analyses, prepares and
then presents it in an understandable manner.
 To explore one or more variables, a descriptive design might employ a wide range of research
approaches. 
the researcher does not control or change any of the variables in a descriptive research design;
instead, he or she just observes and measures them.
Examples:
 How has the Delhi housing market changed over the past 20 years?
 Do customers of company A prefer product C or product D?
 What are the main genetic, behavioural and morphological differences between Indian
wildcows and hybrid-cows?
 How prevalent is disease 1 in population Z?
 Experimental Research Design
Experimental research is a type of research design in which the study is carried
out utilizing a scientific approach and two sets of variables.
The first set serves as a constant against which the variations in the second set
are measured. 
Experimental research collects data to assist you in making better judgments.
Experimentation is used in any research undertaken under scientifically
appropriate settings. 
The effectiveness of experimental investigations is dependent on researchers
verifying that a variable change is due only to modification of the constant
variable. 
 Correlational Research Design
A correlational research design looks into correlations between variables without
allowing the researcher to control or manipulate any of them.
 Correlational studies reveal the magnitude and/or direction of a link between
two (or more) variables. 
  Correlational Studies What Happens?  Example 
Direction or Types

Positive correlation Both variables change As the prices of petrol

in the same direction increase, the fare of
auto increases too.

Negative correlation The variables change in As tea consumption

opposite directions increases, tiredness
decreases

Zero correlation There is no relationship Tea consumption is not

between the variables correlated with height
 Diagnostic Research Design
Diagnostic research design is a type of research design that tries to investigate
the underlying cause of a certain condition or phenomena. 
 It can assist you in learning more about the elements that contribute to certain
difficulties or challenges that your clients may be experiencing.
This design typically consists of three research stages, which are as follows:
 Inception of the issue
 Diagnosis of the issue
 Solution for the issue
 Explanatory Research Design
Explanatory research is a method established to explore phenomena that have
not before been researched or adequately explained.
Its primary goal is to notify us about where we may get a modest bit of
information.
Its purpose is to discover the why and what of a subject under investigation. In
short, it is a type of research design that is responsible for finding the why of the
events through the establishment of cause-effect relationships. 
The most popular methods of explanatory research are:
 Literature research
 In-depth interview
 Focus groups
 Case studies
Unit-3
Sampling- Basic terms
 Population:
It refers to the entire group of people, events, or things of interest that the
researcher wishes to investigate.
 Element:
It is a single member of the population.
 Sample:
It is a subset of the population.
 Sampling unit:
It is the element or set of elements that is available for selection in some stage of
the sampling process.
 Subject
It is a single member of the sample.
 Sampling Frame: is the list of people from which the
sample is taken. It is the list from which the potential
respondents are drawn.
It should be comprehensive, complete and up-to-date.
Examples of sampling frame: Electoral Register; Postcode Address File; telephone book and
so on.

 Sampling unit - the unit of selection in the sampling

process
 Study unit (study subjects)- the unit on which
information is collected or on which observations are
made. E.g. Familiar examples are families, towns,
litters, branches of a company, individual subjects or
schools.
• The sampling unit is not necessarily the same as the study unit.
• If the objective is to determine the availability of latrine,
• then the study unit would be the household;
• If the objective is to determine the prevalence of trachoma,
then the study unit would be the individual.
Sampling fraction (Sampling interval) - the ratio of the number
of units in the sample to the number of units in the reference
population (N/n)
Why sample?
 Cost in terms of money , time and manpower
 Accessibility
 Utility e.g. to do diagnostic laboratory test you don’t draw the whole of patient’s blood.
It has the following disadvantages:
 Expensive
 Takes a long time
 Cumbersome & therefore inaccurately done ( a careful sample produces a
more accurate data than a census
 The
actu
al
part
icip
ants
Sample
in
Subjects who are
the
selected
stud
y
Sampling Frame
The list of potential subjects from
which the sample is drawn

Source population
The Population from whom the study subjects
would be obtained

Target population
The population to whom the results would be applied
Sampling process
 Define the population
 Determine the sample frame
 Determine the sampling design
 Determine the appropriate sample size
 Execute the sampling process
Types of Sampling
 Sampling in market research is of two types – probability sampling and non-
probability sampling. 
 Probability sampling: It is a sampling technique where a researcher sets a
selection of a few criteria and chooses members of a population randomly. All
the members have an equal opportunity to be a part of the sample with this
selection parameter.
 Non-probability sampling: In non-probability sampling, the researcher
chooses members for research at random. This sampling method is not a fixed
or predefined selection process. This makes it difficult for all elements of a
population to have equal opportunities to be included in a sample.