Business research methods and applications

Business Research Methods

Key terms

Applied research: Applied research is research that is embarked upon with a practical purpose, to provide solutions to concrete, real world problems.

Pure research: Pure or basic research is undertaken to acquire more knowledge about the nature of the world in general: it may or may not have a practical purpose.

Business research: Business research usually takes the form of applied research, although it can involve basic research (which will hopefully lead to profitable findings in the far future). It is gathered for the purpose of enabling a business to make better economic decisions. Examples of business research include market research of consumer preferences, research about how to streamline company processes, or research about new technology to improve products.

Scientific method: The scientific method is a systematic approach to problem-solving. It involves asking a question, doing preliminary research to construct a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis with an experiment, and using the data derived from the experiment to either prove or disprove the hypothesis.

5. Control: A control group in an experiment is usually similar to the experimental group in all substantive ways except it is not subject to the independent variable controlled by the experimenter.

6. Research variable: A variable is an entity subject to change. In a research study, the independent variable is controlled by the experimenter, while the dependent variable is what is affected by the independent variable.

7. ROI (Return on Investment): ROI is a method of calculating the potential value conveyed by an investment. To calculate the ROI, the benefit of the investment is divided by its cost.

8. Descriptive studies: Descriptive studies describe a particular phenomenon at a given point in time.

9. Explanatory studies: Explanatory studies attempt to explain why or the reason a particular phenomenon has occurred or is occurring.

10. Predictive studies: Predictive studies attempt to predict consumer or economic behavior in the future.

Q7. The survey should be demographically balanced: in other words, it should be representative of the consumers whose behavior the survey was designed to assess in terms of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The questions should be clear and simple, and free from misleading wording that could influence the results. The survey questions should be internally consistent -- in other words, responses that indicate wildly different views in the responses of the same individual raise questions about internal validity. There should be controls to prevent respondents from presenting themselves in an overly positive light. The survey should not draw overly broad conclusions, based upon what respondents were asked.