Business research
It can be defined as a systematic and
objective process of gathering, recording and
analyzing data that provides information to
guide business decisions.
It is used to understand the market trends.
To find out the optimal marketing mix, devise
effective HR policies, or to find the best
investment options.
Basic research
Basic research refers to focused systematic
study or investigation undertaken to discover
new knowledge and establish facts or
principles in a particular field.
It is primarily aimed at gathering knowledge.
Eg:
Understanding the consumer buying process
Examining the consumer learning process.
Applied research
It refers to investigation undertaken to discover the
applications and uses of theories, knowledge and
principles in actual work or solving problems.
It is used to answer a specific question, determine
why something failed or succeeded, solve a
specific problem.
For eg:
Evaluating the impact of a training program on
employee performance
Examining consumer response to direct marketing
programs
Role of Business research in decision
making
Problem / opportunity identification
Problem / opportunity prioritization and
selection
Problem / opportunity resolution
Implementing the course of action
Factors affecting Business Research
Time constraint
Availability of resources
Nature of information sought
Benefits versus costs
Research Designs
Exploratory Research
Descriptive Research
Cross Sectional research
Exploratory Research
• Used to clarify thoughts and opinions about the
research problem or the respondent population.
• often the researcher is new to the problem either
because the product is new or the researcher is
studying it for the first time. In such cases, the first
few studies tend to be of exploratory nature.
• it is also done to generate hypotheses for further
studies.
• eg: future of convenience goods in India.
Descriptive Research
1) longitudinal studies
2) cross-sectional studies
Longitudinal studies:
A sample of respondents are studied over a
period of time – from a few months to a few
years.
Eg to measure the viewer ship of TV shows or
readership of magazines.
Cross – sectional studies
A one shot research study at a given point of
time and consists of a sample (cross section)
of the population of interest.
It can cover many variables if interest and is
not affected by the movement of elements in
the sample, because other elements can be
substituted for them (atleast in consumer
research)
3) Causal Research Designs
Also known as experimental designs since
they are similar to experiments done in a lab.
A causal design seeks to establish causation
as far as possible, by employing controls and
conditions under which we can state with
reasonable confidence or not Y is affected by
X.
Even other variables that effect the
relationship between X and Y also form a
part of causal designs.
Developing the hypotheses
It is a statement based on some presumption
about the existence of a relationship between
two or more variables that can be tested
through empirical data.
When a researcher is developing a
hypothesis, he/she will assume an answer for
a particular research questions and then test
for its validity.
Developing the hypotheses
A hypothesis makes the research question
clearer to the researcher.
For eg: if the research question is “why are
the sales of refrigerators going up during
winters?”
In this case the hypothesis could be “ the
sales of refrigerators are going up during
winters during off season discounts”
Designing the Research Methodology:
It depends on the target population and how easy or
difficult it is to access it is. It consists of the
following:
Research methods- primary and secondary
Sampling plan
Questionnaire design
Field work plan [who and when]
Analysis plan [Simple tabulation and cross
tabulation]
Primary sources:
customers, dealers, buyers, users, etc.
Data could be collected from respondents by many methods
like
Survey
Observation
Experimentation
Qualitative techniques
Other specialized techniques
Survey
Telephone Mail In person Email
Every method of survey has its merits and demerits.
For example, in personal survey, the body
language and facial reactions of the respondent
can be observed.
Telephonic surveys are of low cost. But, facial
expressions cannot be observed.
Similarly, in email survey, people not using
computer will be left out.
Observation
It is a technique where a respondent’s behavior
is recorded without his knowledge.
For eg: a video camera in a retail store can be
used to record customer behavior while she
buys a garment.
Advantage of this technique is that the actual
consumer behavior gets recorded but it is
doubtful whether a representative sample of
consumers have been chosen as there is no
control over who shops at a given time.
Experimentation
Here we try to measure the effect of one or
more variables by changing the level of some
variables and measuring the effects.
For eg: if an advertisement is released, we
measured the brand awareness of the
advertised brand among a sample of target
respondents.
Qualitative techniques
Here indirect methods of questioning are
used to probe the mind of respondents.
Emphasis may be on free wheeling interview
with open-ended, unstructured questions
such as “what do you expect from a
refrigerator ?”
It may also include word associations where
a respondent is asked to think of a word
which comes to mind when he thinks of a
brand.
Qualitative techniques
Other variations include associating each brand with a
person or celebrity or an animal and so on..
It requires a behaviourial specialist such as a
psychologist or sociologist to analyze the findings .
If done by non-experts, it may be misleading.
It can also be used in combination with quantitative
techniques. For eg: study done by T.V.S suzuki in
1989 to find out what people expected from TVS
mopeds.
Specialized techniques
Consumer panel
Retail audit
TV audience measurement
Budget and cost estimation
Sample size
How difficult it is to find the sampling units
[respondents and their geographical
dispersion]
Who will do the field work.
Presentation and report
1) Executive summary
2) Table of contents
3) Introduction
4) Research objectives
5) Research methodology
- sample design
- field work plan and dates
- analysis
Presentation and report
- questionnaire copy [as annexure]
6) Analysis
- simple tabulation
- cross tabulation
- any special analysis
7) Findings
8) Limitations
9) Recommendations for action
10) Bibliography / list of references
