BUS 308 Handout 1 Fall

2019

Research Always Starts with a Question

1 All research is driven by a question

If you don’t have a good question, you cannot do good research. Good
research methods don’t matter if you don’t have a good research question.

2 What is a good question?

A good question identifies something we don’t know, but which is important

to know.

3 Conceptual questions and practical questions

In science, many things are important to know. For instance, we may want to
know the distance from the earth to the sun, or why the sky is blue.

Why? Because by finding out why the sky is blue, we learn things about
nature in general, such as how light is refracted by particles in the sky. But
there is no immediate or real cost to not knowing the answer.

Science mainly deals with conceptual questions.

In business, only things that have a cost are important to know. For instance,
we may want to know why so many customers do not come back to the
store. Obviously, the cost here is that store is losing business to someone
else. Questions where there is a real cost to not knowing the answer are
called practical questions.

Business deals mainly with practical questions. To be good at their jobs,

people in business need to ask the right questions, and do research to find
the answers.

4 What are some important questions in business?

It depends: different types of business people need to know different things,

so they ask different questions.

Type of Questions? Methods?

1
BUS 308 Handout 1 Fall
2019

Businessperson
Manager of Store What was the sales today? How is the
inventory? What items need to be ordered?
Which item should we put on sale? Did
anything get stolen? Did the supplier
deliver the goods as ordered? Which
employee is performing well? Are
customers happy?
Stock Investor What will earnings be? What is the ?
dividend policy/ratio? Are dividends
consistent? Will new shares be issued?
Does the CEO seem competent? What is
the strategy for increasing sales and
profits?
Lender What is the cash flow? What is the capital
structure? How much debt exists already?
What are other liabilities of the company?
How much are company assets worth?
Where are interest rates likely to be in the
future?
Industry Consultant What the trends are in the industry? Who
are the major players? What will the
industry will look like in the future? Who
are new competitors? What technology are
they using? What is the best way to gain
market share?
Managing How are business costs and revenues
Director/CEO of doing? How can we improve the business?
Company What is the public perception of the
company and its products? Which bank
should we select? Who will be a good
executive to hire?
Head of Sales What are customers are looking for, and
what they will pay for? What level of
service are competitors providing? Which
salespeople are meeting sales targets?
How can we train or motivate sales people
to do better?
Human Resources What are people in this industry getting
Director paid? What are the current labor and
employment laws and regulations? How
are individual employees performing? How
can we train the staff? How should we deal
with underperforming staff?
Entrepreneur What is the pain or problem? What
solution/value can I offer? Who are the
potential customers? Will they pay for the
value? Should I compete on price or
quality? Where should the business be

2
BUS 308 Handout 1 Fall
2019

located? How can I fund the business? How

should I market the business? Who should I
hire to run it?