HOW INTERNET IS CONTRIBUTING TO FIELD OF BUSINESS RESEARCH?

Made By:
Varsha Vatyani 117536

At the heart of business today lies the Internet, a global network of networks enabling heterogeneous computers to directly and transparently communicate and share services with customers. It can lead to a completely new economy. Internet business is the point where economic value creation and information technology come together.

INTRODUCTION
Till 1990s businesses used to perceive the Internet mostly as a communication tool. Or it was used to fulfill some primary commercial functions, such as gathering information by exploring other Web sites; providing customer support and conducting on line transactions

 Perception of the Internet has changed in the past years offering the space for a more detailed analysis of the Web possibilities from the research aspect. The Internet is no longer the subject of research, but rather a relevant research tool.

RESEARCH ON INTERNET
Review Research Marketing Data Collection Participant Recruitment Projects

Review Research
This category includes research projects that access existing information on the Internet. Much like a literature review, this research typically involves collecting information about particular topics found on the Internet.

Marketing Data Collection

Internet technology is quickly emerging as a powerful tool for finding and targeting potential customers. Using Internet technology, companies can glean information from users that can aid in market research. Information about a user or computer terminal can be routinely collected by webmasters (males) or webmistresses (female) (owners or creators of specific web sites).

 A cookie or a numeric and text based file housed within a users Web browser communicates information to a server or a particular sites operating system.

know what information you provide

Most Web sites routinely collect less specific, non-personal information about the people who visit their sites. For example the IP (Internet protocol) address of a computer terminal as well as time and date of login to a specific site are usually recorded

Participant Recruitment Projects

This type of research uses the Internet as a medium to attract and recruit participants as well as to collect the data for the project. These sites typically house a questionnaire or another form of survey instrument that participants use to submit their responses.

 The participant fills out the questionnaire, usually consisting of a series of check boxes or pull-down menus, and clicks a submit button to send the responses to a mainframe or server computer.

Internet as a research tool

From developing an efficient marketing strategy. offers an opportunity for businesses create an image offer information about products and services develop relationships with profitable customers better understand the consumer buying practices ensure continuous product improvements with respect to customers needs, etc.

 the Internet-based research is often used as a special type of study applied exclusively for the Web evaluation.

Advantages of Internet As A Research Tool

Cheaper
Easier Survey a high number of respondents

Flexibility and control over formats

Simple data entry, high participation, usage of a variety of media. Simplicity of administration.

Disadvantages Of Internet As A Research Tool

sampling difficulties response rates and quality

 Some other limitations that should be considered when dealing with online research are related to the potential for compromised objectivity (when there is no researcher as an intermediary) or partial interpretations. Therefore, the Internet research should be used along with other traditional methods in order to cover all customer segments.

Internet as a source of data

All data can be classified into three groups: Data that are being automatically logged in web sites. Secondary data that are publicly available. Data that the web users provided.

Data that are being automatically logged in web sites.

The first group consists of automatic registering of all visits and clicks through the log entries. Besides registration access, there is additional Web information related to the subscription and memberships of the Website users.

Secondary data that are publicly available

Secondary data collection is based on different statistical and reporting information that is being generated from primary Web logs and other data. Publicly available data refer to information available from the Websites in a form of corporate reports (monthly, annually, etc.) that are free of charge and are visible on the corporate site

Data that the web users provided

Primary data collection on the Web is conducted by experiments, focus groups, observation and in-depth interviews, as it is the case in offline research one of the most popular e-research methods is the administering of the online questionnaires.

Online questionnaires
The answers can be formulated as multiple choice answers, open-ended or a scale that offers the degrees of agreeing or disagreeing. The advantage of an online questionnaire is the fact that data are collected in a real-time frame and such information is constantly available, while the Web site visitors can respond whenever they want.

 They are more spontaneous, since they are not obliged to reveal their identity.

Disadvantages
uncertainty and potential inaccuracy population that is restrained only to Internet users.

References
www.slideshare.net http://www.slideshare.net/eclark131/internet-research-1087597 http://www.slideshare.net/InResEth/internet-research-ethics-and-irbs-byelizabeth-buchanan www.futureplace.com http://thefutureplace.typepad.com/the_future_place/2006/09/the_impac t_of_t.html http://thefutureplace.typepad.com/the_future_place/2006/09/page/2/ www.mckinsey.com http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_tech_telecoms_internet/internet _matters www.fcti.usf.edu http://fcit.usf.edu/internet/chap5/chap5.htm