Chapter-1:

Business Research: An
overview
Few Questions
• A hospital would be interested in investigating
consumers’ perceptions and satisfaction with the hospital
services, employee satisfaction, supplier evaluation,
financing options, and so on.

• A publisher of these types of books could conduct

secondary research (e.g., examine demographic trends,
analyze university programs to understand their needs,
etc.) and primary research (e.g., focus groups, surveys,
interviews, etc.) to determine market potential and needs
of this market.
What is research?
• Term “research” - frequently used to
• refer to both specialized pursuit of knowledge to much more
general problem solving situation

• Research as testing, proving and disproving hypothesis

Research as constructing meanings and generating reflective
understanding of others
• Research as challenging unjustifiable practices, beliefs and
values
• Research as writing, reading and fulfilment
• Research as reconceptualising self,
• generating wisdom
What is research?
• Research activities are or aimed to be planned, cautious,
systematic and reliable ways of finding out or deepening our
understanding of social/business phenomena.

• Research process involves a series of well thought out

activities of collecting, recording, analyzing, and interpreting
data with the purpose of finding answers to the problem

• Research methodology - The entire processes based on the

philosophies, principles, and mechanisms of research by
which we attempt to find answers to problems
Business Research Defined
• Business research is the application of the
scientific method in searching for the truth about
business phenomena.
• The process includes:
 idea and theory development
 problem definition
 searching for and collecting information
 analyzing data
 communicating the findings and their implications
Business Research
• Business research information is:
 not intuitive or haphazardly gathered
 accurate and objective
 relevant to all aspects of the business
 limited by one’s definition of business

• Not-for-profit organizations and governmental

agencies can use research in much the same
was as managers in for-profit organizations.
Applied and Basic Business Research
• Applied business research
 conducted to address a specific business decision for
a specific firm or organization.
 Example:
 Should KFC add Italian pasta dinners to its menu?
 Which health insurance plan should a business provide for its
employees?
Applied and Basic Business Research
• Basic business research (also called pure
research)
 conducted without a specific decision in mind that
usually does not address the needs of a specific
organization.
 Attempts to expand the limits of knowledge in general.
 Not aimed at solving a pragmatic problem.

 Example:
 Do consumers experience cognitive dissonance in low-
involvement situations?
 Does employee tenure with a company influence
productivity?
Question

• An automobile manufacturer is conducting

research in an attempt to predict the type of car
design consumers will desire in the year 2020.
Is this basic or applied research? Explain.
Human Knowledge
• Knowledge consists of facts and theories
that enable one understand phenomena and
to solve problems

• Knowledge is the key to socio-economic and

technological development

• Inadequate knowledge – an obstacle in

finding solutions to problems
Human Knowledge
• Human knowledge – works at two level:

• Primary level – existing knowledge is applied

to solve the social/business problem

• Incremental level – existing knowledge alone

is not sufficient, additional knowledge is
required to solve the problem
Ways of Knowing
• Five ways we can know something
• – Personal experience
• – Tradition
• – Experts and authorities
• – Logic / reasoning
• • Inductive
• • Deductive
• – The scientific method
Ways of Knowing
• Personal experience
• – Relying on one’s knowledge of prior
• experiences
• – Limitations
• • How one is affected by an event depends on
who one is
• • One frequently needs to know something that
cannot by learnedthrough experience
Ways of Knowledge
• Tradition
• – Doing things as they have always been done
• – Limitations
• • Traditions are often based on an idealized past
• • Traditions can be distant from current realities and the
complexities
• associated with them
• • Experts or authorities
• – Relying on the expertise or authority of others
• – Limitations
• • Experts can be wrong
• • Experts can disagree among themselves, as in a “second opinion”
Ways of Knowledge
• Inductive reasoning
• – Reasoning based on observation or
experience
• – Limitations
• • In order to be certain of a conclusion one must
observe all examples
• • All examples can be observed only in very
limited situations where there are few members
of the group
Ways of Knowledge
• Deductive reasoning
• – Reasoning based on rules or law
• – Limitations
• • You must begin with true premises in order to
arrive at true conclusions
• • Deductive reasoning only organizes what is
already known
The Scientific Method
• Scientific Method
 The way researchers go about using knowledge and
evidence to reach objective conclusions about the
real world.

 The analysis and interpretation of empirical evidence

(facts from observation or experimentation) to confirm
or disprove prior conceptions
EXHIBIT 1.1 A Summary of the Scientific Method
Managerial Value of Business Research

• There are only a few business orientations:

 Product-oriented
 Production-oriented
 Marketing-oriented
EXHIBIT 1.2 Business Orientations
Managerial Value of Business Research

• The decision-making process associated with

the development and implementation of a
business strategy involves four interrelated
stages:
1. Identifying problems and opportunities
2. Diagnosing and assessing problems or
opportunities
3. Selecting and implementing a course of action
4. Evaluating the course of action
Evaluating the Course of Actions
• Evaluation Research
 The formal, objective measurement and appraisal of
the extent a given activity, project, or program has
achieved its objectives.
• Performance Monitoring Research
 Research that regularly, sometimes routinely,
provides feedback for evaluation and control of
business activity.
When is Business Research Needed?
• The determination of the need for research
centers on:
1. Time constraints
2. The availability of data
3. The nature of the decision to be made
4. Benefits versus costs (the value of the research
information in relation to costs)
 Will the payoff or rate of return be worth the investment?
 Will the information improve the quality of the managerial
decision enough to warrant the expenditure?
 Is the expenditure the best use of the available funds?
EXHIBIT 1.3 Determining When to Conduct Business Research
Business Research in the 21st Century
• Communication Technologies
 Always “connected”—time, place, and distance are
irrelevant.
 Decreases in information acquisition, storage, access,
and transmission costs.
• Global Business Research
 Business research is increasingly global.
 Must understand the nature of particular markets.
 Cross-validation
 Verify that the empirical findings from one culture also exist
and behave similarly in another culture.
Ethical Issues in Management Research
• Common ethical issues -
• Put pressure on the participants to grant
access to information
• Violate an individual’s right to privacy
• Possible deception of participants
• Fabrication of data set/ False data
• Alter or modify data
• Select only suitable data
Ethical Issues in Management Research
• Common ethical issues –
• Claim credit for the work done by others
• Not maintaining confidentiality and
anonymity
• Report data without permission from the
organization
• Post-study sharing of research results
• Publish the same paper in different journals
without the permission of the editors
Ethical Issues in Management Research
• Some ethical principles –
• Confidentiality
• Protect confidential communications, such as
personnel records, correspondence, trade secrets,
patient records
• Respect for intellectual property
• Honor patents, copyrights, and other forms of
intellectual property
• Not using data and other documents without
permissions
• Giving credit where credit is due
 What Business Research Is Not

• Business Research isn’t information gathering:

 Gathering information from resources such books or magazines isn’t
business research.
 No contribution to new knowledge.

• Business Research isn’t the transportation of facts:

 Merely transporting facts from one resource to another doesn’t
constitute business research.
 No contribution to new knowledge although this might make existing
knowledge more accessible.