BUSINESS

RESEARCH
METHODS
BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS PAPER CODE:BBA-DS-402:

UNIT-I
Unit 1: Introduction
• Scope of research in business
• Purpose of research
• Components ,concepts, constructs, definition, variables ,proposition
and hypothesis
• Unit of Analysis-Individual ,organization ,groups and data series
• Deductive and inductive theory
• Types of research
UNIT-II
Unit 2: Research Problem and Research Proposal
• Problem identification process
• Literature review
• Types of variables
• Meaning of research proposal
• Types of research proposal
• Ingredients of research proposal
Unit 3: Research Design ,Data Collection and Scaling
• Classification of research designs
• Data collection methods
• Types of Measurement Scales
 
PART - B
Unit 4: Questionnaire Designing and
Sampling Considerations
• Criteria for questionnaire designing
• Questionnaire design procedure
• Sampling Concepts
• Meaning of sampling design
• Types of Sampling
Unit 5: Hypothesis Testing and Analysis of
data
• Role of hypothesis in research
• Features of good hypothesis
• Null hypothesis and alternate hypothesis
• Types of Analysis
• Statistical devices used in research
Unit 6: Report Writing
• Importance of report writing
• Types of research report
• Layout of research report
• Steps in organization of research report
• Guidelines for effective report writing
 
BUSSINESS RESEARCH DEFINITION
• Business research is a process of acquiring detailed information of
all the areas of business and using such information in maximizing
the sales and profit of the business. Such a study helps companies
determine which product/service is most profitable or in demand.
In simple words, it can be stated as the acquisition of information
or knowledge for professional or commercial purpose to determine
opportunities and goals for a business.
 Contd.....

• Business research can be done for anything and

everything. In general, when people speak about
business research it means asking research questions to
know where the money can be spent to increase sales,
profits or market share. Such research is critical to
make wise and informed decisions
 Example of Business Research
• For example: A mobile company wants to launch a new model in the
market. But they are not aware of what are the dimensions of a mobile
that are in most demand. Hence, the company conducts a business
research using various methods to gather information and the same is then
evaluated and conclusions are drawn, as to what dimensions are most in-
demand, This will enable the researcher to make wise decisions to
position his phone at the right price in the market and hence acquire a
larger market share
 Some Commonly Researched Areas in
Business
• 1. Employee behaviors such as performance, absenteeism, and turnover.
• 2. Employee attitudes such as job satisfaction, loyalty, and organizational
commitment.
• 3. Supervisory performance, managerial leadership style, and performance
appraisal systems.
• 4. Employee selection, recruitment, training, and retention.
• 5. Validation of performance appraisal systems.
 Contd.....
• 6. Human resource management choices and organizational strategy.
• 7. Evaluation of assessment centers.
• 8. The dynamics of rating and rating errors in the judgment of human performance.
• 9. Strategy formulation and implementation
• 10. Just-in-time systems, continuous-improvement strategies, and production
efficiencies.
• 11. Updating policies and procedures in keeping with latest government regulations
and organizational changes
.
• 12. Organizational outcomes such as increased sales, market share, profits,
growth, and effectiveness.
• 13. Brand loyalty, product life cycle, and product innovation.
• 14. Consumer complaints.
• 15. Impression management, logos, and image building.
• 16. Product positioning, product modification, and new product
development.
• 17. Cost of capital, valuation of firms, dividend policies, and inventory
decisions
Advantages of Business research
• Business research helps to identify opportunities and threats.
• It helps identify problems and using this information, wise decisions
can be made to tackle the issue appropriately.
• It helps to understand customers better and hence can be useful to
communicate better with the customers or stakeholders.
• Risks and uncertainties can be minimized by conducting business
research in advance.
• Financial outcomes and investments that will be needed can
be planned effectively using business research.
• Such research can help track competition in the business
sector.
• Business research can enable a company to make wise
decisions as to where to spend and how much.
• Business research can enable a company to stay up-to-date
with the market and its trends and appropriate innovations
can be made to stay ahead in the game.

• Business research helps to measure reputation

WHY IS BUSINESS RESEARCH IMPORTANT?

• Business research helps businesses understand their customers’ buying

patterns, preferences and pain points, gain deeper insights into the
contenders, current market trends, and demographics.

• Using effective strategies to understand the demand and supply of the

market, businesses can always stay ahead of the competition.

• Using business research, they can reduce costs and design solutions that aim
at the market demand and their target audience.
See also
•Chances of failures are less with business research as it gives an idea of
the target customers and the perfect time to launch a product.

• In addition, with a deep understanding of brand value, businesses can

constantly innovate to meet customer requirements.

•This is essential to grow market share and revenue. The SWOT analysis
in business research is crucial to make an informed decision and making
the business a huge success.
 Types Of Research
• Descriptive vs. Analytical: Descriptive research includes
surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds.
• The major purpose of descriptive research is description of the
state of affairs as it exists at present.
• In social science and business research we quite often use the
term Ex post facto research for descriptive research studies.
• The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has
no control over the variables; he can only report what has
happened or what is happening
• Most ex post facto research projects are used for descriptive studies in
which the researcher seeks to measure such items as, for example,
frequency of shopping, preferences of people, or similar data.
• Ex post facto studies also include attempts by researchers to discover
causes even when they cannot control the variables.
• The methods of research utilized in descriptive research are survey
methods of all kinds, including comparative and correlational methods.
• In analytical research, on the other hand, the researcher has to use facts or
information already available, and analyze these to make a critical
evaluation of the material.
Applied vs. Fundamental:

• Research can either be applied (or action) research or fundamental (to

basic or pure) research.

• Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem

facing a society or an industrial/business organisation, whereas
fundamental research is mainly concerned with generalisations and with
the formulation of a theory.

• “Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake is termed ‘pure’ or ‘basic’

research.”Research concerning some natural phenomenon or relating to
pure mathematics are examples of fundamental research.
Similarly, research studies, concerning human behavior carried on with a
view to make generalizations about human behavior, are also examples of
fundamental research, but research aimed at certain conclusions (say, a
solution) facing a concrete social or business problem is an example of
applied research.

Research to identify social, economic or political trends that may affect a

particular institution or the copy research (research to find out whether
certain communications will be read and understood) or the marketing
research or evaluation research are examples of applied research.

Thus, the central aim of applied research is to discover a solution for some
pressing practical problem, whereas basic research is directed towards finding
information that has a broad base of applications and thus, adds to the already
existing organized body of scientific knowledge
Quantitative vs. Qualitative:
• Quantitative research is based on the measurement of
quantity or amount.
• It is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in
terms of quantity.
• Qualitative research, on the other hand, is concerned
with qualitative phenomenon, i.e., phenomena relating
to or involving quality or kind.
• For instance, when we are interested in investigating the
reasons for human behaviour (i.e., why people think or
do certain things),
we quite often talk of ‘Motivation Research’, an important type of
qualitative research.
This type of research aims at discovering the underlying motives and
desires, using in depth interviews for the purpose.

Other techniques of such research are word association tests, sentence

completion tests, story completion tests and similar other projective
techniques.

Attitude or opinion research i.e., research designed to find out how people
feel or what they think about a particular subject or institution is also
qualitative research.
Conceptual vs. Empirical
• Conceptual research is that related to some abstract idea(s) or theory.
• It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new
concepts or to reinterpret existing ones.
• On the other hand, empirical research relies on experience or
observation alone, often without due regard for system and theory.
• It is data-based research, coming up with conclusions which are
capable of being verified by observation or experiment.
• We can also call it as experimental type of research. In such a research
it is necessary to get at facts firsthand, at their source, and actively to go
about doing certain things to stimulate the production of desired
information.
• In such a research, the researcher must first provide himself with a
working hypothesis or guess as to the probable results. He then works
to get enough facts (data) to prove or disprove his hypothesis.
• He then sets up experimental designs which he thinks will manipulate the
persons or the materials concerned so as to bring forth the desired
information.
• Such research is thus characterized by the experimenter’s control over the
variables under study and his deliberate manipulation of one of them to study
its effects.
• Empirical research is appropriate when proof is sought that certain variables
affect other variables in some way.

• Evidence gathered through experiments or empirical studies is today

considered to be the most powerful support possible for a given hypothesis
 Some Other Types of Research
• Form the point of view of time, we can think of research either as one-time
research or longitudinal research.
• In the former case the research is confined to a single time-period, whereas
in the latter case the research is carried on over several time-periods.
• Research can be field-setting research or laboratory research or simulation
research, depending upon the environment in which it is to be carried out.
• Research can as well be understood as clinical or diagnostic research.
• Such research follow case-study methods or in depth approaches to reach
the basic causal relations. Such studies usually go deep into the causes of
things or events that interest us, using very small samples and very deep
probing data gathering devices.
While doing conclusion oriented research, a researcher is free
to pick up a problem, redesign the enquiry as he proceeds and
is prepared to conceptualize as he wishes.

Decision-oriented research is always for the need of a

decision maker and the researcher in this case is not free to
embark upon research according to his own inclination.

Operations research is an example of decision oriented

research since it is a scientific method of providing executive
departments with a quantitative basis for decisions regarding
operations under their control.
 7 STEPS OF RESEARCH
PROCESS
• Step One: Define research problem
• Step Two: Review of literature
• Step Three: Formulate hypotheses
• Step Four: Preparing the research design
• Step Five: Data collection
• Step Six: Data analysis
• Step Seven: Interpretation and report writing
 ff

Define
Review the Formulate Design
research Collect data
literature hypotheses research
problem

f
ff

Analyse Interpret
data and report

Where f = feed back(helps in controlling the sub system

ff= feed forward(serves the vital function of providing criteria for evaluation
Step One: Define Research Problem
There are two types of research problem, viz., those
relate to states of nature
relationship between variables.

Essentially two steps areinvolved in defineresearch

problem, viz.,
understanding the problem thoroughly and
 rephrasing the same into meaningful terms from
an point of view.
 Step Two: Review of
Literature

Once the problem is define, a brief summary of it

should be written down. It is compulsory for a
research worker writing a thesis for a Ph.D. degree to
write a synopsis of topic and submit it to necessary
committee or the research board for approval.
 Step Three: Formulate Hypothesis

Formulate hypothesis is tentative assumption made in

order to draw out and test its logical or empirical
consequences. Hypothesis should be very specific and
limited to the piece of research in hand because it has
to be tested.
The role of the hypothesis is to guide the researcher by
delimiting the area of research and to keep him on the
right track.
Step Four: Preparing the Research Design

 The function of research design is to provide for the

collection of relevant evidence with minimal
expenditure of effort, time and money.
Research purpose may be grouped into
four categories, viz., (1) Exploration,
Description,(3)
(2)
Diagnosis, and (4) Experimentation.
Step Five: Data
Collection
Primary data can be collected through:
By Observation
Through personal interview
Through telephone interview
By mailing of questionnaries
Through Schedules
 Step Six: Data
Analysis
The analysis of data requires a number of closely related
operations such as establishment of categories.

This stage mainly include :

1. Coding
2. Editing
3. Tabulation
 Step Seven: Interpretation and Report
Writing
• Researcher has to prepare the report of what has been done by him.

•Writing of report includes:

1. the preliminary pages;
2. the main text, and
3. the end matter.
A research proposal is a document proposing a research project,
generally in the sciences or academia, and generally constitutes a
request for sponsorship of that research.
 Proposals are evaluated on the cost and potential impact of the
proposed research, and on the soundness of the proposed plan for
carrying it out.
 Research proposals generally address several key points:
What research question(s) will be addressed, and how they will be
addressed
 How much time and expense will be required for the research
 What prior research has been done on the topic
 How the results of the research will be evaluated
 How the research will benefit the sponsoring organization and other
parties
 What is Research Design?
  Itis a pattern or an outline of research project’s workings. It is the
statement of essential elements of a study that provides basic guidelines
of conducting the project.
 It is same as the blue print of architect’s work.
 The research design is similar to broad plan or model that states how
the entire research project would be conducted.
 It is desirable that it must be in written form and must be simple and
clearly stated.
 The real project is carried out as per the research design laid down in
advance.
 Contents of Research Design:
• 1. Statement of research objectives, i.e., why the research project is to be
conducted
• 2. Type of data needed
• 3. Definition of population and sampling procedures to be followed
• 4. Time, costs, and responsibility specification
 Contd…..
• 5. Methods, ways, and procedures used for collection of data
• 6. Data analysis – tools or methods used to analyze data
• 7. Probable output or research outcomes and possible actions to be taken
based on those outcomes
 Types of Research Design
• Basically, there can be three types of research designs – exploratory
research design, descriptive research design, and experimental (or causal)
research design. Use of particular research design depends upon type of
problem under study.
  Exploratory Research Design:
• This design is followed to discover ideas and insights to generate possible
explanations.
• It helps in exploring the problem or situation.
• It is, particularly, emphasized to break a broad vague problem statement
into smaller pieces or sub-problem statements that help forming specific
hypothesis.
• The hypothesis is a conjectural (imaginary, speculative, or
abstract) statement about the relationship between two or more
variables.
• Naturally, in initial state of the study, we lack sufficient
understanding about problem to formulate a specific
hypothesis.
• Similarly, we have several competitive explanations of
marketing phenomenon.
• Exploratory research design is used to establish priorities
among those competitive explanations.
• The exploratory research design is used to increase familiarity of the
analyst with problem under investigation.
• This is particularly true when researcher is new in area, or when problem
is of different type.
 This design is followed to realize following
purposes:
• 1. Clarifying concepts and defining problem
• 2. Formulating problem for more precise investigation
• 3. Increasing researcher’s familiarity with problem
• 4. Developing hypotheses
• 5. Establishing priorities for further investigation
 Conclusion
• Exploratory research design is characterized by flexibility to gain insights and
develop hypotheses.
• It does not follow a planned questionnaire or sampling.
• It is based on literature survey, experimental survey, and analysis of selected
cases.
• Unstructured interviews are used to offer respondents a great deal of freedom.
No research project is purely and solely based on this design. It is used as
complementary to descriptive design and causal design.
Causal or Experimental Research Design:

• Causal research design deals with determining cause and effect

relationship. It is typically in form of experiment.
• In causal research design, attempt is made to measure impact of
manipulation on independent variables (like price, products, advertising
and selling efforts or marketing strategies in general) on dependent
variables (like sales volume, profits, and brand image and brand loyalty). 
 Contd…
• It has more practical value in resolving marketing problems. We
can set and test hypotheses by conducting experiments.
• Test marketing is the most suitable example of experimental
marketing in which the independent variable like price, product,
promotional efforts, etc., are manipulated (changed) to measure its
impact on the dependent variables, such as sales, profits, brand
loyalty, competitive strengths product differentiation and so on.
 Descriptive Research Design
• Descriptive research design is typically concerned with
describing problem and its solution.
• It is more specific and purposive study.
• Before rigorous attempts are made for descriptive study, the
well-defined problem must be on hand.
• Descriptive study rests on one or more hypotheses.
• For example, “our brand is not much familiar,” “sales volume is
stable,” etc. It is more precise and specific.
• Unlike exploratory research, it is not flexible.
• Descriptive research requires clear specification of who, why,
what, when, where, and how of the research. Descriptive design
is directed to answer these problems.
QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
Characteristics of a Good Questionnaire
Characteristics of a Good Questionnaire
Characteristics of a good question
STEPS INVOLVED IN DESIGNING A QUESTIONNAIRE