Sources of Information in Business Research

The following are sources of information used in the business world:

1. Goals- goals related to sales, market share, return on investment, profitability, customer
acquisition, customer satisfaction, customer retention, employee productivity, production
efficiency, maximization of stock price etc. whether codified in a written plan or detailed
only in an Entrepreneurs brain. To assist in making increasingly complex decisions on
goals, strategies and tactics. Managers first turn to information drawn from the decision
support system combined with that generated by business intelligence on competitive
and environmental activity.

2. Decision Support-The need to complete one or many exchanges with its prospective
customers, the members or constituents drives every organization. If organized for
retrieval, collectively these data elements constitute a decision support system
(DSS).Today, sophisticated managers have developed DSS where data can be
accessed in real time (as transactions are completed).Catalog provide mangers with the
knowledge of exactly what tactics generate a transaction from a particular individual
within their prospective and current customer databases, as well as just how profitable
each customer is to the company and an estimate of that customer’s lifetime value to the
company. Such managers have a distinct advantage in strategic and tactical planning
over those without real-time access to transactional data.

3. Strategy: Strategy is defined as the general approach an organization will follow to

achieve its goals. An example, a restaurant was receiving comments that the friendly
atmosphere was changing. This perception may have been the result of a change in
strategy. A firm usually implements more than one strategy at a time. Microsoft recently,
completed a major corporate restructuring. It decide to tie its 600 managers
compensation, not to sales and profits, but to levels of customer satisfaction as
measures by periodic customer satisfaction surveys.

4. Business Intelligence: Because no decision exists in a vacuum, the decision-maker must

have a broad knowledge of the firm’s environment. A business intelligence system (BIS)
is designed to provide the manager with ongoing information about events and trends in
the technological economic, political and legal, demographic, cultural, social and most
critically, competitive arenas. Such information is compiled from a variety of sources,
often data from a DSS or BIS stimulate the question should we do business research?

5. Tactics: Business research also contributes significantly to the design tactics. Those
specific timed activities that execute a strategy, Business research also can be used to
help a manager decide which of several tactics is likely to successfully execute the
desired strategy. In our earlier example, our restaurant manager might have changed
the menu (marketing tactic) to feature entrees that could be prepared faster (operations
 tactic) and delivered to a table more quickly. The manager might also have instituted a
new training program (HR tactic) to implement a new zoned, table-coverage structure
(operations tactic), along with a new sales-incentive program (HR tactic) that
discouraged the wait staff from making small talk with patrons and rewarded teamwork
and efficiency.

Steps in Research Process:

1. Formulation of Research Problem- The formulation of the problem is composed of three

aspects:

A) The specification of the unit of analysis for the study

B) The identification of the particular units within the scope of study

C) The specification of the kind of information looked for concerning those units. Understanding
the problem and rephrasing the same into meaningful terms are the two steps involved in
formulation of research.

2. Survey and Review of Literature-The second step: is necessary for research to undertake
extensive literature survey.

A) What others have said about this topic, what theories have been addressed to it and what
are the flaws in the exciting research can be understood by reviewing the literature.

B) A systematic review of the related literature can show how another researcher handled a
similar problem. It can suggest a method of dealing with the problem. This evaluation helps with
research by comparing it with the efforts made by others.

3. Formulation of Hypothesis-The third step is to formulate one more hypothesis.

A) The suggested explanation or solution to the problem formulated as a proposition is called a

hypothesis.

B) A good hypothesis must be conceptually clear, and it should be related to a body of theory. It
should have variables which could be put to empirically test. Hypothesis is never formulated in
the form of a question. It should be empirically testable.

C). The statement of the hypothesis should not contradictory. Statement of hypothesis must be
sharp, operative and testable.
4. Research Design-Planning research design is the fourth step in the process of research.

A) Reliability and validity of the research requires the detailed strategy of how the research
will be conducted.
B) The designing is concerned with making controlled scientific inquiry.
C) Research design provides the blueprint for the research. It limits boundaries of design,
offers a guide that directs the research action which reduces time and cost.
D) The research design differs according to the research purpose research need to prepare
the practical research design.

5. Selecting Sample-The fifth step in research is selecting a sample.

A) A sample is any number of persons, units or objects selected to represent the

“universe” or ‘population”’ according to some rule or plan.
B) The research is expected to draw a sample from the universe in such a manner that
the findings based on it will correspond closely to those that would have been obtained
from the study of universe.
C) The research must select the sample in such a way that the selected sample is
sufficiently representative of the universe. Sample is part of a whole, taken to show what
the rest is like.

6.Data Collection: The sixth step is actual collection of facts and information in accordance with
the research design.

A) Having drawn an adequate sample from the universe, the research proceeds to
administer the measuring instruments or tools of the data collection on the items in the
sample.
B) Research must ensure that the data is reliable and free from bias.
C) Collection involves the basic definitions for the concepts to be investigated, specific
field procedures and design of instruments for recording the actual data. A vast amount
of historical as well as current statistics, ranging from various census publications to
special purpose survey of particular industries and products are already through
government publications. Example: Each district of the data of India has a ‘District
Statistical Office’. Every year this office publishes a board survey report of concerned
district. This report is called;’ Socio-Economic Survey of the District’. A wide range of
Statistics is available in this survey report.

7. Data Analysis: The seventh step in research is the analysis of data.

A) The purpose of the analysis is to summarize the completed observations in such a manner
that they yield answers to the research question. The researcher must classify tabulate and
compare the data to get the results.
B) Data analysis seeks to determine how the units covered in the research project respond to
the items under investigation.

C) The researcher needs to work out central tendencies, deviations, correlations, etc., to
describe and summarize the data obtained on his/her sample.

D) Data analysis can be classified into univariate analysis, bivariate analysis and multivariate
analysis deal with two characteristics of interest and multivariate analysis deals with more than
two characteristics of interest.

8. Hypothesis Testing: Hypothesis testing is an eight step in research.

A) The correctness of the hypothesis is assessed by a test of significance. Stating the

hypothesis and selecting the level of significance are the two important steps involved in
hypothesis testing,

B) For testing a hypothesis, the concepts in a measurable way. Hypothesis testing will result in
either accepting the hypothesis or in rejecting it. In case a hypothesis fits the findings, theory
from which the hypothesis was deducted would be proved. If the hypothesis is disproved, the
blow of disproof will pass on the theory, which originated the hypothesis. If the researcher had
no hypothesis to start with, he might seek to explain his findings on the basis of some theory.

9. Interpretation Result: Interpretation of result is the ninth and important step in research.

A) Research is wasted and useless, unless it influences actions.

B) Results must be interpreted into action and recommendations must also be communicated in
an logical manner to the Executive Team.

C)) The process of interpretation may quite often trigger new question, investigating in turn
further researches.

D) Interpretation will be conclusions the researcher has reached. This Interpretation of data can
descriptive, analytical or it can be from theoretical standpoint.

E) Negative results are much harder to interpret that positive result. Researcher must have an
analytical mind and he must possess techniques to be able to analyze the data given.

10. Preparation of Report: Preparation of report is last step in research.

A) The research exercise is not complete till such time as the report is published. A research
report clearly states the problem, the hypothesis, the extraction of data, the method used, The
measurement, the interpretation, the conclusions and then finally the logical result from all this
systematic activity.
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4.Unit: One

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