Business Research

Kristian Duremdes

Methods of Research S24

Successful businesses use business research in order to help in planning of business decisions. Business research is the organized process of gathering, interpreting and analyzing data, information and insights for the business decision makers to take appropriate actions that will maximize organizational performance. The information generated through the research process will help guide decisions and minimize risks of taking incorrect actions. Business research contributes to the knowledge of managers on research methods that may be of value for any tactical and strategic situations.

Basically, business research addresses management dilemmas, the problems and opportunities that require management decisions. It also aims to define, monitor and refine both strategies and tactics. Ultimately, the result would help improve understanding on various fields of management.

There are three kinds of information decision makers that were being tackled in the chapter namely the visionaries, standardized decision makers and intuitive decision makers. The visionaries' decisions are guided by the business research. They used developed and innovative methodologies for their research data and findings. Standardized decision makers periodically rely on research information when the think that risk for a particular strategy is too great. These are the decision makers that transitioned from being the intuitive decision makers. Intuitive decision makers are managers who based their decisions on gut-feel, intuition and instinct.

There are various types of business research. Ad hoc research is solely designed for a specific purpose and client and is conducted as a one-off study. Syndicated research is funded by a market research firm but not to any specific client and the result is available to anyone who is willing to purchase it. Omnibus research is kind of research that can be open-ended whose questions are anything under the sun or close-ended whose respondents are given choices for a particular question.

Good business research should have dependable data obtained through professionally conducted process that can be used for decision-making activities of management. The resulting data should reduce the decision-making risks of management. Good business research should contain specific defining characteristics. First, business research should clearly define the purpose, problems and decision to make to erase ambiguity. All research processes should be sufficiently detailed to permit other researchers to repeat the research. Research design should be thoroughly planned to fill every possible scenario to yield a result that is as objective as possible. High ethical standards should be in placed to protect the welfare of the research sponsors, researchers and respondents. Not all researches are perfect. Researcher