Resnotes

Week 1 – February 07, 2011

Post in Classroom Forum team members.

No late assignments will be accepted.

Overview of Business Research

What is Business Research?

* A process of determining, acquiring, analyzing, synthesizing, and disseminating relevant business data, information, and insights to decision makers in ways that mobilize the organization to take appropriate business actions that, in turn, maximize business performance

* Start with defining a problem, gather information, identify alternatives, and make a decision.

* Decision-making = choosing the most viable alternative solution

Types of Business Research

* Pure, or basic research: Research done to generate body of knowledge or contribute to the building of existing knowledge in a functional area of business.

* Not geared towards applications.

* Academic

* Applied Research: Research done with the intention of applying the results of the findings to solve specific problems experienced by organizations

* How to apply the pure research

Managers and Research

* Being knowledgeable about research and research methods help managers to –

Ethics and Research

* Refers to a code of conduct or expected societal norm of behavior while conducting research

* Should be observed at each step of the research process

* Ethical principles apply to

* Organization that sponsors the research

* Researchers who undertake the study

* Data suppliers

The Research Process

[Research Process Graph]

Broad Problem Area

* Entire situation where one sees a possible need for research and problem solving

* No need to try and identify specific problem issues in this stag

Preliminary Data Collection

* Unstructured interviews, structured interviews, and library research

* Primary data vs. Secondary data

Problem Definition

* Problem: Gap between actual and desired idea states

Problem Statement

* Differentiate among...