Research is an academic activity and as such the term should be used in a technical sense. According to Clifford woody research companies defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis. Research is, thus, an original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge making for its advancement. It is the persuit of truth with the help of study, observation, comparison and experiment. Research may be classified into different types for the sake of better understanding of the concept. Several bases can be adopted for classification such as nature of data, branch of knowledge, extent of coverage, place of investigation, method employed, time frame and so on. The basic types of research are as follows: 1. Descriptive vs. Analytical Descriptive research includes surveys and Continue reading
Business Research Concepts
Inductive and Deductive Research Approach
Inductive Research Approach Induction is concerned with first obtaining data, discovering the truth and establishing relationships regarding the particular cases concerned. If these are found correct and operating, these are generalized Induction lays stress on establishment of the material truth of matters pertaining to the universe or population based on sample observations. In mathematics, the proof for the Binomial Theorem is based on induction method. A study of, say, a dozen, randomly chosen family run businesses reveals that the decision-making process is centralized and less transparent. And, it may be concluded that decision process is centralized and less transparent in the case of family-run businesses. Induction involves, moving-to the ‘unobserved’ many from the ‘observed’ few. There are a few types of induction. Perfect induction and intuitive induction are these. Perfect induction involves establishing a universal proposition by an exhaustive enumeration of all the instances of the category covered by Continue reading
Significance of Research
“All progress is born of inquiry. Doubt is often better than overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to invention” is a famous Hudson Maxim in context of which the significance of research can well be understood. Increased amounts of research make progress possible. Research inculcates scientific and inductive thinking and it promotes the development of logical habits of thinking and organization. Research provides the basis for nearly all government policies in our economic system. For instance, government’s budgets rest in part on an analysis of the needs and desires of the people and on the availability of revenues to meet these needs. The cost of needs has to be equated to probable revenues and this is a field where research is most needed. Through research we can devise alternative policies and can as well examine the consequences of each of these alternatives. Decision-making may not be a Continue reading
Role of Business Research in Decision Making Process
One of the best methods of collecting information is carrying out research. When research is carried out explicitly for the purpose of running businesses, it is termed as “business research”. Business research, which is also commonly known as market research, is a process by which business relevant information is collected so as to ensure that the business operations are run intelligently. With the help of business research, existing businesses are able to keep in touch with the ever-changing consumer demands and expectations and adapt accordingly. Typically, business research is aimed at gaining information that is likely to make the business more successful. While running a business, there may arise some situations which may seem difficult and management face problems as to find a solution to them. In such cases, business research can be used to making confident decisions. Business research can help the management to answer questions regarding issues varying Continue reading
Standard Error in Hypothesis Testing
The standard error is an indispensable tool in the kit of a researcher, because it is used in testing the validity of statistical hypothesis. The standard deviation of the sampling distribution of a statistic is called the standard error. The standard error is important in dealing with statistics (measures of samples) which are normally distributed. Here the use of the word “error” is justified in this connection by the fact that we usually regard the expected value to be true value and the divergence from it as error of estimation due to sampling fluctuations. The term standard error has a wider meaning than merely the standard deviation of simple sampling because of the following reasons; The standard error is mainly employed for testing the validity of a given hypothesis. Mostly two levels of significance (0.05 and 0.01) are used for testing the validity of hypotheses. At 0.05 level of significance, Continue reading
The Research Problem
The first step in research is formulating the research problem. Stefan Nowak defined a research problem as “a certain question or set of questions to which the research is to provide an answer”. Problem Identification Identifying a research problem is the first and foremost step in any research process. A researcher has to devote considerable time and attention for this. A research problem refers to some deprivation or shortcoming or a gap in knowledge that a researcher experiences in a theoretical or practical situation and wants to find a solution for the same. Research really begins when the above referred situation demanding a solution is perceived by the researcher within the realm of general topic selected by hum. The general area of interest here refers to the range of the subject matter within which he has to see and pose a specific problem for research. So, the formulation of the Continue reading