Question 2: (A) Write short notes on Meaning & Definition of Business Research

Method, Types of Research, and Research Cycle.

Simply research would be initiated in the business when something is not going well, when a need for change is desired,
when an organisation face any issue/problem, when a business sought answers to specific questions, comes in the
process of research. The first step in research to know where and what is the problem, once the problem is identified
clearly, steps can be taken to gather information relevant to the problem and issues. This entire process where we try to
solve a problem, search for answers to questions is called research.

Research can be defined as the search for knowledge or any systematic investigation to establish facts.

Therefore, Business Research involves acquiring information and knowledge for professional or commercial purposes
such as determining opportunities and goals for a business. An example of business research is gathering sales
information and writing a detailed report on marketing and sales.

Types of Business Research: There are two types of Business Research namely
1. Applied Business Research
2. Basic Business Research

Applied business research comes out from work related problems that need timely solutions. For example a product
may not be selling well and the manager might want to find the reasons for this in order to take action or Business is
facing problems in retaining employees, or there is higher degree of absenteeism in the business. All these are problems
that require the business to find immediate solutions; otherwise the business would fail to run smoothly. Thus research
carried out with the intention of applying the results of the findings to solve specific problems is applied business
research.

Applied research is designed to solve practical problems of the modern world, rather than to acquire knowledge for
knowledge's sake. The goal of applied research is to improve the human condition. It focuses on analysis and solving
social and real life problems. This research is generally conducted on a large scale basis and is expensive. As such, it is
often conducted with the support of some financing agency like the national government, public corporation, world
bank, UNICEF, UGC, Etc. According to Hunt, “applied research is an investigation for ways of using scientific knowledge to
solve practical problems” for example:- improve agriculture crop production, treat or cure a specific disease, improve the
energy efficiency of homes, offices, how can communication among workers in large companies be improved.

Basic business research is where the motive is to generate a body of knowledge by developing an understanding on how
certain problems that occur in the organizations could be solved. There is a definite possibility that organizations might
transfer the learning from the research to the workplace for problem solving. For instance a research carried out at a
university facility on “Motivating Employees in times Recession with Low Pay” could be a useful piece of work, and could
be applied to practical settings when businesses are facing downturn. Thus research done primarily to enhance
understanding on certain problems that commonly occur in organizations is called Basic, fundamental or pure research.

This research is conducted largely for the enhancement of knowledge, and is research which does not have immediate
commercial potential. The research which is done for human welfare, animal welfare and plant kingdom welfare. It is
called basic, pure, fundamental research. The main motivation here is to expand man's knowledge, not to create or
invent something. According to Travers, “Basic Research is designed to add to an organized body of scientific knowledge
and does not necessarily produce results of immediate practical value.” Such a research is time and cost intensive.
(Example: A experimental research that may not be or will be helpful in the human progress.)

Research can be classified in many different ways on the basis of the methodology of research, the knowledge it creates,
the user group, the research problem it investigates etc.

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Problem oriented research

Research is done by industry apex body for sorting out problems faced by all the companies. Eg:- WTO does problem
oriented research for developing countries, in India agriculture and processed food export development authority
(APEDA) conduct regular research for the benefit of agri-industry.

• As the name indicates, Problem identifying researches are undertaken to know the exact nature of problem that is
required to be solved.

• Here, one clarification is needed when we use the term ‘Problem’, it is not a problem in true sense. It is usually a
decision making dilemma or it is a need to tackle a particular business situation.

• It could be a difficulty or an opportunity.

For e.g.:-Revenue of Mobile company has decreased by 25% in the last year. The cause of the problem can be any one of
the following:

• Poor quality of the product. • Lack of continuous availability. • Not so effective advertising campaign. • High price. •
Poor calibre / lack of motivation in sales people/marketing team. • Tough competition from imported brands. •
Depressed economic conditions

• In the same case, suppose the prime cause of problem is poor advertising campaign & secondary cause is higher
pricing. • To tackle the problem of poor advertising, we have to answer questions like, what can be the new advertising
campaign, who can be the brand ambassador, which media, which channel, at what time & during which programme
advertisements will be broadcast.

Problem Solving

This type of research is done by an individual company for the problem faced by it. Marketing research and market
research are the applied research. For eg:- videocon international conducts research to study customer satisfaction level,
it will be problem solving research. In short, the main aim of problem solving research is to discover some solution for
some pressing practical problem.

Quantitative Research

This research is based on numeric figures or numbers. Quantitative research aim to measure the quantity or amount and
compares it with past records and tries to project for future period. In social sciences, “quantitative research refers to
the systematic empirical investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships”. The objective
of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories or hypothesis pertaining to
phenomena.

The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides fundamental connection between
empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. Statistics is the most widely used
branch of mathematics in quantitative research. Statistical methods are used extensively with in fields such as economics
and commerce.

In sum, the research using the normative approach conducts why may be called quantitative research as the inferences
from it are largely based on quantitative data. Moreover, objectivity is the primary guard so that the research may be
replicated by others, if necessary.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research presents non-quantitative type of analysis. Qualitative research is collecting, analyzing and
interpreting data by observing what people do and say. Qualitative research refers to the meanings, definitions,

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characteristics, symbols, metaphors, and description of things. Qualitative research is much more subjective and uses
very different methods of collecting information, mainly individual, in-depth interviews and focus groups.

The nature of this type of research is exploratory and open ended. Small numbers of people are interviewed in depth
and or a relatively small number of focus groups are conducted. Qualitative research can be further classified in the
following type.

I. Phenomenology:-a form of research in which the researcher attempts to understand how one or more individuals
experience a phenomenon. Eg:-we might interview 20 victims of bhopal tragedy.

II. Ethnography:- this type of research focuses on describing the culture of a group of people. A culture is the shared
attributes, values, norms, practices, language, and material things of a group of people. Eg:-the researcher might decide
to go and live with the tribal in Andaman island and study the culture and the educational practices.

III. Case study:-is a form of qualitative research that is focused on providing a detailed account of one or more cases. Eg:-
we may study a classroom that was given a new curriculum for technology use.

IV. Grounded theory:- it is an inductive type of research, based or grounded in the observations of data from which it
was developed; it uses a variety of data sources, including quantitative data, review of records, interviews, observation
and surveys

V. Historical research:-it allows one to discuss past and present events in the context of the present condition, and allows
one to reflect and provide possible answers to current issues and problems. E.g:-the lending pattern of business in the
19th century.

In addition to the above, we also have the descriptive research. Fundamental research, of which this is based on
establishing various theories

Also the research is classified into:

Descriptive research, Analytical research, Fundamental research, Conceptual research, Empirical research, One time
research or longitudinal research, Field-setting research or laboratory research or simulation research, Clinical or
diagnostic research, Exploratory research, Historical research, Conclusion oriented research, Case study research, Short
term research.

The Research Cycle:

The Research Cycle is an original idea of Jamie McKenzie that details how students should complete research
assignments, and how teachers should teach their students to complete research assignments. The information
below will guide you to what we believe is the best way for research work to be completed.
The main steps in the Research Cycle are...
Questioning- determine the problem to be solved and the questions to ask to get it done
Planning- decide where to seek information and how to store it
Gathering- refer to the plan and collect sources
Sorting & Sifting- reduce the gathered information to that which is relevant and insightful
Synthesizing- information is reshaped into a new whole in order to find focus
Evaluating- determination is made to move on to next stage or revise efforts with another cycle
Reporting- production of final work

The focus of the Research Cycle is the initial step of Questioning.

This is an example of how the Research Cycle might be done.

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Picture Credit McKenzie, J. (1999, December). The Research cycle. Retrieved from http://www.fno.org/dec99/rcycle.html