This document provides an overview of business research methods. It defines business research as obtaining and analyzing data to better manage a company. The objectives of business research are to gain insights, describe phenomena, and study relationships. The business research process involves identifying problems, reviewing literature, formulating hypotheses, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting findings. Both primary and secondary data collection methods are discussed.

1. BUSINESS RESEARCH
METHOD
GOURAV SISODIA
PGDM (2017-2019)

2. WHAT IS BUSINESS RESEARCH?
Business research is a field of study where company obtain data and analyse it in order to better manage
the company.
It include financial data, feedback, product research and competitive analysis.
business research methods are able to better understand their company, the position it holds in the
market and how to improve that position.

3. OBJECTIVE OF BUSINESS RESEARCH
• Gain insight into a phenomenon
• Describe a situation or phenomenon
• Study the frequency of phenomenon in a group
• To find relation between two variables

4. BUSINESS RESEARCH PROCESS
• Identifying and Defining the problem
• Review of literature
• Formulate hypothesis
• Design research (including sample design)
• Data collection
• Analyse the data (test hypothesis if any)
• Interpret and report

5. TYPES OF RESEARCH
• Descriptive vs analytical
• Applied vs fundamental
• Quantitative vs Qualitative
• Conceptual vs empirical
• Some other types of research

6. WHAT IS IN GOOD RESEARCH?
• Purpose clearly defined
• Research process detailed
• Research design thoroughly planned
• High ethical standards planned
• Limitation frankly revealed
• Adequate analysis for decision maker’s
• Good research is logical
• Good research is systematic
• Good research is empirical

7. WHY MANAGERS SHOULD KNOW RESEARCH
• Facilitates good decision making
• Prevent vested interests
• Educates to share pertinent and relevant information with researchers
• Becoming discriminating about research findings

8. COLLECTION OF DATA
 Primary data
a) It is the data which is collected for fresh and for the first time and thus happen to
be original in character and known as primary data.
b) It includes survey, questionnaire, observation method, interviews etc.
 Secondary data
a) It is the data which have been collected by someone else and which have already
been passed through the statistical process known as secondary data.
b) It includes books, journal, publications etc.

9. ADVANTAGES OF PRIMARY DATA
• It is original and fresh
• It is possible to collect information which is relevant to your study
• Research can be sure about the reliability of the data.
• Research can achieve maximum accuracy in collecting and analysing the data.

10. DISADVANTAGES OF PRIMARY DATA
• Time consuming process
• It is expensive.
• In questionnaire method, researchers can face non-response
• It is difficult to find sincere and honest interviewers and
enumerators

11. ADVANTAGES OF SECONDARY DATA
• Time saving
• It gives the possible average.
• It has been taken from the past.
• Does not take time long to collect.

12. DISADVANTAGES OF SECONDARY DATA
• Researcher does not know where it is come from and how reliable
it is.
• Data can be over complicated
• Secondary data is always outdated
• It might have not relevant data

13. WHAT IS RESEARCH PROBLEM
• A research problem refers to some difficulty which a
researcher experiences in the context of either a
theoretical or practical situation and wants to obtain a
solution for the same.

14. COMPONENTS OF RESEARCH DESIGN
• In case of exploratory research studies
• In case of descriptive and diagnosis research studies
• In case of hypothesis testing research studies

15. STEPS WHILE MAKING RESEARCH PROBLEM
• Select broad area
• Dissect broad area
• Select what interest you
• Formulate research question
• Formulate objective
• Assess objective
• Double check

16. ISSUES WHILE MAKING RESEARCH PROBLEM
• There must be an individual or a group which has some difficulty or the problem.
• There must be some objective(s) to be attained at. If one wants nothing, one cannot have a problem.
• There must be alternative means (or the courses of action) for obtaining the objective(s) one wishes to
attain. This means that there must be at least two means available to a researcher for if he has no
choice of means, he cannot have a problem.
• There must remain some doubt in the mind of a researcher with regard to the selection of alternatives.
This means that research must answer the question concerning the relative efficiency of the possible
alternatives.
• There must be some environment(s) to which the difficulty pertains.

17. WHAT IS CASE STUDY
• The case study method is a very popular form of qualitative
analysis and involves a careful and complete observation of a
social unit, be that unit a person, a family, an institution, a cultural
group or even the entire community.
• It is a method of study in depth rather than breadth.

18. ADVANTAGES OF CASE STUDY
• Good source of ideas about behaviour
• Good opportunity for innovation
• Good method to study rare phenomena
• Good method to challenge theoretical assumptions
• Good alternative or complement to the group focus of psychology

19. DISADVANTAGES OF CASE STUDY
• Hard to draw definite cause-effect conclusions
• Hard to generalize from a single case
• Possible biases in data collection and interpretation (since
single person gathers and analyses the information)

20. FEATURES OF GOOD RESEARCH DESIGN
• The means of obtaining information
• The availability and skills of the researcher and his staff, if any
• The objective of the problem to be studied
• The nature of the problem to be studied
• The availability of time and money for the research work

21. WHAT IS EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES?
• Independent variables that are not related to the purpose of the
study, but may affect the dependent variable are termed as
extraneous variables.
• Suppose the researcher wants to test the hypothesis that there is a
relationship between children’s gains in social studies achievement
and their self-concepts. In this case self-concept is an independent
variable and social studies achievement is a dependent variable

22. DEPENDANT AND INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
If one variable depends upon or is a consequence of the other variable, it is
termed as a dependent variable, and the variable that is antecedent to the
dependent variable is termed as an independent variable.
For instance, if we say that height depends upon age, then height is a
dependent variable and age is an independent variable.
Further, if in addition to being dependent upon age, height also depends upon
the individual’s sex, then height is a dependent variable and age and sex are
independent variables.

23. WHAT IS CONFOUNDED RELATIONSHIP?
• When the dependent variable is not free from the
influence of extraneous variable(s), the relationship
between the dependent and independent variables is said
to be confounded by an extraneous variable(s)

24. WHAT IS RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
• When a prediction or a hypothesised relationship is to be tested by scientific
methods, it is termed as research hypothesis. The research hypothesis is a
predictive statement that relates an independent variable to a dependent
variable. Usually a research hypothesis must contain, at least, one
independent and one dependent variable. Predictive statements which are
not to be objectively verified or the relationships that are assumed but not to
be tested, are not termed research hypotheses

25. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
• Experimental design refers to the framework or structure of an experiment
and as such there are several experimental designs.
• We can classify experimental designs into two broad categories, viz., informal
experimental designs and formal experimental designs.
• Informal experimental designs are those designs that normally use a less
sophisticated form of analysis based on differences in magnitudes
• whereas formal experimental designs offer relatively more control and use
precise statistical procedures for analysis

26. INFORMAL EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
• Before-and-after without control design
• After-only with control design
• Before-and-after with control design.

27. FORMAL EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
• Completely randomized design (C.R. Design)
• Randomized block design (R.B. Design)
• Latin square design (L.S. Design)
• Factorial designs

28. METHODS OF COLLECTION OF DATA
Primary Data
a) Observation method
b) Interview method
c) Questionnaire method
d) Schedule method
Secondary Data
a) Case study method
b) Magazines
c) Newspapers
d) Government census
e) Publications
f) Internet