business article

1. Business Research & Stages
 not intuitive or haphazardly gathered
 accurate and objective
 relevant to all aspects of the business
 limited by one’s definition of business
It involves establishing objectives and gathering relevant information to obtain
the answer to a business issue. Business research is a field of practical study in
which an organization obtains data and analyses them in order to better manage
the company.

2. Stages of the research process
1–2
Research Design Formulation
Defining the information needed
Primary / Secondary Data
Qualitative Data
Quantitative Data
Measurement & Scaling
Questionnaire Design
Sampling Process
Estimation Procedure

3. 1–3
Applied and Basic Business Research
• Applied business research:
 conducted to address a specific
business decision for a specific firm
or organization.
 Example:
 Should McDonald’s add Italian pasta
dinners to its menu?
 Which health insurance plan should a
business provide for its employees?

4. 1–4
The Scientific Method
 researchers use knowledge
and evidence to reach
objective conclusions
about the real world.
 The analysis and
interpretation of empirical
evidence to confirm or
disprove prior conceptions

5. 1–5
When is Business Research Needed?
• The need for research, centers on:
1. Time constraints
2. The availability of data
3. The nature of the decision to be made
4. Benefits versus costs (the value of the research
information in relation to costs)
 Will the payoff or rate of return be worth the investment?
 Will the information improve the quality of the managerial
decision enough to warrant the expenditure?
 Is the expenditure the best use of the available funds?

6. 1–6
Determining When to Conduct Business Research

7. 1–7
Business Research in the 21st Century
• Communication Technologies
 Always “connected”—time, place, and distance are
irrelevant.
 Decreases in information acquisition, storage, access, and
transmission costs.
• Global Business Research
 Business research is increasingly global.
 Must understand the nature of particular markets.
 Cross-validation
 Verify that the empirical findings from one culture also exist and
behave similarly in another culture.

8.  Skewness
 Measure of the degree of asymmetry of a
frequency distribution
Skewed to left
Symmetric or unskewed
Skewed to right
 Kurtosis
 Measure of flatness or peakedness of a frequency
distribution
Platykurtic (relatively flat)
Mesokurtic (normal)
Leptokurtic (relatively peaked)
Skewness and Kurtosis

9. Skewed to left
Skewness

10. Skewness
Symmetric

11. Skewness
Skewed to right

12. Symmetric Bimodal Distribution
Symmetric distribution with two Modes
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
40
30
20
10
0
X
Frequency
10
15
35
20
35
15
10
Mean = Median

13. Kurtosis
Platykurtic - flat distribution

14. Kurtosis
Mesokurtic - not too flat and not too peaked

15. Kurtosis
Leptokurtic - peaked distribution

16.  For roughly mound-shaped and symmetric
distributions, approximately:
68% 1 standard deviation of the
mean
95% Lie within 2 standard deviations of the mean
Almost
All
3 standard deviations of the mean
Empirical Rule