COURSE OVERVIEW:
Business research is a process of acquiring detailed information of all the areas of business and using such information in maximising the sales and profit of the business. Such a study helps companies determine which product/service is most profitable or in demand. In simple words, it can be stated as the acquisition of information or knowledge for professional or commercial purpose to determine opportunities and goals for a business.
Business research can be done for anything and everything. In general, when people speak about business research it means asking research questions to know where the money can be spent to increase sales, profits or market share. Such research is critical to make wise and informed decisions.
Business research is a part of the business intelligence process. It is usually conducted to determine whether a company can succeed in a new region, to understand their competitors, or to simply select a marketing approach for a product.
Business research is one of the most effective ways to understand customers, the market and competitors. Such research helps companies to understand the demand and supply of the market. Using such research will help businesses reduce costs, and create solutions or products that are targeted to the demand in the market and the correct audience.
Business research can enable senior management to build an effective team or train or mentor when needed. Business research enables the company to track its competitors and hence can give you the upper hand to stay ahead of them. Failures can be avoided by conducting such research as it can give the researcher an idea if the time is right to launch its product/solution and also if the audience is right.
Business research is the first step that any business owner needs to set up his business, to survive or to excel in the market. The main reason why such research is of utmost importance is that it helps businesses to grow in terms of revenue, market share and brand value.
This course provides detailed information on business research and how it can be carried out using qualitative research methods or quantitative research methods.
The first part of this course starts by discussing the importance and advantages of business research. Then explores the nature of business research. Also explains the research problems and questions and how they relate to debates in research methods. Then shows how to identify and critically review relevant literature to put the problem into context.
The second part begins by discussing the different approaches and strategies for business research. Then examines the quantitative research methods for collecting and analysing quantitative data. Also, examines the qualitative research methods for collecting and analysing qualitative data. Finally, shows how to produce a clearly structured written report and an oral presentation to report research results.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the importance and advantages of business research
- Understand the nature of business research
- Distinguish business and management research from other kinds of research
- Understand the issues relating to identifying and reformulating problems for research
- Understand how the researcher affects the results of research
- Identify the key debates in research methods
- See how literature review relates to research projects
- Understand what kinds of literature should we search for
- Identify literature from primary, secondary and tertiary sources
- Undertake effective literature searching and become an effective consumer of research
- Identify the different ways of reading academic literature
- Critically analyse literature for a research project
- Apply Harvard referencing style and understand reference management
- Understand personal position concerning the different perspectives of knowledge and research which underpin research design
- Identify differing research paradigms for business
- Explain the key differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods and how and why they may be mixed
- Explain the concepts of validity and reliability in the context of business research
- Understand the classification of research
- Choose a research design for a topic and generate appropriate research questions
- Understand the business research process
- Understand and deal with key issues in quantitative data analysis
- Anticipate how the research design is affected by data collection and analysis tools
- Recognise different types of data for analysis
- Code and enter data for computer analysis
- Choose appropriate ways to present data through charts, tables and descriptive statistics
- Select appropriate statistical tools for the research variables
- Understand and deal with key issues in qualitative data analysis
- Identify a range of qualitative research methods applicable to different research topics
- Identify the key operations required in qualitative data analysis
- Understand how qualitative data can be prepared for analysis
- Identify computer based methods for qualitative data analysis
- Identify a personal approach to writing a research report
- Understand the differences between writing a report for a business audience and for academic purposes
- Identify the elements of an academic research report
- Understand what is included in a typical organisational format for a research paper
- Produce a clearly structured written report
- Produce an oral presentation of key findings
- Recognise different methods of presenting and disseminating research
COURSE DURATION:
The typical duration of this course is approximately 3-4 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.
COURSE DELIVERY:
Purchase and download course content.
ASSESSMENT:
A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.
CERTIFICATION:
Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.