BUS 305Week 4

Agenda

• Research• Secondary• Primary

• Documenting research

Reasons for research

• Understanding and knowing as opposed to assuming and guessing

• Market environment, competitive environment, financial and economic environment, regulatory and compliance etc. all require understanding and knowing

• What other examples can you think if where some form of research is required?

• How does research improve chances of success in business? Individual or organizational?

Two types of research

• Primary• Secondary• How do businesses use each?• How important is research in a business

environment?

Secondary Research

• Determine the goals of research and available tools/resources

• Databases• Internet

• Kinds of information:• Peer reviewed• Reports (topical, industry, company)• Trade publications• Magazines• Newspapers

Evaluating information

• Credibility• Authority• Recent/current/up-to-date• Accurate• Reliable• Relevant

Search engine literacy

• What is being searched? How?

• Statistical• Inputs: natural language

• Keyword• Inputs: terms and connector

• How does each work? When is one better than the other? Is easy always ‘easy’? Why or why not?

Primary research

• Understanding and knowing compared to assuming and guessing applies to primary research as well

• Original research• Examples: Surveys, questionnaires, focus groups,

interviews, observations• First steps: Determine what you are trying to

achieve• Avoid biases!

Primary research purposes

• To understand the problem (background)• To test viability of recommendations or new ideas

(feasibility)

Testing ideas or recommendations

• Feasibility studies• Will the idea or recommendation or suggestion ‘fly’• Test products, concepts, etc. for viability• How will you test your recommendations in your

analytical report for viability/utility?

• Brainstorm what you will ‘test’ or try to better understand with primary research. What questions will you ask?

Surveys

• Surveymonkey is easy to use in order to create free surveys

• What types of questions can you use? • Open-ended (qualitative/ethnographic research)• Informational (ask background about subjects that

might correlate to recommendations or choices)• Reichert scale (Agree strongly to disagree strongly

scale)

Drawing conclusions from surveys

• Confidence intervals• Population size• Statistical relevance—what is statistically relevant?

Depends…

Documenting Research

• Plagiarism isn’t just an academic problem• Have to give credit in real world too• Citation establishes credibility as well authority in

addition to being the correct choice ethically. What does this mean?

Two parts to documentation

• Citation• References• What’s the difference?

Citations

• Placed in text to indicate the exact moment you are using someone else’s work

• Using means• Quoting• Paraphrasing• Summarizing

References

• Placed at the end of a document to provide further information so that cited sources can be found in order to review for more information

Format

• APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian and more• Over 60 different commonly used citation methods

and styles• In the real world what does this look like?

Refworks

• Easily allows you to automate the citation process• Takes drudgery out or citation the same way

spreadsheets take drudgery out of calculation

Annotated bibliography

• Reference list that also includes basic information about the source and why you are using it

• No more than three-fours sentences• Entries look like this:

Germano, M. (2011). The library value deficit. The Bottom Line, 24(2), 100-106. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/08880451111169124

Scholarly article that examines the role of user perception in value creation. Argues that libraries have not done enough to convey their actual usefulness as opposed to assumed usefulness. Recommends marketing strategies based upon meeting needs. Will use this article to convey the importance and benefits of “needs based” marketing.

Begin secondary research on your analytical report project

• Today: Think about the ‘background’ of your problem (How big is it? Why is it important? Who is affected? What are the implications of it?) Also, think about recommendations regarding ‘fixing’ the problem or issue; Find secondary materials that guide you here

• Start to develop an outline/overview of what your report will cover

• Wednesday you will learn more about citation and should be able to produce a preliminary bibliography of resources you will use with annotations regarding why each source is important to your research