Research

The lecture for the week was based on the topic "research" where the class was taught how to conduct a proper research and different types of research.

What is research?

Research is the process of finding solution to a problem after a thorough study and analysis of the situational factors (Sekaran, 2000)

According to Sekaran (2000), a business research is an organized, systematic, data-based, critical, objective, scientific inquiry or investigation in to a specific problem with the purpose of finding solutions to it.

In business wise, research provides managers with the ability of identifying the problems in certain areas of the organization in order to find solutions and overcome them.

Data gathered in an investigation can be under two categories:

Primary data- This is often data that is collected through a primary investigation such as interviews, observations, questionnaires, surveys, etc. (Sekaran, 2000)

Secondary data- This is basically data collected through another researcher’s work which is mostly freely available through the internet mostly. (Sekaran, 2000)

According to Sekaran (2000) there are a few types of research:

·        Applied research

·        Basic or Fundamental research

·        Pure research

There are also two main types of research methods:

Qualitative- Detailed descriptions on specific situation(s) using ways like interviews and observations.

Quantitative- Numerical descriptions using statistics (frequency, average)

(University of North Carolina, 2008)

References:

Sekaran. U. (2000) Research Methods for Business- A Skill Building Approach.

University of North Carolina (2007), "Types of Research Methods", Available from: http://archives.gadoe.org/DMGetDocument.aspx/Types.of.Research.Methods.SERVE%20Center.pdf?p=6CC6799F8C1371F6C790A38569315032FE8B3FDBE6A7D64BCE3B4886D72BD474&Type=D Accessed on: 22nd November 2012.