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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on File 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 13: 978-1-323-60762-6
13 Finding, Evaluating, and Processing Information LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you will be able to
1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#P7001012451000000000000000004D57)
Describe an effective process for conducting business research.
2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAF)
Define secondary research, and explain how to evaluate, locate, and document information sources.
3 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#P7001012451000000000000000004EA1)
Define primary research, and outline the steps involved in conducting surveys and interviews.
4 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#P7001012451000000000000000004F11) Describe the major tasks involved in processing research results.
5 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f5c#P7001012451000000000000000004F60) Explain how to summarize research results and present conclusions and recommendations.
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COMMUNICATION CLOSE-UP AT Strategyzer
strategyzer.com (http://strategyzer.com)
Whenever you’re gathering information for a major business writing project, you’re likely to encounter the question of how much is enough? Collecting and processing information takes time and often costs money, and it’s not always clear how much information you need in order to craft an effective report or proposal, or how much time and money you should invest to get it. Invest too little and you risk writing a flawed report. Invest too much and you’ll waste time and money that would be better put to other uses.
Business plans are a great example of this dilemma, and they have a special twist that makes information collection even more challenging. As you’ll read on page 396 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p70010124510000000000000000052bb#page_396) in Chapter 14 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000005122#P7001012451000000000000000005122) , conventional business plan covers a lot of territory, from a high-level look at strategy to details on financing, operations, marketing, and other functional areas. These reports can run to 20, 30, 40 pages or more, and you can spend weeks gathering the necessary information and distilling it down to useful formats.
Author and entrepreneur Alex Osterwalder’s approach to evaluating new business ideas offers a simpler, faster alternative than the traditional business plan.
Courtesy of Alex Osterwalder
Spending that much time on research before writing the business plan and launching the company can seem like a good idea to entrepreneurs who want to reduce start-up risks as much as possible or who want to produce high-quality reports to impress lenders or investors. In many start-up situations, however, this is precious time that entrepreneurs should be spending getting a product in front of customers to test the viability of the business concept, rather than crafting an impressive-looking plan about an idea that is still unproven. Moreover, in fast-moving markets, it is possible to spend so much time researching and writing the business plan that the target market changes by the time the plan is ready.
The special twist with business plans involves the uncertainty surrounding some of the most important information they typically contain. For example, estimating demand for a new product or service is one of the most vital aspects of planning a business—and one of the most difficult. You might spend weeks or months gathering data on comparable products and refining spreadsheets with elegant forecasting models to predict how many products you can sell and how much profit you’ll make. This projection will then be the basis of almost everything else in the business plan, from the amount of money you can attract from investors to the number of employees you should hire.
Here’s the catch: You could spend all this time writing a plan and launching a business based on this number only to find out it’s wildly off the mark. In the worst case scenario, you might’ve wasted months launching a weak business idea or a product with little or no market appeal. Even the most sophisticated estimates of market demand are still only predictions, and the only way to really know if a product is going to sell is to get it in front of customers and ask them to buy it.
In response to these uncertainties with conventional business plans, some experts now recommend a simplified, accelerated approach that gets a new business to the “point of proof” faster. One of the key thinkers behind this new approach is the Swiss author and entrepreneur Alex Osterwalder. Rather than launching businesses with elaborate planning and a conventional business plan, he proposes that companies use the Business Model Canvas. This single- sheet visual brainstorming tool helps entrepreneurs answer a handful of key questions to determine whether they have a financially viable business concept—and what to adjust if they don’t. The canvas approach helps flag some of the common stumbling points of new businesses, including financial plans that are based on shaky assumptions (or outright fantasy) and untested hypotheses about market behavior.
The Business Model Canvas and its variants don’t necessarily replace conventional business reports in all cases, and they don’t cover all the details needed to operate a business after launch, but they help entrepreneurs decide whether it makes sense to move forward. By developing and testing business concepts quickly, entrepreneurs can find out whether they have a realistic idea before investing weeks of time in detailed planning and report-writing efforts. The canvas idea has definitely captured the imagination of entrepreneurs: More than a million people bought the book that first outlined the canvas
idea, and more than 5 million have downloaded the Business Model Canvas.1
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13.1 Planning Your Research
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
1 Describe an effective process for conducting business research.
Audiences expect you to support your business messages with solid research.
Whether you’re brainstorming a new business idea using something like Strategyzer’s Business Model Canvas (profiled in the chapter-opening Communication Close-Up) or planning a conventional business report or proposal, you need to make sure your reporting, analysis, and recommendations are supported with solid research. Figure 13.1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#P7001012451000000000000000004D5B) outlines a five-step research process that will help you gather and use information efficiently; you’ll learn more about these steps in the following sections.
With so much information now online, it’s tempting just to punch some keywords into a search engine and grab the first few results that show up. However, effective and efficient research requires a more thoughtful approach. Your favorite search engine might not be able to reach the webpages that have the information you need, the information might not be online at all, it might be online but not under the search terms you’ve used, or it might not even exist in any form.
Figure 13.1 The Research Process
By following a methodical research process, you can save time and money while uncovering better information.
Researching without a plan can waste time and produce flawed results.
To maximize your chances of finding useful information and to minimize the time you spend looking for it, follow these planning steps: Familiarize yourself with the subject so that you can frame insightful questions, identify the most critical gaps in your information, and then prioritize your research needs. However, before launching any research project, be sure to take a moment or two to consider the ethics and etiquette of your approach.
MAINTAINING ETHICS AND ETIQUETTE IN YOUR RESEARCH
Your research tactics affect the people you gather data and information from and the people who read and apply your results. To avoid ethical lapses, keep the following points in mind:
Take precautions to avoid ethical lapses in your research.
• Don’t force a specific outcome by skewing your research. Approach your research with an open mind and a willingness to accept whatever you find, even if it’s not what you expect or want to see.
Privacy is a contentious issue in the research field today.
• Respect the privacy of your research participants. Privacy is a contentious issue today. Businesses believe they have a right to protect their confidential information from competitors, and consumers believe they have a right to protect their personal information from businesses.
• Document sources and give appropriate credit. Whether you are using published documents, personal interviews, or company records, citing your sources not only is fair to the people who created and provided the information but also helps your audience members confirm your information or explore it in more detail, if they so choose.
Don’t automatically assume that you can use all the ideas and information you find online.
• Respect the intellectual property and digital rights of your sources. For example, your research might turn up a great new way to sell services online, but that doesn’t mean you’re free to implement that process. It might be protected by one of the many patents that have been granted in recent years for business process models.
• Don’t extract more from your sources than they actually provide. In other words, don’t succumb to the temptation to put words in a source’s mouth. For instance, if an industry expert says that a sales increase is possible, don’t quote him or her as saying that a sales increase is probable.
• Don’t misrepresent who you are or what you intend to do with the research results. One classic example of ethical lapses in this area is known as sugging, short for selling under the guise of research. For example, a firm might seem to be conducting a survey when it is, in fact, using the questions to identify hot sales leads. Another unethical variation on sugging is following up a real survey with sales calls, using information that
respondents shared in the belief that they were only participating in a survey.2
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000005109)
Research etiquette deserves careful attention, too. For example, respect the time of anyone who agrees to be interviewed or to be a research participant, and maintain courtesy throughout the interview or research process. For more information on research ethics and etiquette, review the Code of Standards and Ethics for Survey Research published by the Council of America Survey Research Organizations (www.casro.org (http://www.casro.org) ).
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FAMILIARIZING YOURSELF WITH THE SUBJECT
Avoid false starts and blind alleys by familiarizing yourself with new subject areas before you start your research.
Give yourself some unstructured time at the beginning of the project to explore the general subject area, perhaps by reading industry publications and blogs, searching for trending topics on Twitter, visiting competitors’ websites, and interviewing experts within your organization. Scanning the tables of contents and indexes of books on the subject can give you a sense of how a broad subject area is divided into component topics.
The problem statement defines the purpose of your research and guides your investigation.
When you have a basic grasp of the subject area, develop a problem statement (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FD1) that defines the problem or purpose of your research—the decision you need to make or the conclusion you need to reach at the end of the process. You may find it easier to phrase the problem as a question, such as “How can we improve customer satisfaction?” or “Does Apple’s new TV system pose a competitive threat to us?”
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION GAPS
Focus your research by identifying the most important gaps in your information.
Your problem statement frames the purpose of your research, but it doesn’t usually tell you what specific information you need to find. Your next task is to dig deeper to discover the information gaps that need to be filled through research. You or someone in your company may already have some of the information you need, and you don’t want to waste time or money gathering information you already have.
For instance, the question “How can we improve customer satisfaction?” is too vague because many separate factors contribute to customer satisfaction. To get useful information, you would break this topic down into specific issues, such as product reliability and customer service skills. Digging further, you may discover that you don’t need to research product reliability because the company already tracks data on product repairs. However, if no one has ever measured the employees’ customer service skills, you would identify that as a definite information gap.
PRIORITIZING RESEARCH NEEDS
You usually won’t have enough time or money to answer every question that comes to mind, so setting priorities is a must.
Prioritizing your research needs is important because you won’t have the time or money to answer every question you might have. Moreover, if you’ll be using interviews or surveys, you’ll need to limit the number of questions you ask so that you don’t consume more time than people are willing to give. One simple way to prioritize is to divide your questions into “need to know” and “nice to know” and then toss out all the “nice to know” questions. If you start with a technique such as information gap analysis, you will get a clear idea of the information you truly need to collect.
13.2 Conducting Secondary Research
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
2 Define secondary research, and explain how to evaluate, locate, and document information sources.
Secondary research efforts gather and analyze information that has been previously collected for other purposes.
With a clear plan and careful prioritization, you’re ready to conduct research, and the first step is to see whether anyone else has already done some or all of the research you need. Consulting research that was done previously for another purpose is considered secondary research (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FDA) . The sources for such information include print and online periodicals, online databases, books, and other research reports. (Some companies specialize in reports on particular industries, companies, technologies, market regions, and other subjects.)
Start your research by conducting secondary research first.
Don’t let the name secondary mislead you, though. You want to start with secondary research because it can save you considerable time and money, although you may have to pay to see someone else’s results. In contrast, primary research (see page 372 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#page_372) ) is new research done specifically for the current project.
EVALUATING SOURCES
Evaluate your sources carefully to avoid embarrassing and potentially damaging mistakes.
No matter where you’re searching, it is your responsibility to separate quality information from unreliable or misleading junk to avoid corrupting your results. Social media have complicated this challenge by making many new sources of information available. On the positive side, independent sources communicating through blogs, wikis, Twitter, user-generated content sites, and podcasting channels can provide valuable and unique insights, often from experts whose voices might never be heard otherwise. On the negative side, these nontraditional information sources often lack the editorial boards and fact-checkers commonly used in traditional publishing. You cannot assume that the information you find is accurate, objective, and current. Answer the following questions about each piece of material:
• Does the source have a reputation for honesty and reliability? Naturally, you’ll feel more comfortable using information from an established source that has a reputation for accuracy. But don’t let your guard down completely; even the finest reporters and editors can make mistakes. For sources that are new or relatively unknown, your safest bet is to corroborate anything you learn with information from several other sources.
• Is the source potentially biased? The individual or organization providing the information might have a particular bias or point of view regarding the information and its context. Such bias is neither inherently bad nor unethical (unless it is being intentionally hidden), but you need to be aware of it to interpret the information you find.
• What is the purpose of the material? Was the material designed to inform others of new research, advance a position, or stimulate discussion? Was it designed to promote or sell a product? Be sure to distinguish among advertising, advocating, and informing.
• Is the author credible? Find out whether the person or the publisher is known and respected in the field. Is the author someone with hands-on experience in the subject area or merely an observer with an opinion?
• Where did the source get its information? Many sources of secondary information get their material from other secondary sources, removing you even further from the original data.
MOBILE APP
The Instapaper mobile app lets you instantly save webpages and articles to read later, a convenient capability when you’re exploring a topic and want to collect potential sources for review.
Let your readers know if you were unable to verify critical pieces of information obtained in your research.
• Can you verify the material independently? Verification can uncover biases or mistakes—which is particularly important when the information goes beyond simple facts to include projections, interpretations, and estimates. If you can’t verify critical information, let your audience know that.
• Is the material current? Make sure you are using the most current information available by checking the publication or posting date. • Is the material complete? Have you accessed the entire document or only a selection from it? If it’s a selection, which parts were excluded? Do
you need more detail?
• Are all claims supported with evidence? Are opinions presented as facts? Does the writer make broad claims, such as “most people believe . . .,” without citing any surveys to prove his or her point?
• Do the source’s claims stand up to logical scrutiny? Finally, step back and ask whether the information makes sense. If that little voice in your head says that something sounds suspicious, listen!
You probably won’t have time to conduct a thorough background check on all your sources, so focus your efforts on the most important or most suspicious pieces of information.
LOCATING SOURCES
Even if you intend to eventually conduct primary research, start with a review of any available secondary research. Inside your company, you might be able to find a variety of documents prepared for other projects that offer helpful information. Be sure to ask whether your company has a knowledge management system or some other repository for research results. (See “Managing Information (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f5c#P7001012451000000000000000004F8A) ” on page 379 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f5c#page_379) for more on this topic.) Outside the company, you can choose from a wide range of print and online resources, some of which are included in Table 13.1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DD9) on the next
page.3 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P700101245100000000000000000510B) (The list in this table represents a tiny fraction of the secondary resources available; ask a reference librarian for advice on researching specific business topics.) For instance, if you want to know more about a specific company, one of the first things you’ll need to find out is whether the company is public (sells shares of stock to the general public) or private. Public corporations, which are required to submit extensive financial reports to government agencies, usually have more information available than private companies.
Finding Information at the Library
Public, corporate, and university libraries offer an enormous array of business books, databases, newspapers, periodicals, directories, almanacs, and government publications. Some of these printed sources provide information that is not available online, and some of the online sources provide information that is available by subscription. Don’t assume that you can find everything you need through your own online research.
TABLE 13.1 Important Resources for Business Research* (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004E07)
COMPANY, INDUSTRY, AND PRODUCT RESOURCES
AnnualReports.com (http://AnnualReports.com) . Free access to annual reports from thousands of public companies.
Brands and Their Companies/Companies and Their Brands. Contains data on several hundred thousand consumer products, manufacturers, importers, marketers, and distributors. Available as an online database; ask at your library.
D&B Directories. Dun & Bradstreet publishes a variety of business databases and directories covering thousands of companies worldwide.
Hoover’s Online. Database of millions of companies, including in-depth coverage of thousands of leading companies around the world. Basic information is available free; in-depth information requires a subscription.
Manufacturing & Distribution USA. Data on thousands of companies in the manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing sectors.
NAICS Codes. North American Industry Classification System.
Reference USA. Concise information on millions of U.S. companies; subscription database.
SEC filings. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including 10Ks, 10Qs, annual reports, and prospectuses, for U.S. public firms.
Standard & Poor’s Net Advantage. Comprehensive range of directories and databases focusing on publicly traded companies and their industries and markets.
ThomasNet. Information on thousands of U.S. manufacturers, indexed by company name and product.
RESEARCH DIRECTORIES AND INDEXES
Books in Print. Database indexes millions of books, audiobooks, and video titles from around the world. Available in print and professional online versions.
Directories in Print. Information on thousands of business and industrial directories.
Encyclopedia of Associations. Index of thousands of associations, listed by broad subject category, specific subject, association, and location. Available as an online database as well.
Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature. Database of articles in general-interest magazines.
TRADEMARKS AND PATENTS
Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Weekly publications (one for trademarks and one for patents) providing official record of newly assigned trademarks and patents, product descriptions, and product names.
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark and patent information records.
STATISTICS AND OTHER BUSINESS DATA
COMPANY, INDUSTRY, AND PRODUCT RESOURCES
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Large collection of economic and government data.
Europa—The European Union Online. A portal that provides up-to-date coverage of current affairs, legislation, policies, and EU statistics.
FedStats. Access to a full range of statistics and information from more than 70 U.S. government agencies.
Key Business Ratios (Dun & Bradstreet). Industry, financial, and performance ratios.
Information Please Almanac. Compilation of broad-range statistical data, with a strong focus on the labor force.
Annual Statement Studies. Industry, financial, and performance ratios published by the Risk Management Association.
Statistical Abstract of the United States. Annual compendium of U.S. economic, social, political, and industrial statistics.
The World Almanac and Book of Facts. Facts on economic, social, educational, and political events for major countries.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Extensive national and regional information on labor and business, including employment, industry growth, productivity, the Consumer Price Index, and the overall U.S. economy.
U.S. Census Bureau. Demographic data and analysis on consumers and businesses based on census results.
COMMERCIAL DATABASES
A wide variety of commercial databases provide access to articles from trade and academic journals; ask your reference librarian to help you select the best databases for specific research projects.
* (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#rP7001012451000000000000000004E07) Note: Some of these resources are free, and some are available via subscription only; check with your librarian.
Libraries offer information and resources you can’t find anywhere else—including reference librarians who can show you how to plan and conduct effective searches.
Libraries are also where you’ll find one of your most important resources: librarians. Reference librarians are skilled in research strategies and can often help you locate obscure information you can’t find on your own. They can also direct you to many sources of business information. Also, many library websites now have a business portal, with links to helpful resources and advice on finding information.
Whether you’re looking for information in printed materials or in databases, each type of resource serves a special function:
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Wondering how to get started with business research?
Baruch College’s Beginner’s Guide to Business Research will point you in the right direction. Go to real-timeupdates.com/bct14 (http://real- timeupdates.com/bct14) and select Learn More in the Students section.
• Newspapers and periodicals. Libraries offer access to a wide variety of popular magazines, general business magazines, trade journals (which provide information about specific professions and industries), and academic journals (which provide research-oriented articles from researchers and educators). Check the library’s website or ask a librarian to find out which periodicals are available in print or digital formats.
• Business books. Although generally less timely than newspapers, periodicals, and online sources, business books provide in-depth coverage of a variety of business topics. Many libraries now offer online access to their card catalogs so you can see whether they have specific titles in their collections.
• Directories. Thousands of directories are published in print and digital formats in the United States, and many include membership information for all kinds of professions, industries, and special-interest groups.
• Almanacs and statistical resources. Almanacs are handy guides to factual and statistical information about countries, politics, the labor force, and so on. One of the most extensive, the Statistical Abstract of the United States, published annually by the U.S. Department of Commerce, contains statistics about occupations, government, population, health, business, crime, and the environment (also available online at www.census.gov (http://www.census.gov) ).
Local, state, and federal government agencies publish a huge variety of information that is helpful to business researchers.
• Government publications. Information on laws, court decisions, tax questions, regulatory issues, and other governmental concerns is often available in collections of government documents. A librarian can direct you to the information you want.
• Databases. Databases offer vast collections of searchable information, often in specific areas, such as business, law, science, technology, and education. Some of these are available only by institutional subscription, so the library may be your only way to gain access to them. Some libraries offer remote online access to some or all databases; for others, you need to visit in person.
Finding Information Online
Online research tools can be used to search for existing information and to monitor for new information.
The Internet can be a tremendous source of business information, provided that you know how to approach a search, where to look, and how to use the tools available. Roughly speaking, the tools fall into two categories: those you can use to actively search for existing information and those you can use to monitor selected sources for new information. (Some tools can perform both functions.)
Online Search Tools
To be a successful online researcher, you need to expand your toolkit beyond the popular search engines.
The most familiar search tools are general-purpose search engines (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FD7) , such as Google and Bing, which scan millions of websites to identify individual webpages that contain a specific word or phrase and then attempt to rank the results from most useful to least useful. Search engines have the advantage of scanning millions or billions of individual webpages, and the best engines use powerful ranking algorithms to present the pages that are probably the most relevant to your search request.
Today’s search engines are powerful tools, but they still have important limitations.
For all their ease and power, conventional search engines have three primary shortcomings: (1) no human editors are involved to evaluate the quality or ranking of the search results; (2) various engines use different search techniques, so they often find different material or present similar results in different order; and (3) search engines can’t reach all the content on some websites (this part of the Internet is sometimes called the hidden Internet or the deep web).
Web directories benefit from having human editors evaluate and select websites.
A variety of tools are available to overcome the three main weaknesses of general-purpose search engines, and you should consider using one or more of them in your business research. First, web directories (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FE0) such as DMOZ (dmoz.org (http://dmoz.org) ) use human editors to categorize and evaluate websites. Some directories focus on specific media types, such as blogs or podcasts.
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Use this powerful tool for easier online searches
Bovée and Thill Web Search is a custom metasearch engine that automatically formats more than 300 types for searches for optimum results. Go to real-timeupdates.com/bct14 (http://real-timeupdates.com/bct14) and select Web Search in the navigation bar.
Metasearch engines can save you time by using multiple search engines at once.
Second, metasearch engines (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FC2) help overcome the differences among search engines by formatting your search request for multiple search engines, making it easy to find a broader range of results. With a few clicks, you can compare results from multiple search engines to make sure you are getting a broad view of the material.
Online databases can give you access to important resources that search engines often can’t reach.
Third, online databases (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FC8) help address the challenge of the hidden Internet by offering access to newspapers, magazines, journals, digital copies of books, and other resources often not available
with standard search engines. Some of these databases offer free access to the public, but others require a subscription (check with your library). Also, a variety of specialized search engines now exist to reach various parts of the hidden Internet.
Online Monitoring Tools
To stay up to date on a research topic, subscribe to RSS feeds, search engine alerts, or Twitter updates from knowledgeable individuals.
One of the most powerful aspects of online research is the ability to automatically monitor selected sources for new information so that you can get new information without repeating manual searches. The possibilities include subscribing to newsfeeds from blogs and websites; following people on Twitter and other microblogs; setting up alerts on search engines and online databases; and using specialized monitors such as TweetDeck and HootSuite to track tweets that mention specific companies or other terms.
Exercise care when setting up monitoring tools, however, because it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the flood of information. Remember that you can always go back and search your sources if you need to gather additional information.
Search Tips
Make sure you know how each search tool works; you can get unpredictable results if you don’t know how a particular tool operates.
Search engines, metasearch engines, and databases offer a variety of ways to find information. Unfortunately, no two of them work in exactly the same way, and you have to learn how to use each one most effectively. This learning may take a few extra minutes at the beginning of your research, but it could save you hours of lost time later—and save you from embarrassing oversights. You can usually find a Help or Support page that explains both basic and advanced functions, with advice on how to use a particular tool most effectively.
REAL-TIME UPDATES
LEARN MORE BY VISITING THIS WEBSITE
Use Google more effectively
Google’s Inside Search offers tips and techniques to help you get the best research results in the least amount of time. Go to real- timeupdates.com/bct14 (http://real-timeupdates.com/bct14) and select Learn More in the Students section.
To make the best use of any search engine or database, keep the following points in mind:
Search engine results can create the illusion that the Internet is a complete, well-organized warehouse of reliable information. However, it is neither complete nor organized, and not all the information is reliable.
• Think before you search. The neatly organized results you get from a search engine can create the illusion that the Internet is an orderly warehouse of all the information in the universe, but the reality is far different. The Internet is an incomplete, unorganized hodgepodge of millions of independent websites with information that ranges in value from priceless to worse-than-worthless. After you have identified what you need to know, spend a few moments thinking about where that information might be found, how it might be structured, and what terms various websites might use to describe it.
• Pay attention to the details. Details can make all the difference in a search. On Google, for example, you can filter results according to when items were published online. This setting could drastically change your results, so make sure you haven’t inadvertently limited your search by selecting a narrower time frame than you really want.
• Don’t limit yourself to a regular web search engine. Google, Bing, and other search engines are remarkably powerful, but they can’t access all online content. Moreover, the content you need might not even be online.
• Review the search and display options carefully. When using advanced search or while searching in databases, pay close attention to whether you are searching in the title, author, subject, or document field and whether the search is limited to particular types of documents (such as full- text documents only). Each choice will return different results. And when the results are displayed, verify the presentation order; results might be sorted by date or by relevance.
• Try variations of terms. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, try abbreviations (CEO, CPA), synonyms (man, male), related terms (child, adolescent, youth), different spellings (dialog, dialogue), singular and plural forms (woman, women), nouns and adjectives (manager, management, managerial), and open and compound forms (online, on line, on-line). Some search engines automatically search for such synonyms.
• Adjust the scope of your search, if needed. If a search yields little or no information, broaden your search by specifying fewer terms. Conversely, if you’re inundated with too many hits, use more terms to narrow your search.
Be sure to look beyond the first few pages of search results; there is no guarantee that the best information for your project will appear early in the listings.
• Look beyond the first few pages of results. Don’t assume that the highest-ranking results are the best sources for you. For example, materials that haven’t been optimized for search engines won’t rank as highly (meaning they won’t show up in the first few pages of results), but they may be far better for your purposes.
MOBILE APP
Access and add to your Zotero research files with a variety of Zotero-compatible mobile apps.
Other powerful search tools include enterprise search engines that search all the computers on a company’s network and research and content managers such as LiveBinders and the Zotero browser extension. And don’t overlook the search functions in workplace messaging systems, groupware, and other closed systems.
For research innovations from a mobile perspective, see “Research on the Go with Mobile Devices (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004E72) .”
DIGITAL + SOCIAL + MOBILE: TODAY’S COMMUNICATION ENVIRONMENT
Research on the Go with Mobile Devices
Smartphones and tablets have opened up new possibilities for collecting information for business reports and other communication purposes. Using built-in capabilities such as audio and video recording, as well as apps made specifically for research, business researchers can collect qualitative and quantitative information in a variety of ways:
• Mobile surveys. Tablets with interactive software can replace the clipboards long used by researchers for “mall intercept” surveys and other efforts to collect data from shoppers.
• Collecting and sharing. Collaborative apps such as Pearltrees make it easy to collect online information and organize it across multiple devices, then connect with relevant information collected by other users.
• Note taking. Evernote, OneNote, and other note-taking apps simplify the process of compiling notes, webpages, photos, and other pieces of research.
• Sketching. Sometimes a simple picture is more powerful than words or photos. With touchscreen apps on phones and tablets, researchers can quickly sketch maps, process diagrams, and other visuals on the spot.
• Audio, photo, and video recording. Whether it’s snapping images of street scenes for a report on potential store locations or recording test subjects using a new product prototype, the audiovisual capabilities of today’s mobile devices give researchers a host of new tools.
• Document scanning. Scanning apps let researchers record and organize images of documents that can’t be removed from their storage locations.
• Real-time thoughts and impressions. Asking survey subjects to record information on their mobile devices while they are observing store displays or making purchase decisions, for example, promises to enhance some classic research methods. With the old methods, shoppers would answer survey questions about the choices they made well after the fact, leaving the accuracy of their answers up to the quality of their memories. With their mobile phones in hand, shoppers who’ve agreed to participate in research can describe their impressions and decisions on the spot and even take photos of displays that caught their eye.
As more consumers adopt mobile devices and software developers continue to create new research apps, mobile research promises to revolutionize research the same way it has changed business communication in general.
CAREER APPLICATIONS
1. Assume you’re about to visit another college where you’re applying for the master’s program, and you want to learn as much as you can about the school in the limited time you have available. How could you use your mobile phone to improve your information collection?
2. Mobile research raises some important ethical and legal questions involving privacy. Identify three possible privacy violations that researchers need to guard against.
Sources: Shelly Terrell, “Research on the Go! Effective Research with Mobile Devices,” presentation, 7 November 2013, www.slideshare.net (http://www.slideshare.net) ; Derek Matisz, “Mobile-Enabled Ethnography: 4 Tips for Using Mobile Devices in Your Research,” Vision Critical blog, 24 July 2013, www.visioncritical.com (http://www.visioncritical.com) ; “Let’s Go Shopping: Using Mobile Qualitative Research for Shop-Alongs,” 2020Research, accessed 9 May 2014, www.2020research.com (http://www.2020research.com) .
DOCUMENTING YOUR SOURCES
Proper documentation of the sources you use is an ethical responsibility—and an important resource for your readers.
Documenting the sources you use in your writing serves three important functions: It properly and ethically credits the person who created the original material, it shows your audience that you have sufficient support for your message, and it helps your readers explore your topic in more detail, if desired. Your results might be used by people long after you conduct the research, and these people won’t always have the opportunity to query you in person for more information.
Be sure to take advantage of source documentation tools whenever you can to help ensure that you accurately track all your sources. Most word-processing programs can automatically track and number endnotes for you, and you can use the “table of authorities” feature to create a bibliography of all the sources you’ve used. A wide variety of citation management or reference management tools are available with popular web browsers.
You may document your sources through footnotes, endnotes, or some similar system (see Appendix B (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p700101245100000000000000000747b#P700101245100000000000000000747B) , “Documentation of Report Sources”). Whatever method you choose, documentation is necessary for books, articles, tables, charts, diagrams, song lyrics, scripted dialogue, letters, speeches, and anything else you take from someone else, including ideas and information that you’ve re-expressed through paraphrasing or summarizing.
Copyright protections may prevent you from using some materials without obtaining permission from the copyright holder.
However, you do not have to cite a source for general knowledge or for specialized knowledge that’s generally known among your readers. For example, almost everyone knows that Nike is a large sporting goods company and that computers are pervasive in business today. You can say so on your own authority, even if you’ve read an article in which the author says the same thing.
Chapter 1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p700101245100000000000000000105b#P700101245100000000000000000105B) notes that copyright law covers the expression of creative ideas, and copyrights can apply to a wide range of materials, including reports and other documents, web content, movies, musical compositions, lectures, computer programs, and even choreographed dance routines. Copyright protection is initiated the moment the expression is put into fixed form. Copyright law does not protect such elements as titles, names, short phrases, slogans, familiar symbols, or lists of ingredients or contents. It also doesn’t protect ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or
devices, although it does cover their description, explanation, or illustration.4
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P700101245100000000000000000510D) (Note that many of the entities that aren’t covered under copyright law are covered under other legal protections, such as trademarks for slogans and patents for devices and processes.)
Merely crediting the source is not always enough. According to the fair use doctrine, you can use other people’s work only as long as you don’t unfairly prevent them from benefiting as a result. For example, if you reproduce someone else’s copyrighted material in a report you’re writing, even if you properly identify the source, you may be preventing the author from selling that material to your readers.
If you want to use copyrighted information in a report, contact the copyright holder (usually the author or publisher) for permission to reprint it. You’ll often be asked to pay a fee. For more information on copyrights, visit www.copyright.gov (http://www.copyright.gov) or www.creativecommons.org (http://www.creativecommons.org) .
13.3 Conducting Primary Research
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
3 Define primary research, and outline the steps involved in conducting surveys and interviews.
Primary research efforts collect data and information for the first time, rather than analyzing and reusing what other researchers have found.
If secondary research can’t provide the information and insights you need, your next choice is to gather the information yourself. This is the task of primary research (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FCE) , which is collecting data and information for the first time, rather than analyzing and reusing what other researchers have found. The two most common primary research methods for business writing are surveys and interviews, the focus of this section. Other primary techniques include observation and experiments, such as test-marketing a new product.
GATHERING INFORMATION WITH SURVEYS
Surveys can provide invaluable insights on a wide variety of business topics, but they are useful only when they’re reliable and valid. A survey is reliable if it produces identical results when repeated. A survey is valid if it measures what it’s intended to measure. To conduct a survey that generates reliable and valid results, you need to choose research participants carefully and develop an effective set of questions. (A good research handbook can guide you through the process of selecting a sufficient number of representative participants. For important surveys on strategically important topics with much at stake, you’re usually better off hiring a research specialist who knows how to avoid errors during planning, execution, and analysis.)
For a survey to produce valid results, it must be based on a representative sample of the population of interest.
When selecting people to participate in a survey, the most critical task is getting a representative sample of the population in question. For instance, if you want to know how U.S. consumers feel about something, you can’t just survey a few hundred people in a shopping mall. Different types of consumers shop at different times of the day and on different days of the week, and many consumers rarely, if ever, shop at malls. A survey that doesn’t represent the overall population will suffer from sampling bias.
Online surveys are relatively quick and inexpensive, but they require the same care in planning and analysis as offline surveys.
Online surveys offer a number of advantages, including speed, cost, and the ability to adapt the question set along the way based on a respondent’s answers. However, they are also vulnerable to sampling bias because they capture only the opinions of people who visit particular websites and who want to participate, and these people might not be a representative sample of the population of interest.
To develop an effective survey questionnaire, start with the information gaps you identified earlier and then break these points into specific questions, choosing an appropriate type of question for each point. (Figure 13.2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#P7001012451000000000000000004EB1) on the next
page shows various types of survey questions.) The following guidelines will help you produce results that are both valid and reliable:5
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P700101245100000000000000000510F)
Provide clear instructions in questionnaires to prevent incorrect or ambiguous answers.
• Provide clear instructions to make sure people can answer every question correctly. • Don’t ask for information that people can’t be expected to remember, such as how many times they went grocery shopping in the past year. • Keep the questionnaire short and easy to answer; don’t expect people to give you more than 10 or 15 minutes of their time. • Whenever possible, formulate questions that provide answers that are easy to analyze. Numbers and facts are easier to summarize than opinions,
for instance. • Avoid leading questions that could bias your survey. If you ask, “Do you prefer that we stay open in the evenings for customer convenience?” you’ll
no doubt get a “yes.” Instead, ask, “What time of day do you normally do your shopping?” • Avoid ambiguous descriptors such as often or frequently. Such terms mean different things to different people. • Avoid compound questions such as “Do you read books and magazines?” People who read one but not the other won’t know whether to answer yes
or no. • Make the survey adaptive. With an online survey, you can program the survey to branch automatically based on audience inputs. Not only does this
sort of real-time adaptation deliver better answers, it reduces frustration for survey respondents as well.6
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000005111)
Be sure to test your survey before using it.
Before you conduct a survey, test it on a sample group first to identify questions that might be confusing or ambiguous.
GATHERING INFORMATION WITH INTERVIEWS
Interviews are easy to conduct but require careful planning to produce useful results.
Getting in-depth information straight from an expert or an individual concerned about an issue can be a great method for collecting primary information. Interviews can dig deeper than the “hands-off” approach of surveys, and skilled interviewers can also watch for nonverbal signals that provide additional insights. Interviews can take a variety of formats, from email exchanges to group discussions.
Be aware that the answers you receive in an interview are influenced by the types of questions you ask, by the way you ask them, and by each subject’s
cultural and language background. Potentially significant factors include the person’s race, gender, age, educational level, and social status.7
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000005113)
Choose question types that will generate the specific kinds of information you need.
Ask open-ended questions (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FCB) (such as “Why do you believe that South America represents a better opportunity than Europe for this product line?”) to solicit opinions, insights, and information. Ask closed questions (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FAD) to elicit a specific answer, such as yes or no. However, don’t use too many closed questions in an interview, or the experience will feel more like a simple survey and won’t take full advantage of the interactive interview setting.
Figure 13.2 Types of Survey Questions
For each item in your survey, choose the type of question that will elicit the most useful answers.
Think carefully about the sequence of your questions and the subject’s potential answers so you can arrange questions in an order that helps uncover layers of information. Also, consider providing the person with a list of questions at least a day or two before the interview, especially if you’d like to quote your subject in writing or if your questions might require your subject to conduct research or think extensively about the answers. If you want to record the interview, ask the person ahead of time and respect his or her wishes. During the interview, be alert to new topics you might not have considered while planning the interview, and pursue them if they will shed light on your research questions.
CHECKLIST Conducting Effective Information Interviews
• Learn about the person you will be interviewing. • Formulate your main idea to ensure effective focus. • Choose the duration, style, and organization of the interview. • Select question types to elicit the specific information you want. • Design each question carefully to collect useful answers. • Limit the number of questions you ask. • During the interview, be alert to new topics that you might want to probe. • Consider recording the interview if the subject permits. • Review your notes as soon as the interview ends.
As soon as possible after the interview, take a few moments to write down your thoughts, go over your notes, and organize your material. Look for important themes, helpful facts or statistics, and direct quotes. If you recorded the interview, transcribe it (take down word for word what the person said) or take notes from the recording just as you would while listening to someone in person.
Face-to-face interviews give you the opportunity to gauge nonverbal responses.
Face-to-face interviews give you the opportunity to gauge reactions to your questions and observe the nonverbal signals that accompany the answers, but interviews don’t necessarily have to take place in person. For example, email interviews give subjects a chance to think through their responses thoroughly
rather than rush to fit the time constraints of a face-to-face interview.8
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000005115) Also, email interviews might be the only way you will be able to access some experts.
In addition to individual interviews, business researchers can also use a form of group interview known as the focus group (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FB6) . In this format a moderator guides a group through a series of discussion questions while the rest of the research team members observe through a one-way mirror. The key advantage of focus groups is the opportunity to learn from group dynamics as the various participants bounce ideas and questions off each other.
Allowing a group to discuss topics and problems in this manner can uncover much richer information than can a series of individual interviews.9
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000005117)
As a reminder of the tasks involved in interviews, see “Checklist: Conducting Effective Information Interviews (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#P7001012451000000000000000004EF5) .”
13.4 Processing Data and Information
After you have collected your research results, the next step is to convert them into usable information.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
4 Describe the major tasks involved in processing research results. After you’ve collected all the necessary secondary and primary information, the next step is to transform it into the specific content you need. For simple projects, you may be able to insert your material directly into your report, presentation, or other application. However, when you have gathered a significant amount of information or raw data, you need to process the material before you can use it. This step can involve quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing textual material; analyzing numeric data; drawing conclusions; and making recommendations.
QUOTING, PARAPHRASING, AND SUMMARIZING
Quoting a source means reproducing the content exactly and indicating who originally created the information.
You can use textual information from secondary sources in three ways. Quoting a source means you reproduce the material exactly as you found it (giving full credit to the source, of course). Use direct quotations when the original language will enhance your argument or when rewording the passage would reduce its impact. However, be careful with direct quotes: Using too many creates a choppy patchwork of varying styles and gives the impression that all you’ve done is piece together the work of other people. When quoting sources, set off shorter passages with quotation marks and set off longer passages (generally, five lines or more) as separate, indented paragraphs.
REAL-TIME UPDATES
LEARN MORE BY READING THIS ARTICLE
Launch that new business idea with solid research
Get a helpful overview of research techniques for entrepreneurs. Go to real-timeupdates.com/bct14 (http://real-timeupdates.com/bct14) and select Learn More in the Students section.
You can often maximize the impact of secondary material in your own writing by paraphrasing it—restating it in your own words and with your own
sentence structures.10
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000005119) Paraphrasing helps you maintain consistent tone, present information using vocabulary more familiar to your audience, and avoid the choppy feel of too many quotations. Of course, you still need to credit the originator of the information through a footnote, endnote, or in-text citation.
Paraphrasing is expressing someone else’s ideas in your own words.
To paraphrase effectively, follow these tips:11
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P700101245100000000000000000511B)
• Read and reread the original passage until you fully understand its meaning. • Restate the central ideas of the original passage using your own words. • Check your version against the source to verify that you have not altered the meaning. • Use quotation marks to identify any unique terms or phrases you have borrowed exactly from the source. • Record the source accurately so that you can give proper credit if you use this material in your report.
Summarizing is similar to paraphrasing but distills the content into fewer words.
Summarizing is similar to paraphrasing but presents the gist of the material in fewer words than the original. An effective summary identifies the main ideas and major support points from your source material but leaves out minor details, examples, and other information that is less critical to your audience. Like quotations and paraphrases, summaries also require complete documentation of sources.
Of course, all three approaches require careful attention to ethics. When quoting directly, take care not to distort the original intent of the material by quoting selectively or out of context. If an interview subject said, “This market could grow dramatically next year if we invest heavily in new products,” using only “this market could grow dramatically next year” in a report would be unethical.
When paraphrasing and summarizing, preserve the intended message of the original while expressing the ideas in your own words and sentences. Remember that the goal is to help your audience relate to material that supports your message. Double-check your writing to make sure you didn’t subconsciously skew the other writer’s message to fit your own needs.
ANALYZING NUMERIC DATA
Research often produces numeric data—everything from sales figures to population statistics to survey answers. By themselves, these numbers might not provide the insights you or your audience require, so you’ll need to process the data to extract useful insights.
Gaining Insights
Mean, median, and mode provide insight into sets of data.
TABLE 13.2 Three Types of Data Measures: Mean, Median, and Mode
Even without advanced statistical techniques, you can use simple arithmetic to extract powerful insights from sets of research data. Three common and useful measures are shown in Table 13.2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#P7001012451000000000000000004F40) . The mean (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FBC) (which is what most people refer to when they use the term average) is the sum of all the items in a group divided by the number of items in that group. The median (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FBF) is the “middle of the road,” or the midpoint of a series (with an equal number of items above and below). The mode (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FC5) is the number that occurs more often than any other in a sample. It’s the best answer to a question such as “What is the usual amount?” Each of these three measures can give you different insights into a set of data.
Trends identify patterns that tend to repeat over time.
Next, look at the data to spot trends (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FDD) —definite patterns taking place over time, including growth, decline, and cyclical trends that vary between growth and decline. By examining data over a period of time, you can detect patterns and relationships that help you answer important questions.
Causation shows cause-and-effect relationships; correlation indicates simultaneous changes in two variables that may not necessarily be causally related.
Statistical measures and trends identify what is happening. To help you understand why those things are happening, look at causation (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FAA) (the cause- and-effect linkage between two factors, in which one causes the other to happen) and correlation (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FB3) (the simultaneous change in two variables you’re measuring, such as customer satisfaction dropping when product reliability drops).
Bear in mind that causation can be easy to assume but difficult to prove. The drop in customer satisfaction might have been caused by a new accounting system that fouled up customer invoices. To prove causation, you need to be able to isolate the suspected cause as the only potential source of the change in the measured effect. However, eliminating all but one possible cause isn’t always feasible, so you often have to apply careful judgment to correlations.
Researchers frequently explore the relationships between subsets of data using a technique called cross-tabulation. For instance, if you’re trying to figure out why total sales rose or fell, you might look separately at sales data by customer age and gender, by purchase location, and by product type.
Guarding Against Mistakes and Misinterpretations
Watch out for errors that might have crept in during the collection and processing of data.
Numbers are easy to manipulate with spreadsheets and other computer tools, so be sure to guard against computational errors and misinterpretation of results. Double-check all calculations and document the operation of any spreadsheets you plan to share with colleagues. Common spreadsheet mistakes to watch for include errors in math formulas, references to unintended cells in the spreadsheet (resulting in the inclusion of data you don’t want or the exclusion of data you do want), and failures to verify the specific operation of the spreadsheet’s built-in math functions.
In addition to watching for computational errors, step back and look at your entire set of data before proceeding with any analysis. Do the numbers make sense, based on what you know about the subject? Are any data points suspicious? If the production numbers you’ve been measuring have never varied more than 10 percent month to month and then suddenly jumped 50 percent last month, is that new number real or an erroneous measurement?
Even when your data points are accurate and your analysis is technically correct, it’s still possible to misinterpret or misrepresent the results. Many analysis errors require statistical expertise to identify and fix, but even without advanced skills, you can take these precautions:
• Avoid faulty comparisons. Make sure you compare “apples to apples” and not “apples to oranges,” as the saying goes. • Don’t push research results beyond their limits. The temptation to extract insights and assurances that aren’t really there can be quite strong,
particularly in situations of great uncertainty. For instance, if you’re about to recommend that your company invest millions of dollars in developing a new product based on your consumer research, you’re likely to “see” every possible justification in the data. Have a trusted colleague review your data to see whether he or she extracts the same conclusions.
• Steer clear of misleading presentations. Even valid data can be presented in invalid ways (such as with distorted graphs), and it’s your responsibility to make sure the visual presentation of your data is accurate.
13.5 Applying Your Findings
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
5 Explain how to summarize research results and present conclusions and recommendations. After all your planning, research, and processing, you’re finally ready to apply your findings. This step can involve summarizing your results, drawing conclusions based on those results, and making recommendations.
SUMMARIZING YOUR RESEARCH
A summary is an unbiased presentation of information regarding a particular topic, without attempts to draw conclusions or make recommendations.
A research summary is an unbiased condensation of the information uncovered in your research. (Summary in this context means a summary of your entire research project, not just a summary of secondary source material.) Summaries should not include opinions, conclusions, or recommendations. Summarizing is not always a simple task, and your readers will judge your ability to separate significant issues from less significant details. Identify the main idea and the key support points; separate them from details, examples, and other supporting evidence (see Figure 13.3 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f5c#P7001012451000000000000000004F6A) ). Focus your efforts on your audience, highlighting the information that is most important to the person who assigned the project or to those who will be reading the report.
However, focusing on the audience doesn’t mean conveying only the information your audience wants to hear. A good summary might contain nothing but bad news, if that’s what your research uncovered. Even if the summary isn’t pleasant, effective managers always appreciate and respect honest, complete, and perceptive information from their employees.
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
A conclusion is a logical interpretation of research results.
A conclusion (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FB0) is a logical interpretation of the facts and other information in a report. Reaching valid conclusions based on the evidence at hand is one of the most important skills you can develop in your business career. For a conclusion to be sound, it must meet two criteria. First, it must be based strictly on the information in your report. You shouldn’t introduce any new information in your conclusion. (If something is that important, it belongs in the body of the report.) Also, you can’t ignore any of the information you’ve presented, even if it doesn’t support your conclusion. Second, the conclusion must be logical, meaning it must follow accepted patterns of inductive or deductive reasoning. Conclusions that are based on unproven premises, appeal to emotion, make hasty generalizations, or contain any other logical fallacies are not valid.
Figure 13.3 Summarizing Effectively
To summarize a section of text, first analyze it to find the main idea, the major support points, and the less important details. Then assemble the appropriate pieces with additional words and phrases as needed to ensure a smooth flow.
Remember that your personal values or the organization’s values may also influence your conclusions; just be sure that you’re aware of how these biases can affect your judgment. If a bias affects your conclusion, you should explain it to your audience. Also, don’t expect all team members to examine the
evidence and arrive at the same conclusion. One of the reasons for bringing additional people into a decision is to gain their unique perspectives and experiences.
Even though conclusions need to be logical, they may not automatically or obviously flow from the evidence. Many business decisions require assumptions, judgment calls, and creative thinking—in fact, the ability to see patterns and possibilities that others can’t see is one of the hallmarks of innovative business leaders.
MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS
A recommendation is a suggested course of action.
Whereas a conclusion interprets information, a recommendation (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FD4) suggests what to do about the information. The following example illustrates the difference between a conclusion and a recommendation:
Conclusion Recommendation
On the basis of its track record and current price, I believe that this company is an attractive buy.
I recommend that we offer to buy the company at a 10 percent premium over the current market value of its stock.
To be credible, recommendations must be based on logical analysis and sound conclusions. They must also be practical and acceptable to your readers—the people who have to make your recommendations work. Finally, when making a recommendation, be certain you have adequately described the steps that come next. Don’t leave your readers wondering what they need to do to act on your recommendation.
MANAGING INFORMATION
Knowledge management systems, often supplemented now by social media tools, help organizations share research results and other valuable information and insights.
Conducting your research well does more than provide strong support for your own writing projects. Your individual research projects are also an important contribution to your organization’s collective knowledge base. To organize information and make it readily available to everyone in the company, many firms use some form of knowledge management (KM) (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P7001012451000000000000000004FB9) , a set of technologies, policies, and procedures that let colleagues capture and share information throughout an organization. Social media tools have recently been enhancing the flexibility and capability of KM systems, making it easier for more people to contribute to and benefit from shared knowledge and
transforming knowledge into more of a living entity that is part of an ongoing conversation.12
(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004fa4#P700101245100000000000000000511D)
COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES AT Strategyzer
You’re a business development manager at Strategyzer with responsibility for expanding sales of the company’s Business Model Canvas training courses and apps. Use what you’ve learned in this chapter to address these information gathering and processing challenges. You may find it helpful to familiarize yourself with the Business Model Canvas by watching the two-minute video at businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas/bmc (http://businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas/bmc) .
INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGE: You’ve heard from a number of product managers and other mid-level business planners in big companies that they would like to use the Business Model Canvas but they can’t convince company executives (their superiors, in other words) to give up the familiar approach of detailed business plans. You hit on the idea of a mini-course for corporate executives to help them understand the value of the canvas approach for early stage business planning. Before you can convince Strategyzer’s content development team to create the course, you need to provide some evidence that Fortune 500 executives would be interested in devoting half a day to such a course. You decide to conduct some research to gauge executive interest in the mini- course and to identify the most important topics it should cover. What would be an effective problem statement for guiding your research?
TEAM CHALLENGE: Collect the problem statements you and your teammates generated for the individual challenge and choose the statement that the team finds most effective. Using that statement as a guide, discuss the following four approaches and decide which would be the best research approach to gathering the information you need to address the problem statement. Summarize your reasoning in an email message to your instructor.
a. Conduct a telephone survey of Fortune 500 executives responsible for overseeing product development. Ask a series of questions designed to uncover the executives’ awareness of the canvas approach and their attitudes toward it.
b. Conduct an email or in-app survey of current users of the Business Model Canvas app, asking them to report on the resistance they are receiving from executives in their companies.
c. Post a brief survey on Strategyzer’s website, asking top-level corporate executives to explain their reasons for sticking with the traditional approach of detailed business plans, rather than trying a new method such as the Business Model Canvas.
d. Post an interactive survey on Strategyzer’s website, asking site visitors to report on the attitudes toward Business Model Canvas and similar approaches in their organizations. Set up branching in the survey so that people who are interested in the canvas method but who have encountered resistance from upper management are asked a series of questions about the nature of the resistance they are encountering and what forms of proof could help convince these executives to give the new method a try.
Quick Learning Guide
KEY TERMS
causation Cause-and-effect linkage between two factors, where one of them causes the other to occur or change
closed questions Questions with a fixed range of possible answers
conclusion A logical interpretation of the facts and other information in a report
correlation The simultaneous change in two variables; changes in one variable may or may not cause changes in the other
focus group A form of group research interview in which a moderator guides a group through a series of discussion questions while the rest of the research team members observes
knowledge management (KM) Set of technologies, policies, and procedures that let colleagues capture and share information throughout an organization
mean Value equal to the sum of all the items in the group divided by the number of items in that group; what people refer to when they use the term average
median Midpoint of a series, with an equal number of items above and below
metasearch engines Search tools that format search requests for multiple search engines simultaneously
mode The number that occurs more often than any other in a sample
online databases Online compilations of newspapers, magazines, journals, and other information sources
open-ended questions Questions without simple, predetermined answers; used to solicit opinions, insights, and information
primary research New research done specifically for the current project
problem statement Statement that defines the problem or purpose of your research
recommendation A suggested course of action
search engines Online search tools that identify individual webpages that contain specific words or phrases you’ve asked for
secondary research Research done previously for another purpose
trends Repeatable patterns taking place over time
web directories Online lists of websites selected by human editors
SUMMARY OF LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Describe an effective process for conducting business research. Begin the research process with careful planning to make sure you familiarize yourself with the subject area, identify the most important information gaps you face, and prioritize the questions you need to ask to fill those gaps. Then locate the required data and information, using primary and secondary research as needed. Process the results of your research, analyzing both textual and numeric information to extract averages, trends, and other insights. Apply your findings by summarizing information for someone else’s benefit, drawing conclusions based on what you’ve learned or developing recommendations. Finally, manage information effectively so that you and others can retrieve it later and reuse it in other projects.
2 Define secondary research and explain how to evaluate, locate, and document information sources. Secondary research involves collecting information that was originally gathered for another research project or another effort. Secondary research is generally done before primary research, to save time and money in the event someone else has already gathered the information needed.
Information should come from a credible source that has a reputation for being honest and reliable; the source should also be unbiased. The purpose of the material should be known, and the author should be credible. The information should include references to sources (if obtained elsewhere), and it should be independently verifiable. The material should be current, complete, and supported with evidence. Finally, the information should seem logical.
The tasks involved in locating secondary sources of data and information can vary widely depending on the project, but much of your efforts will involve finding information in a corporate, public, or university library or finding information online. Libraries offer an array of business books, databases, newspapers, periodicals, directories, almanacs, and government publications. Some of these printed sources provide information that is not available online, and some of the online sources provide information that is available by subscription. Librarians can be a huge help when you need advice on structuring an investigation or finding specific sources.
Finding information online is often more complicated than simply plugging a few terms into a search engine. General-purpose search engines are sophisticated tools, but even when they are used wisely, they are not able to find everything on the Internet. Moreover, with no human reviewers to evaluate the quality or ranking of the search results, you can’t always be sure of the quality of what you find. Web directories, metasearch engines, and online databases all complement the capabilities of general-purpose search engines. Use online monitoring tools to be alerted to new materials on topics of interest.
To make the best use of any search engine or database, think about your information needs carefully before you start searching, read and understand the instructions for using each online research tool, pay attention to the details because even minor aspects of searching can
dramatically influence results, review search and display options carefully to optimize results, try variations on your search terms if you can’t find what you’re looking for, and try narrower or broader searches to adjust the scope of what you’re looking for.
3 Define primary research and outline the steps involved in conducting surveys and interviews. Primary research is research that is being conducted for the first time, and the two most common methods are surveys and interviews. Conducting a survey involves selecting a representative set of respondents from the population you are studying, developing a questionnaire using carefully written and sequenced questions, and administering the actual survey to collect information. Conducting an interview starts with learning about the person(s) you plan to interview and then formulating your main idea to make sure your interview will stay focused. Choose the length, style, and organization of the interview, and then select question types to elicit the sort of information you want, with each question designed to collect useful answers. Limit your questions to the most important queries. Record the interview if the person allows, and review your notes as soon as the interview ends.
4 Describe the major tasks involved in processing research results. In most cases you need to process your research results in some fashion before applying them in reports and presentations. The three basic ways to process verbal information are quoting (using someone else’s words directly, with appropriate attribution), paraphrasing (restating someone else’s words in your own language), and summarizing (creating a shorter version of an original piece of writing). Processing numeric data can involve a variety of statistical analysis techniques. Three basic computations are the mean (what people are referring to when they say “average”), the median (the midpoint in a series, indicating an equal number of lesser and greater values), and the mode (the most frequently occurring value in a series). Processing results can also involve looking for trends and distinguishing causal relationships from correlations and mere coincidences.
5 Explain how to summarize research results and present conclusions and recommendations. Research results can be applied in several ways, depending on the purpose of the report or presentation. A summary is an unbiased condensation of the information uncovered in your research. It filters out details and presents only the most important ideas. A conclusion is your analysis of what the findings mean (an interpretation of the facts). A recommendation is your opinion (based on reason and logic) about the course of action that should be taken.
MyBCommLab
Go to mybcommlab.com (http://mybcommlab.com) to complete the problems marked with this icon .
Test Your Knowledge To review chapter content related to each question, refer to the indicated Learning Objective.
13-1. What are the five steps in the research process? [LO-1] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#P7001012451000000000000000004D55)
13-2. What is the purpose of identifying information gaps before starting research? [LO-1] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#P7001012451000000000000000004D55)
13-3. Should you conduct secondary research first or primary research? Why? [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
13-4. What is the hidden Internet? [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
13-5. What does it mean to make a survey adaptive? [LO-3] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#P7001012451000000000000000004EA1)
13-6. What is paraphrasing and what is its purpose? [LO-4] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#P7001012451000000000000000004F0F)
13-7. What are the differences between the mean, median, and mode? [LO-4] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#P7001012451000000000000000004F0F)
13-8. What are the characteristics of a sound conclusion? [LO-5] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f5c#P7001012451000000000000000004F5E)
13-9. How does a conclusion differ from a recommendation? [LO-5] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f5c#P7001012451000000000000000004F5E)
Apply Your Knowledge To review chapter content related to each question, refer to the indicated Learning Objective.
13-10. Companies occasionally make mistakes that expose confidential information, such as when employees lose laptop computers containing sensitive data files or webmasters forget to protect confidential webpages from search engine indexes. If you conducted a search that turned up competitive information on webpages that were clearly intended to be private, what would you do? Explain your answer. [LO-1] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#P7001012451000000000000000004D55)
13-11. Why must you be careful when citing information from online sources? [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
13-12. One of your employees submitted a report comparing the market opportunities for two product ideas your company might develop. The report concludes that because the first idea yielded 340,000 hits in a Google search, whereas the second idea yielded only 128,000 hits, the
first idea clearly has more sales potential. Is this a valid conclusion? Why or why not? [LO-4] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#P7001012451000000000000000004F0F)
13-13. While analyzing last year’s sales data, you notice that sales were 10 to 15 percent higher than average during August, September, and November. The marketing department invested heavily in a search engine advertising campaign from August through December. Can you conclude that the advertising campaign caused the increase in sales? Why or why not? [LO-5] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f5c#P7001012451000000000000000004F5E)
Practice Your Skills 13-14. Message for Analysis: Primary Research: Conducting Interviews [LO-4] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#P7001012451000000000000000004F0F)
Imagine you are going to interview a mid-level manager in a large corporation about the company’s meeting practices. Read the questions and then (1) critique them, as a whole, indicating what is effective or ineffective about this series of questions, and (2) select five questions and revise them to make them more effective.
a. What is your position in the company? b. To whom do you report? c. Do you attend or run many meetings? d. Do your meetings start on time? Run late? e. Do you distribute or receive a meeting agenda several days in advance of the meeting? f. Do you like your job? g. Do you travel a lot for your job? h. Has your company cut back on travel expenditures? If so, how and why? i. Does your company use videoconferencing or online meetings as an alternative to travel? j. Does your company own its own videoconferencing equipment? k. Are virtual meetings more or less effective than face-to-face meetings? l. How long have you worked at this company?
m. Who are your most important customers? n. How often does your management team meet with the managers of other companies? o. Does your company produce a wide range of products or only a few specialty items? p. How do you keep your meetings on track? q. Does someone prepare written minutes of meetings? Are the minutes distributed to meeting members?
Exercises
Each activity is labeled according to the primary skill or skills you will need to use. To review relevant chapter content, you can refer to the indicated Learning Objective. In some instances, supporting information will be found in another chapter, as indicated.
Planning Your Research; Collaboration: Team Projects [LO-1] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#P7001012451000000000000000004D55) In a team assigned by your instructor, decide how you would structure a research project to answer the following questions. Identify any shortcomings in the approaches you have chosen.
13-15. Has the litter problem on campus been reduced since the cafeteria began offering fewer take-out choices this year than in past years? 13-16. Has the school attracted more transfer students since it waived the formal application process and allowed students at other colleges simply to send their transcripts and a one-page letter of application? 13-17. Have the number of traffic accidents at the school’s main entrance been reduced since a traffic light was installed? 13-18. Did student satisfaction with campus libraries decline after budget cuts forced the libraries to reduce opening hours? 13-19. Planning a Research Project [LO-1] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#P7001012451000000000000000004D55)
You and your business partners are considering buying several franchises in the fast-food business. You are all experienced managers or entrepreneurs, but none of you has experience in franchising. Visit www.amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com) and search for books on this subject. Explore some of the books that you find by reading reviews and using the “search inside” feature.
a. Use the information you find to develop a list of subquestions to help you narrow your focus. b. Write down the names of three books you might purchase to further aid your research. c. Summarize how a search like this can assist you with your research efforts and identify any risks of using this technique.
13-20. Planning a Research Project [LO-1] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#P7001012451000000000000000004D55)
Analyze any recent school or work assignment that required you to conduct research. How did you approach your investigation? Did you rely mostly on sources of primary information or mostly on sources of secondary information? Now that you have studied this chapter, can you identify two ways to improve the research techniques you used during that assignment? Briefly explain.
Conducting Secondary Research (Company and Industry Data) [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD) Using online or printed sources, find the following information. Be sure to properly cite your sources, using the formats discussed in Appendix B (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p700101245100000000000000000747b#P700101245100000000000000000747B) .
13-21. Contact information for the American Management Association 13-22. Median weekly earnings of men and women by occupation 13-23. Current market share for Perrier water 13-24. Performance ratios for office supply retailers 13-25. Annual stock performance for Nike 13-26. Number of franchise outlets in the United States 13-27. Composition of the U.S. workforce by profession
Conducting Secondary Research (Finding Sources) [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
Businesspeople have to know where to look for secondary information when they conduct research. Identify five periodicals or online resources in each the following professions:
13-28. Marketing and advertising 13-29. Insurance 13-30. Telecommunications 13-31. Accounting 13-32. Conducting Secondary Research (Documenting Sources) [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
Select five business articles from sources such as journals, books, newspapers, or websites. Develop a resource list, using Appendix B (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p700101245100000000000000000747b#P700101245100000000000000000747B)
as a guideline. 13-33. Conducting Secondary Research (Evaluating Sources) [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
Find three websites that provide business information such as company or industry news, trends, analysis, facts, or performance data. Using the criteria discussed under “Evaluating Sources (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DB7)
” on page 366 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#page_366) , evaluate the credibility of the information presented at these websites. 13-34. Conducting Secondary Research (Online Monitoring); Media Skills: Microblogging [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
, Chapter 8 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000003454#P7001012451000000000000000003454)
Select a business topic that interests you and configure a Twitter monitoring tool such as TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com (http://www.tweetdeck.com) ) to track tweets on this topic. After you’ve found at least a dozen tweets, identify three that provide potentially useful information and describe them in a brief email message to your instructor. 13-35. Conducting Secondary Research (Company Data) [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
Select any publicly traded company and find the following information:
• Names of the company’s current officers • List of the company’s products or services (summarized by product lines or divisions, if the company offers many products and services) • Current issues in the company’s industry • Outlook for the company’s industry as a whole
13-36. Conducting Secondary Research (Industry Issues) [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
You’d like to know if it’s a good idea to buy banner ads on other websites to drive more traffic to your company’s website. You’re worried about the expense and difficulty of running an experiment to test banner effectiveness, so you decide to look for some secondary data. Identify three secondary sources that might offer helpful data on this question. 13-37. Conducting Primary Research (Surveys) [LO-3] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#P7001012451000000000000000004EA1)
You work for a movie studio that is producing a young director’s first motion picture, the story of a group of unknown musicians finding work and making a reputation in a competitive industry. Unfortunately, some of your friends leave the first complete screening, saying that the 182- minute movie is simply too long. Others said they couldn’t imagine any sequences to cut out. Your boss wants to test the movie on a regular audience and ask viewers to complete a questionnaire that will help the director decide whether edits are needed and, if so, where. Design a questionnaire you can use to solicit valid answers for a report to the director about how to handle the audience members’ reactions to the movie. 13-38. Conducting Primary Research (Interviews) [LO-3] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#P7001012451000000000000000004EA1)
Plan an information interview with a professional working in your chosen field of study. Plan the structure of the interview and create a set of interview questions. Conduct the interview. Using the information you gathered, write a memo to another student, describing the tasks, advantages, and disadvantages of jobs in this field of study. (Assume that your reader is a person who also plans to pursue a career in this field of study.) 13-39. Conducting Primary Research (Interviews) [LO-3] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#P7001012451000000000000000004EA1)
You’re conducting an information interview with a manager in another division of your company. Partway through the interview, the manager shows clear signs of impatience. How should you respond? What might you do differently to prevent this from happening in the future? Explain your answers.
13-40. Processing Data and Information [LO-4] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#P7001012451000000000000000004F0F)
Select an article from a business periodical such as Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, or Forbes. Read the article and highlight its key points. Summarize the article in fewer than 100 words, paraphrasing the key points. 13-41. Processing Data and Information [LO-4] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#P7001012451000000000000000004F0F)
Your boss has asked you to analyze and report on your division’s sales for the first nine months of this year. Using the following data from company invoices, calculate the mean for each quarter and all averages for the year to date. Then identify and discuss the quarterly sales trends.
January $24,600
February $25,900
March $23,000
April $21,200
May $24,600
June $26,800
July $29,900
August $30,500
September $26,600
Expand Your Skills Critique the Professionals
Find a recent example of a significant business blunder, such as a new product that failed in the marketplace. Based on what you can learn about the episode, how might better research have helped the company in question avoid the blunder? Using whatever medium your instructor requests, write a brief conclusion of your analysis.
Sharpening Your Career Skills Online
Bovée and Thill’s Business Communication Web Search, at websearch.businesscommunicationnetwork.com (http://websearch.businesscommunicationnetwork.com) , is a unique research tool designed specifically for business communication research. Use the Web Search function to find a website, video, article, podcast, or presentation that offers advice on using online search tools in business research. Write a brief email message to your instructor, describing the item you found and summarizing the career skills information you learned from it.
MyBCommLab
Go to mybcommlab.com (http://mybcommlab.com) for Auto-graded writing questions as well as the following Assisted-graded writing questions:
13-42. How can online monitoring tools help you with research? [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
13-43. What search terms could you use to find estimates of the lifetime financial value of a college education? [LO-2] (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#P7001012451000000000000000004DAD)
Endnotes
1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d27#rP7001012451000000000000000005107) . Kavi Guppta, “How to Convince Leaders to Avoid Business Plans When Validating New Ideas,” Strategyzer blog, 18 April 2016, www.blog.strategyzer.com (http://www.blog.strategyzer.com) ; Strategyzer website, accessed 23 April 2016, www.strategyzer.com (http://www.strategyzer.com) ; Alexander Ostenwalder and Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers (Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2009), ebook; Alex Cowan, “The 20 Minute Business Plan: Business Model Canvas Made Easy,” Cowan+, 6 February 2013, www.alexandercowan.com (http://www.alexandercowan.com) .
2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d51#rP7001012451000000000000000005109) . Annie Pettit, “Mugging, Sugging and Now Rugging: I Take a Hard Stance on Privacy,” LoveStats blog, 29 January 2010, www.lovestats.wordpress.com (http://www.lovestats.wordpress.com) .
3 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#rP700101245100000000000000000510B) . Information for this section originally based in part from “Finding Industry Information,” accessed 3 November 1998, www.pitt.edu/~buslibry/industries.htm (http://www.pitt.edu/~buslibry/industries.htm) ; Thomas P. Bergman, Stephen M. Garrison, and Gregory M. Scott, The Business Student Writer’s Manual and Guide to the Internet (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1998), 67–80; Ernest L. Maier, Anthony J. Faria, Peter Kaatrude, and Elizabeth Wood, The Business Library and How to Use It (Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1996), 53–76; Sherwyn P. Morreale and Courtland L. Bovée, Excellence in Public Speaking (Fort Worth, Tex.: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998), 166–171.
4 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004da9#rP700101245100000000000000000510D) . “Copyright Office Basics,” U.S. Copyright Office website, accessed 2 November 2006, www.copyright.gov (http://www.copyright.gov) .
5 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#rP700101245100000000000000000510F) . Naresh K. Malhotra, Basic Marketing Research (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002), 314–317; “How to Design and Conduct a Study,” Credit Union Magazine, October 1983, 36–46.
6 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#rP7001012451000000000000000005111) . “Using Skip Logic in a Survey,” SurveyMonkey.com (http://SurveyMonkey.com) , accessed 19 August 2016, www.surveymonkey.com (http://www.surveymonkey.com) .
7 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#rP7001012451000000000000000005113) . Morreale and Bovée, Excellence in Public Speaking, 177.
8 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#rP7001012451000000000000000005115) . Morreale and Bovée, Excellence in Public Speaking, 182.
9 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004e9b#rP7001012451000000000000000005117) . A. B. Blankenship and George Edward Breen, State of the Art Marketing Research (Lincolnwood, Ill.: NTC Business Books, 1992), 225.
10 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#rP7001012451000000000000000005119) . Lynn Quitman Troyka, Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers, 6th ed. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002), 481.
11 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f0b#rP700101245100000000000000000511B) . “How to Paraphrase Effectively: 6 Steps to Follow,” www.Researchpaper.com (http://www.Researchpaper.com) , accessed 26 October 1998, www.researchpaper.com (http://www.researchpaper.com) .
12 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004f5c#rP700101245100000000000000000511D) . Jonathan Reichental, “Knowledge Management in the Age of Social Media,” O’Reilly Radar, 16 March 2011, radar.oreilly.com (http://radar.oreilly.com) ; Venkatesh Rao, “Social Media vs. Knowledge Management: A Generational War,” Social Computing, 17 November 2008, www.socialcomputingmagazine.com (http://www.socialcomputingmagazine.com) ; Jeff Kelly, “KM vs. Social Media: Beware the Warmongers,” Social Computing, 17 November 2008, www.socialcomputingmagazine.com (http://www.socialcomputingmagazine.com) .
