Week 5 Discussion

Conducting a Business Research Project

As has been discussed throughout this course, the key purpose of a business research project is to

provide information for those who will make decisions in an organizational environment. With this in

mind, business research projects are only undertaken when a problem motivates the undertaking of

such a project.

Pilot testing of a research design will allow the organization to ensure that the data that will be

collected at a later time will be of high quality. It is during this pilot testing phase that weaknesses in

the methodology can be identi�ed and corrected, so that a large amount of research work is not

wasted.

After collecting data and conducting a well-designed statistical test on that date, the researcher needs

to communicate the �ndings of the research in a clear and well-organized manner. The communication of the �ndings of the research, both to the subjects of the research and to the organization that

commissioned the research, is the �nal phase of the research process.

Communication of �ndings usually begins with an executive summary, which is a short (approximately

one page or less) summary of the purpose of the research and the conclusions drawn from the

research. The executive summary usually is followed by an overview of the research, which explains

what was done and how it was done. Perhaps in a separate document, the researcher may recommend

steps to solve the problem that originally motivated he report, including how the proposed steps will remedy the issue. Finally, all data that can be revealed should be included in an appendix, along with all

of the statistical outputs on which the conclusions were based.

When developing, analyzing, and reporting a business research project, researchers need to perform

complex calculations and solve statistical problems. It would take too long to calculate various

statistics with just a calculator and a pen and paper. Using statistical software package, including those

capabilities found inside Microsoft Excel, can ease the process of performing these calculations and help in solving complex research problems.

Additional Materials

View a Pdf Transcript of Business Research Projects 

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