Business Research Methods: Key Elements & Use Cases

In the cutthroat business world, research is the holy grail that unlocks the doors to success. It is the difference between floundering in obscurity and soaring to greatness.

Successful businesses have one thing in common. They all deeply understand their customers, their competition, and their industry.

And how do they gain this knowledge? Through research.

You must be a research ninja – agile, precise, and armed with the right tools to succeed.

But not just any research will do. To be a true research ninja, you must know the best practices for business research methods.

Lucky for you, we’ve got you covered.

We’ll take you through the best practices for business research methods.

We’ll not stop there. We’ll also look at the use cases and show you how to create a business research report. Consequently, equips you with the skills to sift through the data and uncover valuable insights.

• What is Business Research?
• Why Do You Need Business Research Methods?
• Elements of Business Research Methods
• Use Cases for Business Research Methods
• How Do You Write a Business Research Template?
• How to Create a Business Research Report?
• Wrap Up

What is Business Research?

Business research refers to the systematic investigation and analysis of various aspects of a business. It involves collecting and interpreting data, conducting surveys, interviews, and experiments, and analyzing trends and patterns. This helps you identify opportunities, improve products or services, and enhance overall business performance.

Why Do You Need Business Research Methods?

Have you ever tried to navigate a maze blindfolded? It’s not easy, right? Trying to run a business without proper research methods is like navigating a maze without guidance. You may stumble upon success, but chances are you’ll end up lost and confused. So, why do you need business research methods?

• Decision-making: Effective business research methods provide reliable data and insights to support informed decision-making. This helps reduce uncertainty and increases the chances of making successful strategic choices.
• Market analysis: Using business research methods, you can analyze market trends, understand customer preferences, and evaluate competitor strategies. This enables you to seize opportunities, develop competitive advantages, and tailor your offerings to meet customer needs.
• Product development: Business research helps gather customer feedback and understand their needs and preferences. This aids in developing and improving product offerings, ensuring they align with customer expectations and demands.
• Risk management: You can evaluate risks and uncertainties associated with new ventures, product launches, or market expansions. Consequently, mitigate the risks, and improve the likelihood of success.
• Performance evaluation: Business research methods enable you to measure and evaluate your performance and that of competitors. This helps identify areas of improvement, track progress, and benchmark against industry standards.
• Innovation and adaptation: Business research facilitates the identification of emerging trends, technological advancements, and changing consumer behaviors. This information allows you to innovate, adapt, and stay ahead in dynamic market environments.

Elements of Business Research Methods

The elements of business research methods include:

1. Research question/objective: Clearly define the purpose of the research and the specific questions or objectives to be addressed.
2. Research design: Determining the overall approach and structure of the research study. Decide whether it will be qualitative or quantitative, experimental or observational, cross-sectional or longitudinal, etc.
3. Data collection: Select appropriate methods and tools for gathering relevant data. This may include surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, experiments, secondary data analysis, or a combination.
4. Sampling: Determine the target population and select a representative sample from which you will collect the data. This involves defining the sampling frame, selecting sampling techniques, and ensuring adequate sample size.
5. Data analysis: Apply suitable analytical techniques to interpret the collected data. Such techniques include statistical analysis, content analysis, thematic analysis, regression analysis, or qualitative coding.
6. Results and findings: Summarize and present the analyzed data, highlighting trends, relationships, or patterns observed during the research process.
7. Conclusion and recommendations: Draw conclusions based on the research findings and provide recommendations for action or further exploration.
8. Ethical considerations: Address ethical issues related to data collection, privacy, confidentiality, and informed consent.

Use Cases for Business Research Methods

• Market analysis: Research methods help you understand market trends, customer preferences, and competitive landscapes. This information is crucial for market segmentation, target audience identification, and developing effective marketing strategies.
• Product development: Research methods assist in gathering customer feedback and analyzing market demand. This helps refine existing product offerings, identify new opportunities, and optimize features to meet customer needs.
• Decision-making: Business research methods provide reliable data, insights, and analysis to support informed decision-making.
• Risk assessment and management: By employing research methods, you can identify risks, evaluate market uncertainties, and assess the viability of business ventures. This facilitates effective risk management and informed decision-making to minimize potential losses.

How Do You Write a Business Research Template?

When creating a business research template, consider the following components:

1. Title and introduction: Provide a concise and informative title for your research project. Also, write an introduction that provides background information and explains the significance of the study.
2. Research objectives: Clearly define the specific objectives or research questions that your study aims to address.
3. Literature review: Summarize existing research and literature relevant to your topic. Identify gaps, controversies, or areas that require further exploration.
4. Methodology: Describe the research design, including whether it is qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, or other approaches. Explain your data collection methods and tools, such as surveys, interviews, and observations. Furthermore, detail the data analysis techniques or statistical methods you will employ.
5. Data collection: Outline the procedures for collecting data, including any survey instruments, interview protocols, or observation guidelines. Provide clear instructions for data collection, ensuring consistency and reliability.
6. Data Analysis: Describe your approach to analyzing the collected data. Explain the statistical or qualitative analysis techniques that you will apply.
7. Results and findings: Present and interpret the results of your data analysis. Use tables, charts, or graphs to visualize the findings.
8. Conclusion and recommendations: Summarize the key findings of your research. Draw conclusions based on the results and address the research objectives. In addition, provide recommendations for future action or further research based on your findings.
9. References: List all the sources cited in your research template. Follow a specific referencing style (e.g., APA, MLA) consistently.
10. Appendices: Include supplementary materials, such as survey questionnaires, interview transcripts, or additional data charts supporting your research.

How to Create a Business Research Report?

Creating a comprehensive business research report that effectively communicates findings and insights can be a daunting task. However, with the help of ChartExpo, an Excel-based data visualization tool, the process becomes more streamlined and efficient.

ChartExpo empowers you to transform raw data into insightful and visually engaging visualizations. This makes it easier to present complex information clearly and concisely.

Benefits of Using ChartExpo

• With an intuitive user interface, ChartExpo empowers you to create insightful visualizations without requiring any coding experience.
• With ChartExpo, customization options abound, allowing you to create unique visualizations. You can personalize colors, fonts, and styles to align with your brand aesthetics.
• ChartExpo offers excellent value for money, with a free 7-day trial and an affordable $10 monthly plan.

How to Install ChartExpo in Excel?

1. Open your Excel application.
2. Open the worksheet and click the “Insert” menu.
3. You’ll see the “My Apps” option.
4. In the office Add-ins window, click “Store” and search for ChartExpo on my Apps Store.
5. Click the “Add” button to install ChartExpo in your Excel.

ChartExpo charts are available both in Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Please use the following CTA’s to install the tool of your choice and create beautiful visualizations in a few clicks in your favorite tool.

Example

Assume you have recently launched a product. You want to gather customer feedback to help you improve. Therefore, you conduct an online customer feedback survey consisting of the following questions.

• How often do you use our product?
• How satisfied are you with the quality of our product?
• How likely are you to recommend our product to others?

Your customers provide an answer to each question using the response scale below.

1. Never
2. Rarely
3. Sometimes
4. Often
5. Always

Let’s say you have organized the results in the data table below.

Follow through as I show you how to create a chart with ChartExpo to make data analysis easier.

• To get started with ChartExpo, install ChartExpo in Excel.
• Navigate to the INSERT menu and select My Apps. 

• Select ChartExpo and click the “Insert” button.

• Once it loads, choose the “Likert Scale Chart” from the charts list.

• Select the data from the sheet and click the “Create Chart From Selection” button.

• When you click the “Create Chart From Selection” button, you have to map responses with numbers manually. The Likert scale has this arrangement:
  • Never=1
  • Rarely=2
  • Sometimes=3
  • Often=4
  • Always=5
• Once all is set, click the “Create Chart” button.

• ChartExpo will generate the visualization below for you.

• Click the “Edit Chart” button to modify your chart.
• Click the pencil icon next to the Chart Header to add a title.
• This will open the properties dialog.
• Add a heading in Line 1 under the Text section and enable the Show option. Then click the “Apply” button.

• Your final chart will appear below.

Insights

• 20% always recommend your product to others, while 30% indicated that they often do so. On the other hand, 15% of customers mentioned that they never recommend it. 10% rarely recommend it, with 25% doing so sometimes.
• Regarding the quality of the product, 25% of customers were always satisfied. 20% stated that they often feel satisfied. Conversely, 20% reported never being satisfied, and 15% were satisfied. Additionally, 20% selected the sometimes option.
• Regarding product usage, 20% of customers selected the always option, and 25% chose the often option. Conversely, 15% of customers indicated never using it, and 15% rarely do so. Furthermore, 25% of customers selected the sometimes option.
• Overall
  • 22% of customers selected the always option
  • while 25% chose the often option. Additionally
  • 15% selected never
  • 15% rare, and 23% chose sometimes.

FAQs

What are the 4 types of business research?

The four types of business research are exploratory, descriptive, causal, and predictive. Exploratory research aims to explore a topic, and descriptive research provides a snapshot of a situation. Furthermore, causal research investigates cause-and-effect relationships, and predictive research predicts future outcomes.

What are the 5 classifications of business research?

The five classifications of business research are;

• Basic research seeking to expand knowledge.
• Applied research focusing on solving practical problems.
• Quantitative research involving numerical data.
• Qualitative research using non-numerical data.
• Mixed-methods research combining quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Wrap Up

Understanding and applying best practices for business research methods is essential for conducting effective and insightful studies. Following these practices will help you gather relevant data and gain valuable insights. Consequently, make informed decisions that drive growth and success.

Selecting the appropriate research method is crucial. Whether exploratory, descriptive, causal, or predictive, the choice should align with the research objectives.

Additionally, maintaining research integrity is paramount. This involves ensuring ethical considerations, protecting data privacy, and adhering to rigorous research standards.

Furthermore, a well-designed research plan is essential. Have clear research objectives, define the target population, and carefully construct survey questions or interview protocols. These measures contribute to gathering reliable and meaningful data.

Conclusively, effective communication of research findings is crucial. Present results in a clear, concise, and actionable manner. This enables stakeholders to understand and apply the insights effectively.

How?

Use ChartExpo for Excel. ChartExpo takes the complexity out of the equation by allowing you to effortlessly create insightful, engaging visualizations. No coding is required.