Business Assignment
Research and Business Proposals and Planning for Business Reports Chapter 12 © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. Chapter Overview Planning and conducting business research and credibility Specific and achievable research objectives Effective design of survey questions Evaluating charts Usefulness of data sources Secondary research © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -2 Analyzing Your Audience for Business Reports The first step in developing research -based business reports is identifying what decision makers want to accomplish . You should spend time with your target audience of decision makers to carefully consider their primary business goals , research objectives , and expectations © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -3 Developing Your Ideas with Primary Research Primary research the analysis of data that you, people from your organization, or others under your direction have collected. Secondary research the analysis of data collected by others with no direction from you or members of your organization. © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -4 Developing Your Ideas with Primary Research Closed questions restrict respondents to certain answers (rating scales, multiple choice , etc.). Open -ended questions allow respondents to answer in any way they choose. © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -5 Survey research generally involves administering written questionnaires Creating Surveys Surveys are particularly useful because you can quickly get the responses of dozens if not hundreds of colleagues, current or potential customers, or members of other groups of interest. © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -6 Creating Surveys Survey questions should be: simple to answer non -leading exhaustive and unambiguous limited to a single idea © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -7 Analyzing Your Data Learn as much as you can about forecasting and other forms of statistical and quantitative analysis Learn as much as you can about spreadsheet, database, and statistical software © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -8 Communicating with Charts and Tables After conducting survey research or other forms of business research, you typically have many statistics and figures that you could include in reports to decision makers Overloading your audience members with data is a sure way to guarantee they’ll forget almost everything you say © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -9 Designing Effective Charts Line charts useful for depicting events and trends over time Pie charts useful for illustrating the pieces within a whole Bar charts useful to compare amounts or quantities © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -10 Creating Effective Charts © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -11 Title descriptiveness Focal points Information sufficiency Ease of processing Take -away message Evaluating Data Quality Reliability relates to how dependable the data is — how current and representative Relevance relates to how well the data apply to your specific business problem Adaptability relates to how well the research can be altered or revised to meet your specific business problem © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -12 Evaluating Data Quality Expertise relates to the skill and background of the researchers to address your business problem. Biases tendencies to see issues from particular perspectives © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -13 Using Online Information for Business Research Always evaluate data quality Do more than just “Google it.” Go to reputable business and industry websites and conduct searches. Find online discussions and forums about your selected topic Search beyond text -based information Be persistent © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -14 Creating Fair Charts © 2016 by McGraw -Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or d istribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or par t. 12 -15
