Research andBusiness Proposals

and Planning forBusiness Reports

Chapter 12

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Chapter Overview

Planning and conducting business research and credibility

Specific and achievable research objectivesEffective design of survey questionsEvaluating chartsUsefulness of data sourcesSecondary research

12-2

Learning Objectives

LO12.1 Explain how planning and conducting business research for reports impacts your credibility.

LO12.2 Create research objectives that are specific and achievable.

LO12.3 Explain principles of effective design for survey questions and choices.

LO12.4 Develop charts and tables to concisely display data and accentuate key messages.

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

12-3

Learning Objectives (cont.)

LO12.5 Evaluate the usefulness of data sources for business research.

LO12.6 Conduct secondary research to address a business problem.

LO12.7 Evaluate research data, charts, and tables for fairness and effectiveness.

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

12-4

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 distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

12-5

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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.

12-6

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Developing Your Ideas with Primary Research

Survey research is increasingly common because of the ease with which online surveys can be administered

Survey research generally involves administering written questionnaires

12-7

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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.

12-8

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Research Objectives

12-9

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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.

12-10

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Surveys

Survey questions should be: simple to answernon-leadingexhaustive and unambiguouslimited to a single idea

12-11

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Simple Survey Questions

12-12

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Non-Leading Survey Questions

12-13

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Exhaustive and Unambiguous Survey Choices

12-14

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Survey Questions with a Single Idea

12-15

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 distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

12-16

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Analyzing Your Data

Rely on others in your analysisStay focused on your business problem and

look for the big picture

12-17

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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

12-18

Designing Effective Charts

Line chartsuseful for depicting events and trends over time

Pie chartsuseful for illustrating the pieces within a whole

Bar chartsuseful to compare amounts or quantities

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

12-19

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Effective Charts

12-20

Title descriptiveness Focal points Information

sufficiency

Ease of processing

Take-away message

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Effective Charts

Title descriptivenesstitle should explain the primary point of the chart. Must be short enough for the reader to process quickly

Focal pointsshould support one main ideacan be visually generated in many interesting ways

12-21

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Effective Charts

Information sufficiencyCharts should contain enough information for the reader to quickly and reasonably understand the ideas that are being displayed

12-22

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Effective Charts

Ease of processingBy selecting only the necessary information and placing labels and data at appropriate places, you enable your reader to process the information quickly and efficiently

12-23

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Effective Charts

Takeaway messageessence of your charthow the information, title, focal points, and other formatting combine to convey a lasting message.

12-24

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Formatting Guidelines for Specific Chart Types

12-25

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

A Less Effective Table

12-26

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

More-Effective Table

12-27

Figure 12.6

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Formatting Guidelines for Tables

12-28

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Choosing a Research Topic

Avoid Settling on Your Topic too Quickly and Pace Your Research

Choose Your Topic StrategicallyDefine the Scope of Your ProjectFind Ways to Make Your Research More

AnalyticalTalk to Others Who Can Help You

12-29

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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

12-30

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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

12-31

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Strengths and Limitations of Data Quality for Primary and Secondary Research Sources

12-32

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Evaluating Data Quality

White papers reports or guides that generally describe research about solving a particular issue

Industry publications written to cater to the specific interests of members in particular industries

12-33

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Evaluating Data Quality

Business periodicals provide stories, information, and advice about contemporary business issues

Scholarly journals contain information that comes from carefully controlled scientific research processes and has been reviewed by experts in the field

12-34

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Conduct Library Research

Aside from a significant collection of books across a wide range of disciplines and topics, your library likely contains a wealth of digital resources

You likely also have access to thousands of company and industry reports and scholarly journals

12-35

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Document Your Research

Decision makers expect excellent documentation of your information because this helps them evaluate the credibility of your report

12-36

Using Online Information for Business Research

Always evaluate data qualityDo more than just “Google it.”

Go to reputable business and industry websites and conduct searches.Find online discussions and forums about your selected topicSearch 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 distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

12-37

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Creating Fair Charts

12-38

© 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Chapter Takeaways

Planning and conducting business research and credibility

Specific and achievable research objectivesEffective design of survey questionsEvaluating chartsUsefulness of data sourcesSecondary research

12-39