Question

Part 1: Describe an effective process for conducting business research.

Part 2: Include the three types of sources and how you might approach the research for each type.

Part 3: Explain how to evaluate the credibility of information.

Part 4: Give examples of when data might be considered out of date.

Part 5: In what circumstances might you use an expert in the field when doing research?

Part 6: How would you find those experts and how would you make sure the expert was credible?

Answer 1

Part 1
An effective process for conducting business research is as follows -

• Find out what you want to research about
• Decide on what reasearch method is to be used
• Do a cost - profit analysis on why a certain method suits you
• Gather enough data
• Analyse efficiently and find out results

Part 2
Three sources for research methods :

• Market sales numbers : By maintaining a proper database, the analysis work would be easier
• Financial trends : Market trends could be easily calculated in a tabulated manner, by keeping arithmetical data like profitability ratios, et al.
• Customer surveys : Compare research questions with available data and try to prioritize the ones that are essential. Categorizing data in sub-groups is also a key to quantify surveys.

Part 3
The factors that defines information credibility are :

• Data should be recent and relatable
• Check if the data is authorized by an individual or owner
• Check for relevance in the information to your research questions
• Keep an open mind to criticize or be unbiased about the information

Part 4
Data might be considered out of date on a lot of occasions. Some of them are :

• Dates back to more than ten years as a general rule of thumb
• There is other market data available that contradicts the given data
• There have been numerous researches conducted with a different set of data that have different conclusions

Part 5
When you find it difficult to come to conclusions from your said data or find it difficult in analysing the data that you have collected, that is an indication that you need a field expert, who has knowledge about crunching numbers and rigorous data analysis.

Part 6
To find out past experts that you would want to work with in the present, you have to go through analysis of past reports or sources regarding what research has been done on your selected area of interest. Be critical enough to decide whether that expert is of relevance to you and can help you reach a conclusion with your data.
Credibility of an expert can be effectively measured through analysis of past works. If the expert is confident in what he/she says, you ought to put a tick in the checking criteria. In context , you should verify if he/she has enough knowledge about what you want to study.