Research has played a major role in leading the world where it is today. It must have been impossible to evolve as per the passing time without research and the theories that were constructed based on research. Research has basically made it easy to understand the needs and demands of the current time. As research has helped science to evolve the world it has also helped the business to evolve in a similar manner. It is important to know the demand of the consumer and what they expect from an industry. Knowing your customer is the most important part to survive and thrive in the present times. Owing to the monopolistic nature of the market, it has become easier for the firms to enter and exit the market. However, with the increasing industries and upcoming trends that change as the time passes, it is essential for the marketers to study and plan the strategies as per them.
WHAT IS RESEARCH?
How can it be useful to a non-scientific work culture?
A basic and simple meaning of "Research" is finding solutions to the existing problems and the problems that possibly arise while undergoing a process or project. As the word itself suggests, it means ‘RE-searching' on the existing information available and gathering more relevant information (data) from a relevant area of work or region. Research can be termed as creation of knowledge about something and someone or using that knowledge and information in creating some new strategies. It is the process of deciding an objective, collecting information, analyzing the collected information and then using that information in the flow of the process or project you are working on. It is an important source of knowledge which is required to form strategies and guidelines for business, government and social policies.
Characteristics of research
Logical: the research should have a logical explanation behind it. Why is it done, what is the purpose? It should follow a proper sequential process and based on principle. There should be no bias while performing the research because it can affect the result and the desired results may not be received.
Should have a social effect: the research done should add value to the team / organization / department to suggest and help in improvement.
Analytical: research is done and analyzed to ensure credibility and repeatability of the same. To minimize the possibility of potential error.
Statistical methods / MS Excel Data: statistical methods are used to ensure calculative predictions while collecting and evaluating the data to transform the data into something more credible.
Hypothesis based: any research takes place after proposing hypotheses about the subject/ project/ process. This takes place when it is mostly a scientific process/ project.
IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH
To understand and get clarity about old and new concept/ trends/ practices
To understand changing trends/ practices
To understand what is not working with the current subject
To plan strategies and policies
To find out facts and inspire new ideas
To aid in evolving and adjusting with timelines at various stages
Enhances decision making
Provides credibility on the solutions referring to the situational crisis or hurdles.
Helps to achieve goals systematically
Research can't be stereotyped to scientific work only, the data collection for our study and future business analysis is also research, done for successful predictions at conceptual tasks.
TYPE OF RESEARCH
The type of research depends on the data that needs to be collected and the population / area of concern/ region/ department/ sector of business, which is being targeted for the study and data collection.
Exploratory/formulative research: exploratory research is done to get a better understanding of the problem which is not clearly defined. Such research proves beneficial to gain familiarity with the phenomenon or trend/ pattern of process to achieve new insights.
Descriptive research: descriptive research gives proper and accurate information about a particular individual, situation and a group. It focuses on ‘how’ and ‘what’ aspects of work tasks.
Explanatory Research: explanatory research is done to study how variables react to each other while interacting. That is to understand the cause and effect relationship. It helps to get the ‘why’ behind things.
The research conducted can be analytical , quantitative, qualitative, descriptive, fundamental, conceptual, empirical etc.
However, research for corporate tasks is done with one time usage purpose most of the time unless it's going to be a part of repeated utilization.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO DO RESEARCH IN BUSINESS?
It is important to conduct research with a purpose. Because without a clear purpose and perspective of why we are doing research, it is not worth it. And it should add on to the welfare of the society too. The purpose of the research is to understand the unknown factors existing currently. Research is all about why, what, how i.e. why something works in a particular pattern, what makes it function and how does it function and add on to the society. The ultimate goal behind doing research is to find ways in improving our lives.
As we have seen, research lays a foundation in every field. Marketers play an important role in doing research for the companies to know nuances in the current trends and factors affecting or benefiting at particular time spans and its impact on the market and consumers. They collect data of the areas of work they want insights about so as to understand competition and predict competition too.
To provide variations in the product: A very important rule in the business world or while doing research is that it needs to be evolved with the changing time. So in business the researcher needs to understand what the consumer needs and provide it to them. Because if the industry doesn’t update with changing trends they might lose a huge chunk of their customers. Due to the cut throat competition the researchers of the firm have to constantly work on enhancing their present product in providing something “NEW” in their products. Because of research every field has been successful in innovating new products as per demand and need. Furthermore, it aids to understand ‘what can be done more to increase the productivity and usefulness of the product.’
Evaluating the product PRE and POST release in the market: Before the product is been released in the market it has to be checked that which group population has been targeted ,whether it is meeting the standards or not, is the type of product in demand, how long will the product last, what does the consumer expect while consuming it (consumer product durable and non-durable commodities, service products , industrial product) etc. After the product has been released in the market the researchers and the marketers try to understand how well the product has been doing in the market, what quantity needs to produced , what is the demand for the product, what variation could be done in the future to provide the variations in it like changing its smell , material used for production , changing its shape etc. how to expand the demand for the product and is the product ready to be manufactured on a large scale and consumed all over the world.
Helps to avoid failures in future: As the saying goes ‘learn from others mistakes and try to avoid doing it’. How does one achieve this? It happens when proper planning is done beforehand. And planning is done by doing appropriate amounts of research and understanding the laybacks of the competitors and how to avoid it happening to their own products. Research also helps in knowing mishaps of our own products and to avoid it happening again in the future.
Planning: Before setting up anything it requires a lot of planning for any task one undertakes. In case of studying a particular topic or aspect of work, one needs to have the appropriate tools for researching. Secondly, a systematic collection of data and how the data is collected is also important - time, errors, redundancies need to be taken into account. How this data is to be placed also requires planning. Hence, tools to data distribution and utilization are parts of the entire planning process for a successful research.
In a nutshell:
Research helps in reasoning needed to do before doing a task, while doing it and after completing the task. It also increases cognitive ability and also provides different perspectives to look at a certain problem or opportunity. Proper research is required before undertaking a task to make sure that the team is ready with predicted occurrences for a successful project / task completion.
Hope you found this article helpful. If you or your organization is interested to learn more about such attributes and behavioral skills at the workplace, feel free to get in touch with us at RGB Training Services!