BUSINESS RESEARCH: TYPES, BENEFITS, AND ITS IMPORTANCE

Business research is a process of obtaining a detailed study of all the business areas including the
market and the customers and using that information to maximize the sales & profit of the
business.

When you run a business, there are several things you can research on. You research everything
from market shares to sales. Business research helps you make intelligent and informed decisions
and identify the key areas to invest your money in.

For example, an automobile company plans to unveil the latest car model in the market. For that,
they need to develop strategies to explore and monitor customer demand. So, the company will
conduct research to collect information and analyze market trends. This will help them draw
better conclusions and come up with a fine quality car at the right price resulting in a larger
market share.

TYPES OF BUSINESS RESEARCH

Researchers use various research methods to collect relevant data so that business enterprises can
make wiser decisions.  There are two main types of methods to carry out business research.

 Quantitative Business Research

It is a method of analyzing the largest group that meets your target goals. It uses mathematical
techniques and data to explain the important stats about your business and market. Usually,
this data uses multiple-choice questionnaires that can help you be profitable with your sales.
For instance, quantitative research can answer questions such as;

 Are your customers aware of the services or products you offer?

 How many people are interested in buying your products or services?
 Who are your best customers and what are their buying habits?
 How long the visitor stays on your website, and which is their exit page?

The result of quantitative business research is in the numerical form, such as;

 40% of customers rate the new product as “attractive”

 70% of prospective customers use the Internet to book their hotel room
 6 out of 10 customers will buy a new food product after trying the free in-store sample

The quantitative research methods include various surveys such as postal, telephone, online, and
face-to-face.

 Qualitative Business Research

This business research focuses on attitudes, intentions, and beliefs. Qualitative research includes
questions such as “Why”? or “How?”.
 The aim of this research is to gain insights into customers’ distinct behaviors and response to a
new product. This research is beneficial for your new products and marketing initiatives to test
reactions and rectify your approach.

You can collect qualitative data using common methods such as case studies, focus groups, and
interviews. This data is often valuable but can be time-consuming and expensive to collect,
especially for a small business or a startup.

WHY IS BUSINESS RESEARCH IMPORTANT?

Business research helps businesses understand their customers’ buying patterns, preferences and
pain points, gain deeper insights into the contenders, current market trends, and demographics.
Using effective strategies to understand the demand and supply of the market, businesses can
always stay ahead of the competition. Using business research, they can reduce costs and design
solutions that aim at the market demand and their target audience.

Advantages of Business research

 Business research helps to identify opportunities and threats.
 It helps identify problems and using this information, wise decisions can be made to
tackle the issue appropriately.
 It helps to understand customers better and hence can be useful to communicate better
with the customers or stakeholders.
 Risks and uncertainties can be minimized by conducting business research in advance.
 Financial outcomes and investments that will be needed can be planned effectively using
business research.
 Such research can help track competition in the business sector.
 Business research can enable a company to make wise decisions as to where to spend and
how much.
 Business research can enable a company to stay up-to-date with the market and its trends
and appropriate innovations can be made to stay ahead in the game.
 Business research helps to measure reputation
Disadvantages of Business research
 Business research can be a high-cost affair
 Most of the time, business research is based on assumptions
 Business research can be time-consuming
 Business research can sometimes give you inaccurate information, because of a biased
population or a small focus group.
 Business research results can quickly become obsolete because of the fast-changing
markets

The primary reason to conduct business ethics research is to protect everybody

involved. Ethical considerations protect the rights of participants, sponsors, and researchers and
 ensure their safety. Conducting research papers business ethics also promotes the values that
are necessary for collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, and fairness. Criteria also
contribute to building public trust and support.

Ethical Considerations

When designing and presenting business research ethics a number of different issues must be
considered:
 Participants in studies and respondents to questionnaires should suffer no physical harm,
discomfort or embarrassment and their privacy should be protected. They also should have their
rights explained to them as well as measures you have taken to protect those rights and their
safety. It is a good idea to obtain an informed consent form from participants.

 The design should ensure that results are not skewed due to the way questions are asked
and so that a particular outcome isn’t forced

 Respect intellectual property: Any ethics in business research should avoid publishing

information from a third party without their permission. If permission is given credit should be
given for their contribution to the analysis
 Your findings should be objective and accurately reported. Analysis results should not be
exaggerated or taken out of context or presented in any manner that deceives the reader. Any
affiliations with sponsors or any possible conflicts of interest should also be stated to avoid
claims of improper analysis.

What is Basic Research? 

Basic research is a research approach that is entirely theoretical and aimed at improving or
expanding the knowledge-base of a particular field of study. It focuses on "knowledge for its
own sake" and it is primarily driven by curiosity and the need to explore the unknown. 

It is also known as fundamental or pure research and it is a systematic investigation  set  to

achieve a better and more detailed understanding of a research subject or phenomenon, not to
solve  a specific problem. 

What is Applied Research? 

Applied research is designed to focus on providing practical solutions to a specific problem. It is

a form of investigation that entails solution-oriented inquiries into a phenomenon, a field of
study or research subject generally employing empirical methodologies. 
In many cases, applied research is a follow-up research design for basic research because it
further investigates the outcomes of pure or basic research in order to validate these findings and
apply them to create innovative solutions to specific problems. 

Differences Between Basic and Applied Research

 Definition 

Applied research is a research methodology that creates practical solutions for specific problems
while basic research is an approach to research that seeks to expand knowledge in a field of
study. This means that applied research is solution-driven while basic research is knowledge-
specific. 

Basic research seeks to advance the frontiers of knowledge by creating new theories or
modifying existing ones. On the other hand, applied research is primarily concerned with
creating solutions to problems by collecting and analyzing empirical data in order to arrive at
valid research outcomes. 

 Characteristics 

Applied research is primarily defined by its focus on providing a practical solution to a defined
problem while basic research is primarily defined by its focus on expanding knowledge. In other
words, basic research is theory-oriented, applied research is practical-oriented. 

Applied research is action-oriented and synthetic in nature while basic research is explanatory
and analytical in nature. Basic research is solution-specific and primarily concerned with the
expansion of knowledge and not with the application of research findings which is the focus of
applied research.  

 Advantages of Basic Research over Applied Research

Basic research results in the acquisition of new knowledge and it also expands existing
knowledge while applied research does not lead to the acquisition of new knowledge. Applied
research only focuses on applying knowledge to solve existing problems hence, it is solution-
specific. 

Findings from basic research have been predominantly responsible for breakthroughs in different
fields of study while findings from applied research are primarily useful for solving specific
research problems. Hence, basic research is universal in nature while applied research is limited
in nature. 

 Advantages of Applied Research over Basic Research

Applied research helps organizations and individuals to solve specific problems, unlike basic
research that is simply focused on expanding knowledge without providing solutions to existing
problems. This, however, does not negate the fact that findings from basic research are useful to
proffer solutions to problems. 

Unlike basic research which is somewhat subjective in its approach, applied research is an
objective method of inquiry. Typically, applied research is unbiased because it arrives at
outcomes by subjecting empirical evidence to standardized scientific procedures and this makes
it a more valid research method. 

 Examples in Education

In education, applied research is used to improve teaching and learning methods by providing
practical solutions to pedagogic problems. On the other hand, basic research is used in education
to develop new pedagogic theories that explain different behaviors by teachers and students
within the learning environment. 

Examples of basic research in education include: 

1. How does the human memory work?

2. How do children acquire new languages? 

Examples of applied research in education include: 

1. A study to build students' interests in religious studies.

2. A study to improve classroom interaction between teachers and students. 

 Examples in Health

Applied research helps health and medical practitioners to develop evidence-based solutions to
pressing health problems. On the other hand, basic research helps medical practitioners to gain
insights into different health issues such as the origin and symptoms of diseases and infections
which can be useful in developing a cure for such conditions. 

Examples of basic research in health include: 

1. An investigation into the secondary symptoms of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). 
2. An investigation into the symptoms of diarrhea. 

Examples of applied research in health include: 

1. An investigation to determine the healing properties of mushrooms.

2. An investigation to determine the side effects of alcohol consumption. 

 Examples in Psychology

Applied research is extremely useful in industrial-psychology to create solutions for problems

related to workplace behavior, organizational policies and employee recruitment processes. Basic
research in psychology is used to gain insights into different psychological conditions in order to
understand these behaviors better. 

Examples of basic research in psychology include:

1. How do panic attacks happen? 

2. What are the symptoms of anxiety disorders? 

Examples of applied research in psychology include: 

1. What are the treatment options for anxiety disorders?

2. What are the ways to improve employees' productivity in the workplace? 

 Other Names 

Basic research is also known as pure or fundamental research because it is knowledge-specific

while applied research is also referred to as contractual research because of its primary focus on
providing a solution to a specific problem. 

 Uses

Applied research is useful for finding practical solutions to defined problems while basic
research is useful for gathering novel information about a concept, phenomenon or field of
study. 

Basic research explores the functions and features of newly discovered phenomena in order to
improve the understanding of these concepts hence; it fuels scientific and technological
innovations. Applied research, on the other hand, helps to provide solutions to improve a specific
condition or create new technology. 

 Scope of the Research

Generally, applied research is more limited in scope when compared to basic research. This is
because unlike basic research that can be applied to diverse concepts, applied research largely
focuses on a specific subject, and its research outcomes are primarily relevant to this subject. 

Because it deals with diverse concepts across different subject matters, basic research is
considered a more universal research method than conceptual research. Fundamental research
explores knowledge across multiple dimensions in order to gather new information and improve
an existing body of knowledge.