What is Research? – Research Definition and Four Common Mistakes inUsing Research Term

Reasearch Design Methods Managers in a company must face problems in their daily work. Take an example, a Marketing manager will often encounter such problems in which the company's sales decline. This problem is actually a "normal" case, but if the decline has lasted for a long time, then we need to figure out the cause of the problem to be able to create the right solution. We cannot only guessing what happened to find out the answer. We need to do an investigation to find the true facts. Many of marketing managers commonly conduct a deep investigation by interviewing their customers. They quest their customers what causes them to stop buying their products. From that activity we can determine the cause of the decline in sales as well as we can figure out exactly what consumers want.

Illustration above shows us a common phenomenon happens around us. We realize it or not, we actually do research in our daily lives. Our curiosity encourages us to investigate and search for the answer from any phenomenas happen. However, not all of our investigations led us to the right conclusion.  Why? The common reason is we didn’t perform the right procedures in our investigations.

We maybe popular with the term “research”. Literally, research comes from two syllables: “re” and “search” which means “to search again”.  According to Merriem-Webster about definition of research, it defines research as below:

“Studious inquiry or examination; especially : investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws.”

Another definition comes from Leedy who defines it from a more utilitarian point of view:

Research is a procedure by which we attempt to find systematically, and with the support of demonstrable fact, the answer to a question or the resolution of a problem.

While Kerlinger uses more technical language to define research as:

The systematic, controlled, empirical and critical investigation of hypothetical propositions about presumed relations among natural phenomena.

The similarity from definition above is they define research as a sistematic way of investigation to get facts in order to answer particular problems. Other literatures also add that information gained from research should be important. Important means research findings have benefits for human lives. We could see these benefits from two side, for academic purposes and for business. For academic side, research provides useful information to enrichs the existing knowledge and theories. While for business organizations, research helps them to find potential opportunities and also offers them information to overcome their problems.

Although the term “research” has been popular to us, these are some of the ways in which this term is wrongly used as cited from Nicholas Walliman (2001):

1. People may define research as a mere gathering of facts or information. Gathering information is part of research activities, however there are other activities included in research which begin with defining research problem, designing research plan, analyzing fndings and presenting research report.


2. People may define research as moving facts from one situation to another. Some people may say, “I have done my research, and come up with this information which I present in this paper”. It is easy to say that we have conducted a research because we have gathered information and presented it in a report. However, gathering information and presenting it do not automatically called as research. In research, we need to interpret that information before we present it.


3. Research is defined as an esoteric activity, far removed from practical life. While many research projects deal with abstract and theoretical subjects, we often forget that the activity of research has greatly influenced all aspects of our daily lives and created our understanding of the world.


4. Many producers use research as a word to get their product noticed. They use it to impress and build confidence. If we ask them about the evidence of their research and methology used, they might face you with incomprehension answer.

From the definitions above, we can conclude that research is defined as the systematic investigation into the study of materials, sources etc. in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. The information gained from the research should be a fact and important. The term research also connotes patient study performed over and over again. Thus, reseachers must not conduct research carelessly, eventhough they deal with deadline to submit the report. Reseachers have to obey the rules in research, which are being objective and follow code of ethics in research.

10 Advantages Of Marketing Research

Reasearch Design Methods If you think you know your market, aren't you? Ok. Let Say you have an insight of what your target audience’s wants and needs are. And then you plan your entire marketing activities based on a “guesstimate”.  It's not so advisable.

You may have a lot of data coming from different sources, but that means absolutely nothing if you don’t look at it properly and analyse it thoroughly. By properly researching your market, you get one step ahead. You have an advantage against your competitors.

Market research is a systematic, objective collection and analysis of data about your target market, competition, and/or environment and your goal should be to increase your understanding of them. What most people forget is this: market research is not an activity conducted only once. It is an ongoing cycle, or at least it should be if you are really going to benefit.

The power of information is outstanding when it comes to market research. The information you find can guide your most important strategic business decisions and usually, if done properly, the findings and conclusions you reach have a value that exceeds the cost of the research itself.

Here are 10 benefits of market research :

1. Market research guides your communication with current and potential customers.

Once you have your research results, you should have enough ammunition to formulate the most effective way to communicate to your customers. You should know what they like/don’t like to hear/see/do. Then you can tailor what you say to them to make them take action.

2. Market research helps you identify opportunities in the marketplace.

Research might make it obvious that a new product you have planned may not be what your market wants or needs. You may then decide to make modifications on what you are going to offer to suit your audience.

3.  Market research helps you minimize risks.

Through market research, you may find all the information you need to decide whether to take action on a particular subject. For example, you may find that the particular location where you wanted to open a shop already has a saturated market in your line of business, which should make you refrain from making that decision and look for a more appropriate spot.

4. Market research measures your reputation.

It’s always good to know how you measure against your competitors. Market research finds out just where you are and then, according to the results, you can take action to change perception.

5.  Market research uncovers and identifies potential problems.

You can get consumers’ reactions to a new product or service when it is still being developed. This should enlighten any further development so it suits its intended market.

6. Market research helps you plan ahead.

Research can estimate the likely sales of a new product/service and also the advertising expenditure required to achieve maximum profits.

7.   Market research can help you establish trends.

If you treat your market research as an ongoing exercise that you do periodically, you’ll find that you’ll have a lot of data to be able to analyse your customers and establish any particular trends.

8. Market research helps you establish your market positioning.

It’s important to know the position of your business at particular moments in time. Information from market research helps you benchmark and monitor your progress, which can be useful to make decisions and take action.

9.  Market research can determine the most persuasive ‘promise’.

Every brand needs to make a promise. If you think of the most known brands, they all make a promise to you and you usually know what is by just looking at their logo. It can be security, a fast and tasty meal or the assurance of top technology. It needs to be simple and market research can help you define what your brand’s promise is.

10. Market research can find that compromise.

The team involved in the launch of a new product/service all have their individual perceptions and gut feelings.  These certainly should not be ignored, but by going straight to the target audience, you will gain thoughts and opinions from people who may be less biased or less emotionally attached to a new development or service.  It helps gain a new angle, hopefully a compromise in just how you are going to go about a new launch, a new brand or a brand repositioning.

In a nutshell, market research is an invaluable tool that, at first, might seem expensive and slow, but it’s nothing more than an investment. As one of our very good clients always says, “ Best to measure twice and cut once to maximise your returns”.

If you had the choice of speaking to a good sample of your customers or be left in the dark only with your assumptions, what would you choose?