Utilizing Technology in Research
During the past research that I have conducted, I have relied on different sources to get information regarding the topic I am researching. The most effective method while conducting research is using the internet whereby I use different search engines, for example, Google and other online libraries belonging to various colleges and universities that I attend at that time. The internet is full of articles, sites, and books that have information on every topic you choose. It is therefore of importance to check the source of article or information to ensure that they can be relied on. Using a variety of different sources is important because it is hard for you to miss any important point. It also gives you a wide range of information, facts, and ideas about your topic. A research paper requires you to demonstrate a strong knowledge of your topic and that is the reason for using a variety of sources, to make sure that you address every requirement of the research topic.
In research, sources are important because they act as the supporting evidence for your research and that is another reason why it is important to get a reliable source. Most colleges and universities completely dismiss the use of sites such as Wikipedia which are not reliable and their information could be altered hence giving you the wrong information. I use scholarly or peer-reviewed journals while conducting research. This is because, for peer-reviewed articles and journals, they have been written by experts and reviewed by several other experts in the particular field. This is done to ensure that the article is of quality. Peer-reviewed journals for me work perfectly because of citing purposes which is a requirement in research. For web searches, I use google scholar, google books, and online journal search engine. Google scholar has better results because it is an academic search engine from the house of Google. It is designed to search for scholarly literature and enables you to explore many sources such as books, journals, articles, and abstracts from different academic publishers, universities, and other relevant websites. Google Books is a search engine that has a variety of books and you read them at no cost. The online journal search engine is also free and has a variety of journals, articles, research reports, and books that are scientifically published. Getting an effective web search engine gives you effective results.
From the information I got from all the sources that I used, I noted the information that would be useful for my research paper. I documented all the sources that I searched from and this included the author, title, and the other important information that I would need to develop a bibliography later on after finishing the paper. I then began by organizing the information that I had, having in mind that I needed an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. I identified the themes and the major points I wanted to put across. I used the themes and points as headings and wrote brief notes on what I wanted to include in each heading. The point of these headings was to help me with the paragraphs in the main body. I organized my notes from each reference that I had according to the points I had identified. After finishing the draft process, I confirmed that I had covered all the major points that the topic required.
For the introduction, I took the information that helped me introduce my topic, including the major points that will be in the main body and this helped me develop my thesis statement. I then began writing the paragraphs and using my draft it was easy to connect and know how to organize them. In the body paragraphs, I used the evidence that I got from the sources to develop and make my point. The information I got from the sources also guided me on exploring the topic while putting down my points and my arguments. The variety of sources that I had gave me enough evidence to understand exactly what I needed to discuss. Having enough evidence to support the idea in every paragraph is important to be able to fulfill the purpose. In my conclusion, I restated my thesis statement and summarized the main points of the essay. A conclusion is a summary of what the reader has read and so I returned to the ongoing conversation and emphasized on it intending to leave my ideas resounding in the mind of the reader. I then read throughout the essay to see if the ideas and the paragraphs connected as they should and where they did not I rectified. I proofread the essay to make sure the punctuations, grammar, and tenses were correct.
In conducting market research, two types of data are collected and this is the primary and secondary data (Zikmund, Carr & Griffin 2013). Primary research is the information that is directly from the source and this is the potential clients. Secondary research includes gathering studies, reports, and any other relevant data from other organizations. Secondary research is mostly used and there is plenty of information on the internet and your local library. Librarians in the public and university libraries are of great help when it comes to this research. Other sources found online that connect industrial buyers and sellers can also be very helpful. The good part is that they can be found in most libraries as well as online. These sources help in targeting businesses in a certain industry, get information about the competitors, or even find manufacturers for your product.
Government agencies are another source of business research. This is through the government publications that show the statistics in a specific area. Most of this information is available online whereby the government has an official web portal that is another reliable source. Businesses also use maps for research whereby they show the main areas of commerce and can help in making a judgment about the accessibility of different sites. Local colleges and universities are valuable sources of information (Zikmund, Carr & Griffin 2013). Students in the business departments that are eager to work in the real world and are willing to gather information and do research at no cost. Community organizations can provide useful information at no cost and assist with selecting a site, demographic reports, and directories of local businesses. They also offer marketing seminars and relevant topics that help in the research. The internet is the most used method of business research nowadays, entrepreneurs conduct their research using their computers. The online services and information provides access to business databases and here you can find all the information that you need. The online sources give the most accurate and cost-effective information in very little time.
When conducting business research, it is important to first define and understand your kind of customers. Out of the customers that you have, you should identify a portion of them that you will engage with to find out their characteristics, challenges, and buying habits. When choosing the customers to engage with, it is of importance that you select people who have bought your product and your competitor’s product to be able to get their response from both points of view. When engaging the research participants, pull out a list of customers who recently made a purchase and those that did not. Participants from social media will give sincere feedback on why they did not purchase your product. It is also wise to get information from your co-workers, friends, and every other connection that you may have (Hair 2015). This will increase the feedback given and this will be a success to your research. Choosing an incentive for motivation is important for the participants and the research. To ensure that you get the most out of the conversations that you intend to have with the participants, you should prepare your research questions. After getting opinions from the research participants, you should now list your primary competitors, identify the industry competitors. This will help determine what you need to improve on and know the products and services that overlap with yours. By now you have all the information you need and you now need to summarize what you found.
References
Hair, J. F. (2015). Essentials of business research methods. ME Sharpe.
Zikmund, W. G., Carr, J. C., & Griffin, M. (2013). Business Research Methods (Book Only).
Cengage Learning.
