Defining research in general

Each of the descriptive words in the definition of research is important and the students need to recognise that.

It is pointed out that a common aspect of all organisations is that each day managers encounter problems big and small, which they have to solve by making the right decisions. Right decisions are based on rigourous and applicable research. This site defines research and touches on the excitement of research.

Research is a discerning pursuit of the truth.
Although formal research training is relatively new to the business world, business research is perhaps as old as commerce itself. The general rise in literacy, the industrial revolution, further advances in transportation, the advent of the computer and the general expansion of commerce worldwide have changed the way research is done. Today, there are literally thousands of firms whose primary business involves providing research services that help businesses answer key strategic, tactical and operational questions.

The philosophical bases of research – positivist, interpretivist and critical – are examined and the impact of these assumptions on business research are examined. There is a differences between applied and basic (fundamental or pure) research and the applicability of each to the business context.

Business Research Defined
A. A Truth-Seeking Function
1. Science seeks to explain the world that really is.
2. “Real-world” or physical scientists seek the truth about the world’s physical realities.
3. Business researchers generally fall more in line with social scientists because in reality business is about people.
4. Business researchers pursue the “truth” about business phenomena. The essence of business is people serving people through participation in a value creating process with exchange at its core.
5. Business research seeks to predict and explain phenomena that taken together comprise the ever-changing business environment.
6. Thus, business research is a truth-seeking function that gathers, analyses, interprets and reports information so that business decision makers become more effective.