How to Evaluate Business Research

Research is widely used in business development.

Research often comes into play in business development. Businesspeople must conduct research for business plans, marketing plans and feasibility studies. Business owners who get employees or consultants to do their research for them need to be able to evaluate that research for quality and reliability. To do so requires an understanding of the role of research in the various stages of business development. These stages include business plan writing, market research and feasibility study writing.

Instructions

1. Ask yourself what you hope to get out of business research. Determine whether your purposes lie primarily in product development, business development or marketing. If you have more than one reason for using business research, list the several purposes of the projects you are taking on.

2. Read any research reports you have obtained. Make a list of the key points raised in each. Ask yourself how the information in these reports can help you achieve your objectives. Make notes on a piece of paper about any piece of data that seems relevant to the issues you want to understand.

3. Study any business plans or feasibility studies you have obtained. Check to make sure that these documents contain sections on economic, legal, technological and marketing concerns. If they do not, make note of the fact that the documents are lacking crucial information.

4. Review any market research you have obtained. Check to make sure that the research has exhausted all possible research methods (phone surveys, Internet surveys, mystery shoppers, focus groups), and that the research methodology is sound. Sound market research uses multiple-choice questions, obtains consent from survey takers, obtains demographic data from participants and throws out surveys that have been done improperly. Market research that does not meet these criteria should be considered badly done.

5. Perform a final evaluation of the research you have obtained. Ask yourself whether the research was useful, well conducted and well presented. The ultimate test of business research is whether or not it helps the business. A mountain of incomplete surveys presented in a nice format will not help the business much, while a superb report presented in a boring format will help the business tremendously. Keep these things in mind as you do your final evaluation.

References

• Arkansas Small Business Development Center; Business Blueprints: Is Your Business Idea Feasible?; 2002
• Nunavut Economic Developers Association: Evaluating a Business Plan
• Know This: Planning for Marketing Research
• Business Knowledge Source: How to Evaluate Your Marketing Strategy