Exploratory Research and Secondary Data

1
Exploratory Research and Secondary Data

• BUAD 259
• Business Research Methods
• Penwell
• Fall, 2001

2
Exploratory Research

• Initial Research conducted to clarify and define
  the nature of a problem
• Assessment
• Diagnosis
• Alternatives
• Concept testing
• Experience or Expert Surveys
• Delphi Technique
• Secondary Data Analysis
• Case Studies
• Pilot studies
• Focus Groups?

3
Qualitative TechniquesFocus Groups

• Advantages
• Easy
• Relatively Cheap
• Synergy
• Serendipity
• Snowball effect
• Stimulation
• Security

• More Advantages
• Spontaneity
• Specialization
• Scrutiny
• Structure
• Speed

4
Managing Focus Groups

• Trained Moderator/Facilitator
• Careful Group Composition
• Environment is important
• Established questions
• Include observers and scribe
• Manage dominant individuals and air time
• Encourage differences of opinion
• Manage tone

5
Projective Techniques

• Indirect approach Freudian
• Word Association
• Coke, Mustang, University
• Sentence Completion
• A great employee
• Third Person and Role Play
• Thematic Apperception Test

6
Secondary Data

• Advantages
• Speed
• Money
• Building on

• Disadvantages
• Inappropriate
• Limited coverage
• Conversion
• Outdated
• Different Definitions
• Accuracy?

7
Uses of Secondary Data

• Fact Finding
• Stock market, drought figures
• Model Building
• Define test relationships or trends
• Data Mining
• Hunting for patterns

8
Tools

• Internal and/or proprietary
• External
• Web (?)
• Library
• Journals
• Rags and/or Peer review
• Databases and Search Engine