Research and management decisions
The quantitative report on brand parity perception in the automotive industry in Germany is not a research study because it lacks some of the important characteristics of a research study. The author, for example, does not do independent data collection but rather relies on data that was already collected. The report also does not have a very clear statement of objectives. The report is a mere analysis of previously collected data. The qualitative report on identifying competitors as a challenge for start-ups, however, is a research study since it comprises all of the important aspects of a research study (Krzyżanowska & Tkaczyk 2013). Besides, the report has objectives which have been met through a predefined methodology and whose validating data has been actually collected.
The opening paragraph of a research project introduces the research to be undertaken and sets the context of the rest of the report. The opening paragraph section also serves to give a general idea of what the report is about and what the reader expects to find as they go through the report (Zikmund et. al., 2013). The section may contain a listing of all the subheadings covered in the report and what they entail as well as a chronology of the content covered in the later sections of the report.
The background section of a report gives a benchmark upon which the report shall be founded. The section brings forth the details that the reader needs to know so that they can conceptualize the need for the research to be conducted. Depending on the nature of the report, this section may also consist of a comparison between opposing views held by people regarding the subject under study. In some reports, this section may serve as a precursor to the research questions and objectives. The author of the report utilizes the background information to identify gaps in knowledge that inform their choice of research questions and objectives. The researcher uses this section to familiarize the reader with the prior knowledge that exists regarding the subject matter to be researched. If for example, the research was on the need for international cooperation between two nations, the background section would seek to explain the history of the two nations.
The literature review section is a comparative presentation of the views of other past researchers regarding the matter. The section establishes the contrasting opinions as well as the opinions that support the history provided under the section on background information. Besides, the literature review borrows on other subjects that experienced a similar issue to the one being researched with a view to forming a basis for supporting the findings of the research presented in a later section of the research report.
The method section, often called methodology, is a section that outlines how the researcher plans to go about conducting the research. The section outlines important information regarding the data collection methods that the researcher intends to use as well as the identification of sample (Bryman & Bell 2015). Further information contained in this section include the sampling method used and the ethical considerations that the researcher ha engaged to ensure that they get their data in an ethical manner, and also that their use of the data collected conforms to desirable ethical standards.
The results section is where the researcher lists the findings of their research. The section also asks of the researcher to present the data in a manner that is easy to analyse by the methods identified under data analysis section of the research report. The section could involve such things as tabulation of the data, or merely grouping of the data based on the trends exhibited by the data.
The research report also has a section for discussion, implications, limitations and finally conclusions. In this section, the reader analyses the data collected in the research project and forms a discussion around it. The discussion section comprises the possible implications arising from the data collected. Within the same section, the researcher sets out the limitations of their study which highlight issues that may dent the credibility of the research findings (Hair 2015). The final part of the report is a conclusion which highlights the inferences made by the researcher based on the findings and the discussion.
The conclusion serves as a test of the hypothesis that guided the study, which culminates in either a rejection or a confirmation of the hypothesis. The conclusion section combines all the sections of the research with a view to arriving at a certain knowledge and further identifies areas that may require further research on the same subject. These are mostly the areas arising out of the limitations identified earlier in the report under the discussion section.
For senior level managers of businesses and organisations, it is usually very important to understand the contents of research reports because the best decisions made by companies are usually those that are backed by an empirical research into the matter (Churchill & Iacobucci 2006). Research helps companies and individuals to make informed decisions by relying on related experiences to forecast the expected results of their intended actions. Through research, businesses are also able to perform rational analysis of relevant information and establish reliable trends that could serve as a teller to the possible happenings of the future in the market that the business operates in. Such informed decisions by companies help to alleviate losses suffered as a result of blind engagement in actions not backed by research.
For instance, to understand how to penetrate a certain market, the company usually has to conduct a market research into the issues that could affect the acceptance of the product that the company wishes to introduce in the new market. Therefore, it would be important for anyone to read the two reports contained in the articles since through them, one gets a feeling of the potholes to avoid in the conduction of research as well as gets to see how conducting a thorough research could lead to credible decisions by the business executives.
References
Bialdyga, D. (2013). Brand partiy perception on the German automotive market-a comparative analysis of brand clusters. International Journal of Management Cases, 15(4), 265-273.
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.
Churchill, G. A., & Iacobucci, D. (2006). Marketing research: methodological foundations. New York: Dryden Press.
Hair, J. F. (2015). Essentials of business research methods. ME Sharpe.
Krzyżanowska, M., & Tkaczyk, J. (2013). Identifying competitors: challenges for start-up firms. International Journal of Management Cases,15(4), 234-247.
Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., & Griffin, M. (2013). Business research methods. Cengage Learning.
