Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2
Ngoc
RES351
April 8, 2015
William Khoepfer

Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2
Businesses will always need market research and it generally falls into two different groups. Qualitative and Quantitative. Qualitative research is “Qualitative research is designed to reveal a target audience’s range of behavior and the perceptions that drive it with reference to specific topics or issues. The results of qualitative research are descriptive rather than predictive.” ("What Is Qualitative Research?” 2015). Quantitative research “is about asking people for their opinions in a structured way so that you can produce hard facts and statistics to guide you. To get reliable statistical results, it’s important to survey people in fairly large numbers and to make sure they are a representative sample of your target market.” ("What Is Quantitative Research?” 2015). There also are descriptive and statistical approach’s in this paper that will help with understand what is best for you business research.
When constructing a business research there are several sampling methods that can be used. Some sampling methods would be simple random sampling, systematic sampling, cluster sampling and quota sampling and etc. The article I chose to do is called Qualitative and quantitative methods for sampling zooplankton in shallow coastal estuaries. “Many different devices are used for sampling zooplankton. Every sampler has its advantages and limitations in terms of sampling ease and efficiency, which is why hydro biologists search for devices that could increase sampling efficiency and decrease human effort (Nunez et al. 2008).” In this article they used the plankton net sampling method and it is used to sample the lake or pond.” These sampling methods all have their strengths and weakness and to choose a particular method will depend on the characteristics of the lake or pond, for instance the algae, depth and the density. The three sampling methods used to sample zooplankton are net, trap and tube. The net sampling has it limitations but it is commonly used and it proves quantitative data. By using the net approach it gives large volumes of the water that was collected quickly. The other sampling trap method is called the Schindler-Patalas trap. This consists of a clear plastic box that would be lowered to an appropriate depth and then closed. This method will trap zooplankton inside and this measures the actual volume of water that is sampled. The third method is the tube that is made out of PVC or Tygon. “A tube is lowered into the water column, and when the bottom reaches the desired depth (near the sediments), a line is pulled to close the bottom with a rubber stopper or other device. The tube is raised into the boat and the collected water poured through a net to collect the zooplankton. This device also provides a high degree of certainty about volume of water sampled, but it may not be an effective way to sample large animals that occur at a low density, or animals that can detect and escape from a narrow sampling device." ("Plankton Web", N.D).
The two approaches in statistical are descriptive statistics and the second is the inferential statistics. Descriptive research is a tool used by researchers; it shows both quantitative and qualitative data. But descriptive research has their own advantages and disadvantages as well. When going with the descriptive research design it requires specific forms of data collecting. Examples of data collecting are case studies and surveys. These are some strength because it provides multifaceted approach for data collection. Descriptive research designs also has other ways of data collecting and sometimes case studies that have news reports and personal accounts can be used. One of the weaknesses would be confidentiality because often time’s people are not truthful and they feel like they have to tell the researcher something that they think they would want to hear.
Inferential statistics is when you try to use the sample data and predict what the population might think. Often people use this to make judgments and try to come up with a conclusion that is beyond the data that was given to us.
When combining both approaches it gives depth and clarity. The both of these approaches combined will give a wide range of data that is needed to create communications but sometimes using both can be time consuming and expensive. “We use inferential statistics to make inferences from our data to more general conditions; we use descriptive statistics simply to describe what's going on in our data.” ("Inferential Statistics", 2006).
The appropriate research design in my own business since it would be in the Nail industry is that quantitative design because in the nail industry you want to be able to satisfy your consumers and with this design you will have the ability to statistically measure customer attitudes, behavior and even their performance. There will be a series of different types of test because this will be a bigger group of people you are targeting and quantitative is best for that. Also the data will be easily transformed into graphs and charts. The statistical method I would use would be the Chi-square test because I would test on the needs from females vs. males and what would increase the sales of males getting their nails done. Within the four steps, stating our hypotheses, we then would have to come with a plan, we receive the results therefore we can analyze the data we’ve received and then we can translate the results into graphs or charts that would be easily read. We then can use this to find out the numbers of the needs of female and males who would get their nails done.
In conclusion, there are two types of quantitative and qualitative designs that would fit into any business depending on what you are looking for. There are strengths and weakness between the two where one can benefit each other. Then there are descriptive research that uses that data from the qualitative research to help come up with a statistical sampling method to test your research an give you the results you need in order for you to move on the next step in making your business successful. There are many different alternatives and methods that can help with you business research.

References
Inferential Statistics. (2006). Retrieved from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/statinf.php Plankton Web. (N.D). Retrieved from http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/planktonweb/sampling.htm