Understanding Business Research

Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1
Cynthia Quintero
RES/351
August 14, 2014
Elizabeth Frayne Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1
Quantitative design is used to know what happened, or how often things happen. On the other hand Qualitative design is design to tell the researcher how and why things happen (Cooper & Schidnler, 2006). Therefore both designs are designed to tell the research what they are looking for. For example, if a manager or researcher is looking to find out what happened and how often it happens, like in the journal Cleaner Production where they research the long-term relationship between annual electricity consumption and domestic product, electricity price, economic structure (Chen, Zhang, Jin, Wu, & Peng, 2014). To better understand qualitative design we take a look at Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal where the authors take a look at changes in behavior.
First we take a look at quantitative design; as mentioned above researches in Quantitative modeling of electricity consumption using computational intelligence aided design take a look at annual electricity consumption versus their major variable which are: gross domestic product, electricity price, efficiency, economic structure, and carbon dioxide emission (Chen, Zhang, Jin, Wu, & Peng, 2014). This research found that many of the variables mentioned above have a contribution to energy consumption. For example, economic growth creates social-environmental problems such as pollution, global warming, and depletion of natural resources. The authors go on to say that these issues are cause because the majority of today’s electricity is generated from fossil fuel fired power plants that release a large amount of greenhouse gas and pollutants (Chen, Zhang, Jin, Wu, & Peng, 2014). With these findings from the research using quantitative design, decision makers in the energy field are able to start resolving the conflict between energy consumption and carbon emission reduction. The second research design is qualitative design. In the journal article Qualitative Market Research; An International Journal they are researching how behavior is linked to changes in diet. Researchers are trying to find out the process of behavior changes and why this happens when diets are changes in a human (Logie-Maciver, Piacentini, & Eadie, 2012). The findings of this research are that by examining people’s behavior, there are similarities in their attitudes and motivations with their dietary change. The research broke down their participants into 4 groups; the first group made changes to diet and maintained them before the interview and during the period o the 18 month study; the second group relapsed but then recycled back to change; the third group only made limited changes to their diet but they relapsed and then tried to change to a limited dietary change such as slimming; the final group, made no changes to their diet. The findings go to state that also environmental influences such as knowledge of diet and work stress are important factors in this research.
In my field of work qualitative research would be the best option. It would provide answers to different research questions within the Community Services department. Why things happen and the process of it. Depending on what you would like to find out in your research depends on what type of research design is best. In some cases a combined approach is best for the research.

Works Cited
Chen, Y., Zhang, G., Jin, T., Wu, S., & Peng, B. (2014). Quantitative modelling of electricity consumption using computational intelligence aided design. Journal of cleaner Production , 143-152.

Cooper, D. R., & Schidnler, P. S. (2006). Business Research Methods. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Logie-Maciver, L., Piacentini, M., & Eadie, D. (2012). Using qualitative methodologies to understand behaviour change. Qualitative Market Research:An International Journal , 70-86.

Cited: Chen, Y., Zhang, G., Jin, T., Wu, S., & Peng, B. (2014). Quantitative modelling of electricity consumption using computational intelligence aided design. Journal of cleaner Production , 143-152. Cooper, D. R., & Schidnler, P. S. (2006). Business Research Methods. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Logie-Maciver, L., Piacentini, M., & Eadie, D. (2012). Using qualitative methodologies to understand behaviour change. Qualitative Market Research:An International Journal , 70-86.