ROOM 123

Your paper is based mostly on primary research, with secondary research to support. There are two factors that are important when deciding what type of data to collect:

1. How is it to be used?

2. How reliable is the data?

Use of Data

Your data has to be useful, that is it must be linked to a particular business technique. There is no point in collecting company accounts unless you will use them appropriately. In fact you will lose marks if you include unnecessary or irrelevant data.The first thing then is to refer back to your theoretical framework and decide how to apply the data you will collect to your chosen theories.

Data Sources

Do not rely on only one source of data. This makes the data-and your analysis-invalid.

Primary data might include:

• Responses to questionnaires (students should include a blank copy of the questionnaire and a tally/summary of results)

• Transcripts of interviews and discussions with focus groups

• Results of surveys

Secondary Sources might include:

• Market research surveys

• Articles from local, national, or internal press

• Financial reports

• Business accounts

• Business plans

• Mission statements

• Web-based surveys

• Extracts from company websites

• Government and other statistics

• Academic publications

Arranging the Data

You need to consider what forms of presentation you will want to use. Some common types are set out below.

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• Maps

• Tables

• Calculations

• Accounts

• Pie Charts

• Histograms

• Bar Charts

• Organizational Charts

• Excerpts

• Quotations

• Articles

• Interview Transcripts

• Diagrams

• Venn Diagrams

• Flow Diagrams

• Mind Maps