Business Communication Planning Research

Question: Discuss about the Report for Business Communication for Planning Research. Answer: Research methods The producers of Stellar.com should engage in understanding the requirements of the target customers. There is a need to conduct market research in regular intervals (Bryman Bell, 2015). There are three types of market research that can be conducted by the producers of Stellar.com. They are discussed briefly as- Exploratory Research- They are used in situations where the marketer has little understanding of the problem due to shortage of relevant information. This method is used to gain insights to the problem situation of particular concern (Malhotra, 2012). The marketer can identify their issues, clarity of concepts, elimination of irrelevant ideas and the formulation of hypotheses (Malhotra, 2012). They can design formal research design so that the research objectives are fulfilled. It usually draws definite conclusions and often relies on the secondary research. Quantitative and qualitative Research- This is the most popular research type undertaken by the researchers in a market survey (Ritchie et al., 2013). The qualitative research concerns with parameters such as customer perception, customer needs, their likings, and the most demanded features (Ritchie et al., 2013). It is used to gain the understanding of opinions, motivations and reasons for their purchases. It is used to understand the recent trends in the market with the use of semi structured and structured questionnaires (Ritchie et al., 2013). There can be several ways of collecting the data, such as individual interviews, focus group discussions, observations, discussions and others. The quantitative research is used for analyzing the problem of the numerical data collected (Creswell, 2013). The raw data collected is transformed into relevant statistics for the purpose of data analysis. This method is used to quantify the opinions, attitudes, behaviors and others from a large sample population. This data uses measura ble data for the formulation of the facts and determine patterns in the research (Creswell, 2013). This method is more structured than the qualitative research approach. There are various forms of data collection methods such as online surveys, mobile surveys, online polls, systematic observations and others (Creswell, 2013). Secondary Research- This is the most commonly used methods in market research. It involves the summary, collection and the synthesis of the existing data available in a number of sources (Zikmund et al., 2013). The main methodology in this type of research is systematic review, statistical analysis, reviews and analysis (Zikmund et al., 2013). There can be several secondary data sources such as magazines, newspapers, journals, market research reports, sales figures, government publications, marketing literature of the competitors and others (Zikmund et al., 2013). One of the main advantages of this kind of research is that they are quick to perform and is a reliable source of research (Zikmund et al., 2013). There are some authentic sources such as government statistics, which can give insights into the actual market scenario. Research questions There are different types of research questions used in the different research methods (Breakwell, Wright Smith, 2012). The typical questions about the research methods are described below- Exploratory research Are you aware of Stellar.com? What do you know about the website? Are you satisfied with the content provided by our website? What else do you want to want to see on our website? What other options you want to see on our website? Are you happy with the Internet radio station? Are you satisfied with the choice of songs on the radio station? Do you want any improvements in the internet radio service? How? Quantitative Research How many times have you visited Stellar.com? How often you visit our website? What percentage of online people enter our website? What proportion of the people listens to the Internet Radio Service? What is your gender? How many stars would you give to our website (on a scale of 10)? How many people are satisfied with the technology used by us? What is your income group? What is your marital status? What is your hobby? When is your birthday? Qualitative Research What are the lives of our target customers? Why the other section of the population not opting for our services? What are the trends that affect the life of the people presently? Who is my real competitor? What is the image of Stellar.com in the public? What should be the ideal image of the company? What are the probable improvements that I should undertake? What is the correct price that I should charge? What is the vision of the brand? What is the best roadmap to achieve the goals? What is the most important benefit of our brand? Secondary Research How many visitors are registering on our website per day? (Source: Internal databases) What did the average time spend by the visitors on our website? (Source: Internal databases) How many visitors are active on our website? (Source: Internal sales figures) What is the average feedback of the visitors on the website? (Source: Internal databases) Appraisal of the research methods The identified research methods are appropriate for addressing the concerns of the producers of Stellar.com. The online entertainment industry in Singapore requires updated and relevant data regarding the customers preferences (Tschang Wong, 2016). They need to understand the demands, needs and wants of the customers (Tschang Wong, 2016). The exploratory research can provide crucial insights to the company (Yin, 2013). It would help the management know about the customer awareness about the website . It would help the researcher knows about the satisfaction level of the visitors and the level of knowledge of the visitors (Yin, 2013). The researcher can know if the customer is actually aware of the services. It would also help them to check the new requirements of the customers and the options they are looking for (Yin, 2013). It would also help them analyze if the members of the online site are satisfied with the services (Yin, 2013). It would also help the company to gather knowledge regarding the additional requirements of the users. The quantitative research would give valuable insights like the number of visitors who enter the website, number of active members, number of non active members, frequency of visit and the gender of the users (Mertens, 2014). It would also give information regarding the average rating of the website and the number of satisfied people as far as technology is concerned (Mertens, 2014). The other demographic details such as income group, marital status, birthday, hobby and others also help the company to decide their actual target audience. The company can customize their services as per the demands of the target customers. The qualitative data would help the researcher analyze the lives of the target customers, trends that affect their lives, real competitors of the company, brand image, the vision of the brand and others (Haberman, 2014). These data would help the company to design suitable services based on the lifestyle and attitudes of the customers. It would also help them to gain competitive advantage by tapping the services offered by similar brands (Haberman, 2014). The secondary research gives the company crucial data regarding the customer behavior (Eriksson Kovalainen, 2015). It helps the company determine the average time spend on the websites and the active members of the websites. In case of alarming figures, the management can decide to focus on this particular parameter (Eriksson Kovalainen, 2015). This research method also enables the researcher to analyze the past trends and make future predictions. Usefulness of communication research for media organizations The media is a vital channel of communication (Van Dijck Poell, 2013). The primary purpose of the media is to educate as well as provide entertainment to the target audiences. It should have knowledge regarding the likes and dislikes of the audiences, which can be determined only by the methods of communication research (Van Dijck Poell, 2013). The media are offering diverse content to a heterogeneous population, hence they need to have innovative ideas and better presentation of the content (Kim, Hsu de Ziga, 2013). This requires extensive data which can only be provided by the communication research. There are a variety of challenges faced by the media managers such as selection of interesting stories, scandals, recent hit songs, most controversial celebrities and others (Kim, Hsu de Ziga, 2013). They are also concerned about the utilization of public relations tools, preparation of a campaign and creating an attractive advertisement (Moriarty et al., 2014). These steps would n ot be fulfilled without the intervention of communication research. The demand of a particular celebrity or the emotional attachment of the target audience should be communicated to the media houses so that they can prepare suitable advertisements or publish the interview of the popular celebrity (Moriarty et al., 2014). There should be a bridge between the public opinion and the management of the media company. The media company should be aware of the roles, values, beliefs and customs of their primary target audience (Moriarty et al., 2014). This is possible only through the use of a suitable market research tool. References Breakwell, G. M., Wright, D. B., Smith, J. A. (2012). Research questions and planning research. Bryman, A., Bell, E. (2015).Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA. Creswell, J. W. (2013).Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications. Eriksson, P., Kovalainen, A. (2015).Qualitative Methods in Business Research: A Practical Guide to Social Research. Sage. Haberman, S. J. (2014).Analysis of qualitative data: Introductory topics. Academic Press. Kim, Y., Hsu, S. H., de Ziga, H. G. (2013). Influence of social media use on discussion network heterogeneity and civic engagement: The moderating role of personality traits.Journal of Communication,63(3), 498-516. Malhotra, N. K. 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