Conducting Research

Research as much as possible about the subject internally and externally. This includes past research conducted, reading materials from news sources and websites containing credible sourced information. Gathering information may also involve building rapport with the stakeholder or participates of the research. Knowing the issue and target is key. Look at what kind of research should be conducted. Quantitative research uses numbers and statistics to find explanations. Methods used to conduct this kind of research includes surveys, questionnaires, and polls. Qualitative research answers questions on human behavior, the "why" and "how". Methods used to conduct this kind of research includes content analysis, focus groups, ethnographic research, case study research, and interviewing. After choosing the type of research that should be done and what methods should be used the conductor of the research should look at demographics. There might be a particular focus group that this research is targeted to. This can depend on age, ethnicity, sex or anything else depending on the interest of the research. This focus group should also include a specific number of participates. After the focus group has participated and finished then collect the data and observe the results. Research is encouraged to be conducted as many times as needed or preferred to better understand if there are varied or similar outcomes. For example, the best amount of participates in a focus group would be eight individuals. At the minimum, five individuals would work. At the maximum, ten individuals would suffice. For the best results experimenting at least three to six times over would give the needed outcome. At the least it worth performing testing at a minimum of two times. Either way each test should have different participates.