Business research is the process of gathering information about a company’s business activities for the purpose of advancing strategy and maximising profits.

This online course from Taipei Medical University is the first in a five-part series on business research, covering a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods. From maintaining ethical standards to planning a research proposal, you’ll gain the skills you need to undertake research in both academic and business contexts.

Master different types of research

Within qualitative and quantitative research, there are many different sub-branches and types of research: basic versus applied research, action research, causal research, and many more.

Across the first two weeks of the course, you’ll gain an overview of different research types, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of each. You’ll learn what methods work best for what kind of research project.

Understand and evaluate research ethics

Maintaining rigorous ethical standards helps to limit research bias and ensure the impact and practicality of research outcomes.

In Week 3 of the course, you’ll delve into the vital field of research ethics. You’ll examine some real-world case studies of ethical dilemmas in qualitative research, and develop tools for ethically using and evaluating quantitative research.

Define your research problem and come up with a proposal

In the final week of the course, you’ll begin putting theory into practice to define a research problem and write a research proposal. You’ll get expert guidance on the best strategies for developing a meaningful research topic, then seeing it through to application.

You’ll finish the course prepared to begin analysing research data for your own organisation or institution.