Do you ever feel like you don’t know where to start to find information to make an educated business decision?  You have asked a colleague, searched on google and spent more time than you wanted looking, only to find either nothing helpful, or an overwhelming amount of information? When faced with two or more possible courses of action, we need to decide whether or not research is needed.  Sometimes urgency doesn’t allow for research, but the consequence of making decisions without enough information can be disastrous.  Some of the questions we need to ask are whether we have enough time before a decision must be made, is the information available, what is the importance of the decision and will the value of the research exceed the cost of conducting research. As a Business Consultant I am regularly on fact-finding missions, and admit I do enjoy searching for, collecting and organizing information in a logical and straightforward manner.  Research is meant to satisfy our curiosities and helps us make the best decisions by gathering the relevant facts, and conducting analysis for effective diagnosis of a situation or issue.  Advice I recently read and try to keep in mind: “Never try to prove your hypothesis, just try to test your hypothesis. Let your data show you the way.”* We are all surrounded by a continuous flow of information from a whole host of sources that can be very distracting.  Surely anyone reading this can relate to my morning, spent in my home office mostly in front of my computer.  I have been working on a client report, responding on-line to email messages and other social media conversations, catching glimpses on the television, peering at the daily newspaper and current business magazines sitting in a basket next to my desk, and seeing drive by advertisement outside my window on vehicles.  All the while exercising discipline to stay focused on my research, filtering and organizing relevant information. Finding accurate and trustworthy information can be overwhelming on the best of days.  Below are some basic business research tips I have to share:

1. Write down your research question.

The key to effective research is to know exactly what you are looking for.  I find the easiest way to come up with your question is to imagine that you have found the answer you need, it’s in a book on your bookshelf, now think of what the title should be.

2. Maintain a list of business information sources.

Streamlining sources can help manage time and effort.  I keep a checklist of industry specific business information sources including online libraries, financial databases, industry associations, and media outlets .  For primary research, always document in a hard copy, or electronic format (with files regularly backed up).  A tool I learned about as a graduate student for online research management is called Refworks.  I  continue to use it to store and share information with associates and clients, and to automatically generate citations and bibliographies.

3. Organize your data

Whether you are storing information in a filing cabinet or on your computer, organizing data is something that doesn’t come naturally to many people.  It is helpful to create a system for folders, either numerical, alphabetical, colour coded, or other type of categorization.  Within each folder summarizing data saves time in the analysis process, especially if more than one person is involved in the decision-making.

4. Ask for help.

I regularly visit, call or email industry contacts (whether I know them personally or not) or a librarian.  It is important to do this because you might learn the information you need has already been collected, organized and summarized and available for use whether for free or at a cost.

* Lin, Brian.  “What Makes a Good Researcher?” UBC Reports, Vol. 48, No. 12. October 10, 2002.