Annuity

Few people would climb a mountain blindfolded. Yet company executives routinely pursue markets with blinders on-ignorant of market characteristics, the competition, and barriers to entry. Good ideas and good products aren't enough; a variety of factors can prevent first-class concepts from becoming profitable businesses. Opportunities need to be carefully investigated through objective market research. Investing in research can both save a business from making costly mistakes and increase its long-term profitability.

It's a common misconception that only large companies can afford market research. Just the opposite is true; small companies cannot afford not to invest in research. When resources are limited, mistakes are more damaging. Many small businesses fail because their owners don't do their homework-before starting the business and during the first crucial months. By performing a comprehensive market investigation-on their own or by enlisting the services of professional researchers-business owners can avoid pitfalls, increase revenues, and differentiate themselves from their competition.

Types of Market Research

Customer satisfaction is probably the most common form of market research but other kinds of research are equally important. The main categories are:• Competitor analysis - identifies who it is, pinpoints the strengths and weaknesses of other firms in the same market, shows where they are having success, and what they plan to do in the future. The objective is to stay a step ahead by taking advantage of their weaknesses, or at least keep up with them.• Market opportunity assessment - size, growth rate, trends, barriers to entry.• Product analysis - features, price points; determined by talking to potential customers to assess their desires before the product is introduced.

Research can be primary or secondary and quantitative or qualitative. A business needs primary research-which involves direct contact with sources of information-if it is trying to determine very specific, detailed information or is dealing with a technology, product, or service so new that there is a very limited existing body of literature. Customer satisfaction also requires primary research.

Secondary research involves the review of a body of existing literature about a topic. It is most suitable when a company wants a general overview of a broad topic, analyst opinions, and high-level quantitative information of an existing market.

Primary research is usually more expensive than secondary. Costs vary, depending on:• Sample size• How the survey will be administered - by mail, by telephone, online, focus groups• Whether just raw survey results or analysis and recommendations are desired

If resources are limited, a company can do secondary research in-house, provided in-house staff knows what resources are available, where to access the information, and how to interpret it. The Internet makes secondary research much easier and less expensive, because so many agencies have made information available for free. For example, government agencies worldwide furnish a wealth of quantitative information. Company Websites offer much valuable information, such as press releases, annual reports and financial filings, job openings, and product data sheets.

IT analysts and management consulting firms often make a limited number of reports and white papers available for free. Some companies also furnish free white papers, but these seldom are objective assessments.

Syndicated research reports are also available. These reports consist of long-term market forecasts, often segmented by geographical regions or vertical markets. Many businesses rely heavily on quantitative market forecasts to determine whether it makes sense for them to enter a new market or develop a new product. For established markets and products, syndicated research can be quite useful, but in the case of new products or technologies, such reports are less reliable.

Make the Most of Market Research

A business can dramatically improve its chances of getting valid results by clearly defining its objectives. Asking the right questions is crucial-a company should be able to clearly state what it wants to determine. It is not the responsibility of an outside research firm to identify what the client wants from a study. It is the research firm's responsibility to clearly explain its methodology and how it will approach a study.

Additionally, a research request should not be biased in favor of a particular result. Frequently, individuals who commission research have vested interests in a particular outcome. If the results are not to their liking, they try to discredit the study and ignore its results. It is best to have high-level decision-makers who have the best interests of the entire company at heart involved in the research process.

Research should not be based on an untested assumption. For example, a company should not assume there is demand for its new widget and ask a research company to find out how the product should be priced. Before developing the widget, the company should determine if there is a market for it.

Like any other investment, market research should be measured by the return it delivers. Return can be measured both by increased profitability and cost savings derived from not making mistakes. To receive any benefit, a company has to make a commitment to act on the results of a reliable research study. Market research can be a powerful business tool for those companies willing to remove their blindfolds.

Reference research: beauty research and computer research and sport research and my bookmark page




blog

The archiving tab is where you select how your old posts show up on the side of your blog. This archiving is how people will be able to quickly search through posts to see what else you have written in the past. Selecting weekly archiving is a good idea if you blog a lot of posts each day. If you only blog once or twice daily or even just do a few posts a week, monthly or weekly archiving is a better option. The next option is post pages and this means that each post has its own page so that someone can save the link to just one post and share it with other such as emailing it to friends. That is much more difficult to do if you do not choose post pages. Not choosing that option will make every posts bundle together on one page.

Site feed is another great option that can help you watch your visitors grow. Using RSS (Real Simple Syndication) anyone can sign up to your feed and have it sent to a software program or a website such as myYahoo and gets notified whenever you create a new post. You have the option to send the full text of your post or only some of it. Selecting short post is best because your reader will then come to your blog itself to read what you have written. Site feed is also where you have the option to make money using Adsense or another advertising program in your RSS.

The email tab has the options of inputting an email address so that you will get a copy of your blog sent to you via email whenever you create a new post. Below that is mail to address in which you can create a specific address that you can send a blog post to just using an email.

Permissions are a tab that is all about privacy. Here you get to choose who can and cannot see your blog. If you do not want your blog easily found for one reason or another, you can simply select only people you choose and no one else can see your blog because the people you choose will need to log in to read your posts. You can also send an email to other people to allow them to create posts in your blog.

Back at the top of your blog next to settings is the templates tab. The templates area is where you can custom design your blog to make it unique and different from the other blogs on Blogger. Template is also where you can pick a new default blog template and dive into the html code to change features and put them exactly where you them to go. Blogger has also made it much easier to add and delete links and page elements such as moving headers and footers to different areas.

Creating a blog is easy and simple and Blogger is just one of the many places where you can quickly create a free blog. A quick search online will allow you to look at the different blog sites that you can sign up for. There is also the option of paying for a blog especially if you want it to be more professional and business oriented.




Source article: online blogging class and Livejournal and free blogs and Blogging Host and Web Log
Blog Script

The Seattle Biomedical Research Institute is doing research on malaria vaccines. They are wanting to find out if the vaccines work. Since they do not know if the vaccines work, they are looking for volunteers who will try the vaccines and then hold a cup of mosquitoes that are infected with the most deadly form of malaria to their arm so they are bitten. This study is a continuation of a study that start at Walter Reed Army Institute of Maryland is is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Since people are being asked to be infected with malaria, this brings up all kinds of ethical questions. First of all, would these people get seriously ill and even die? According to the researchers this would not happen and people would only have flu like symptoms for about a single day.

However, while the researchers may be able to try to control the mosquitoes to the best of their abilities, it is uncertain that these people may not have some type of allergic reaction or end up getting some type of disease or other infection from the mosquitoes.

Also, would malaria spread if these people are out in the community? Researchers say that the malaria will not get to a point where it is infectious from person to person. Most likely this is true since they know the research that has already been happening.

Of course, the volunteers are given $2,000 for participating. The researchers have said that this is mainly compensation for missing work or replacing funds used to get to the site and any other costs volunteers may incur.

While this sounds a little bit on the dangerous sides, there are benefits as a whole. People really do care about others in third world country who are often infected with malaria and do not survive because vaccines do not exist and they cannot afford the medication. Thus, people who want to make sure that vaccines will be available to these people may have an urge to volunteer for this program.

While I like the idea of getting vaccines to people in third world countries, no amount of money would make me go get a vaccine that may or may not work and be infected with a possibly deadly disease. While I know that only flu like symptoms should occur, I would be scared that something would go wrong.

I want to live my life and not be willingly infected with a disease. I would be scared that I'd have something in my body or have some type of reaction either to the vaccine or to the disease that would end my life suddenly.

While I know that I can't control the length of my own life, I can try to take care of myself so I have a good life. I want to be able to spend time with my friends, my family, and my dog. If anything were to happen because of this, the money, no matter how much of an amount, would not do me any good. While it could help my family, it would not ease the pain of the loss.

I'd rather earn my money honestly than making myself into a medical guinea pig.





Reference research: finance research and health research and general research and recent update




Wordpress Org Box

You might be overwhelmed on how to research information for your book. It may be difficult in the beginning to know where to start at or even how to gather information. How to research information for your book is quite simple when you follow some steps. You need to write down a list of all of certain information that you want to be included in your book. Here are five tips on how to research information for your book.

1.Talk to experts. Make sure to put experts on that list to get information from. You want to be able to quote information and check facts with experts. Experts will add more value to the information in your book and also provide you with additional information. They are also great to get to know since you can learn more information from them. You want to write down their names correctly.

2.Get a tape recorder. You want to get a tape recorder when asking experts questions. The tape recorder will help you later on when you putting the information together in your book. It is also important to take notes while talking to the experts, but the tape recorder will help you pick up any information that you may have missed due to the person talking too fast or not being able to write fast enough.

3.Get a digital camera. You want a digital camera to take pictures for your book. A digital camera with pictures also may be able to help you describe something in your book better depending upon what topic your book is about. They are nice to have a picture to look at in order to put words regarding the picture.

4.Go to the library in your city. The library is the perfect way to get information regarding the topic of your book. You can also check current old and new information this way. Your library might be also to order a book for you if you can't find it in the library. Library is a great source to get allot of information for free without having to buy a ton of books. A library usually offers Internet access for free to find additional information. Make sure to check out the college library in your local area too. One thing that is great about a library is that they usually have old copies of newspapers.

5.Talk to neighbors and other people. Depending upon the topic of your book you can learn quite a bit of information from neighbors and other people. People will be glad to tell you information for free just to be able to see their name in your book. If you any people that are professionals in a certain field that you can use that opportunity to talk to them.

When gathering information then please make sure to keep it organized so you can keep track of it better. It may help to have file folders to keep everything separated so it doesn't get all mixed up. Out of all the information in your book the experts are the most important of it all. The experts makes your book hold more weight as far as being more accurate and also contains more knowledge so it is even more helpful to others.




Reference research: beauty research and computer research and shopping research and my bookmark page




Ali Edwards Blog

Ever get a research assignment and not know how to do the research portion?  Well here are some tips for your problem from someone whose written countless papers.

First and foremost I recommend for any paper is get your hands on a good grammer handbook.  The one I used was the Longman Handbook, it was required for some courses.  Any paper is only as good as the grammer within.  You could write an outstanding paper, but if your grammar is poor, the your paper will reflect that.  Also get your hands on a handbook for both formats MLA and APA it will be useful when citing your information.

Second thing you should do is to find out everything ou need to know about the assignment.  Such as what's needed, allowed, and not allowed.  Some professors will allow charts, graphs, and even pictures.  I had a professor who loved that I added pictures of the novels I wrote about.

Next thing I suggest is DO NOT WAIT until the last moment to do the research.  You will only cause yourself to go insane.  It will cause so many problems, the books you may need may not be available, because everyone else is writing the same paper and need the same resources.  Also magazines in your field that have useful information may be tossed out because of age.

Make use of all the resources in the library, that includes talking to the librarians.  Librarians know alot more than  you think.  They could lead you to useful books and articles for your topic.  Do not rely solely on internet resources.  One you never know if the information is accurate, and 2 if all your information is from the internet you come off as lazy to the point that the internet looked for information, not yourself.  Make  use of journals relating to your field, you may have to do some reading, but they contain useful articles.

Narrow your search topic until you have a more concrete subject.  If the assignment is say trends in tourism, ask yourself  what kid of trends?  Trends in transportation, lodging, restaurants, activities and even locations could be some sub-topics for the paper which narrows your search based on the sub-topics.  Any topic could be divided into two or more subjects.  You also have a sort of organization for the paper.

When doing research use notecards.  Mark each one with a number.  The first note card is the book infor like author, publisher,  copyright date etc.  Anything found in the book would be 1.1, 1.2 and so one until you move to the second book. When writing the book notecards write the information according to citing them on the referance page, that way you can just copy the notecard. Hold on to all book notecards for future papers, it would be easy reference.  I would also write a few notes about what is in the book.

Lastly I would suggest keep talking to your professor about the paper.  They could easily give you advice and help direct you to useful books and articles that would would help yor search.  They could also give you ideas on how to proceed with the paper and if you're on the right track or not.

Following these tips could help make researching a paper all the more easier and less stressful.  You could improve your skills and wow your professors.




Reference research: beauty research and law research and shopping research and my bookmark page




Credit Card Debt

Here are five topics for research in education. The perfect gift for the college student wondering what to select as a topic, or the educational professional seeking to enlighten us with a breakthrough or two.

What nutritional elements elevate learning abilities?

Are there foods that aid in the educational process? Certainly there are foods to be avoided, such as an excess of sugar and the caffeine laden drinks that send my fourth grade students bouncing off the walls. There are the “New Age,” well intentioned, but ill informed folks, who would have us eat nothing but dandelion leaves. There are the hucksters promoting their “overnight weight loss/increased sex drive/mind calming/IQ enhancing wonder diets,” each bearing the disclaimer, “these findings are not substantiated by scientific research.” But is there any real scientific data out there? I’d be fascinated to learn.

What methods most greatly encourage elementary school students to read for pleasure?

What is the psychology behind the impetus some students feel, and some students will never experience? Is there a proven existent paradigm for greater success? What are the latest and most promising approaches? How do I break down the reluctant reader and infuse them with a least a cursory desire to read? All of these questions spark my intense interest.

Are newly arriving freshmen college students better or more ill prepared academically than 1966’s freshmen?

Educators decry the state of affairs of all things educational, and routinely proclaim a crisis is coming or already upon us. But just as every generation in America has resisted and maligned the favored music of their offspring, I suspect this educational outrage is equally ongoing and unending. Is there data supporting the claims that today’s freshmen are more ill equipped to deal with college life?

How does physical movement benefit brain development in elementary students?

I was amazed to learn of the correlation between regular physical movement and brain development in young children. What programs exist that would aid in my bringing movement - and by extension, greater brain development – to my students? What are the latest research findings on physical education’s impact on other areas of learning? What is the physiology involved?

How does art instruction influence other academic progress?

I infuse all my courses with art, and have found it tremendously helpful in capturing the attention of my students. I want to learn more about how art impacts student development, both to make myself better able to utilize this tool and to give myself greater justification for using it. I want to glean all the latest and most well documented research that supports my view that art instruction compliments all other subject lesson planning, captures the attention of a segment of students who would otherwise remain apathetic, and broadens the academic universe of all students.

As this is one of my own personal favorite topics, I'll throw in a thesis, free of charge.   “Art instruction in elementary school curriculums – often among the first targets of politicians seeking to balance budgets – is a powerful and practical educational tool, with far reaching and often underappreciated benefits.”

Possible subtopics include art as a means to reach at-risk and otherwise educationally challenged students; how art instruction gives students a welcome respite from more difficult subjects, re-energizes and makes them better able to focus; how art education compliments and augments standard educationally required subjects; statistical data suggesting (or proving) that students who receive instruction in art have higher grades and do better on standardized tests (assuming this is demonstrable). 

Let's see some data collecting out there!




Reference research: business research and law research and travel research and my social page




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Today's educators are bombarded with information from all sides about the latest and greatest research-based instructional techniques in teaching. With all these crazes about instructional methods and the confusion about which one really works and which one is a dud, no wonder our teachers are so exhausted! As charming and inspirational as all these latest claims and success stories seem to be, educators need to be careful when choosing and implementing a new or old "miracle" instruction method. There are things a teacher needs to do before making any big changes to their curriculum and instruction.

First things first, what supporting evidence is there? Educators need to use their resources wisely and take all initial information with skepticism. Before actually outright backing the "amazing" new research supporting a particular method, whether it be Indirect Instruction, Cooperative learning, etc..., educators must do their research. Talk to colleagues, look the strategy up online, check out education magazines and journals, and any other resource material available. Find out what evidence there is out there to support the research-based strategy. Furthermore, make sure the sources you are calling upon for information are reliable. Reliable sources offer reliable evidence, so seek out unbiased, professional resources. Weigh pros and cons, consistencies and inconsistencies, before making a decision on the strategy at hand.

After thorough research has been done, the next important question is: "How should the research-based program be implemented?" And "What methods does the research show to be most advantageous?" These questions' answers would most probably appear in your research since it was suppose to be incredibly thorough. If not, you'll want to look it up. Many teachers forget this step, and as Grassen states in the article "What Does It Mean To Be a Research-Based Profession" teachers simply aren't properly implementing research-based strategies are thus losing out on potential benefits of the programs. "Cooperative learning was designed to complement teacher-directed instruction by providing further opportunity for students to work together using what they have learned. In most schools today, cooperative learning is used to replace teacher-directed instruction and students are expected to construct their own knowledge working in groups." (N.d). Clearly, teachers need to put a great deal of thought into this step as improper implementation of the program can have catastrophic consequences on learners.

Read up on each research-based method, decide what sorts of lessons would benefit from their use, and which wouldn't. Talk to colleagues about what methods they use in the classroom, why, and how they implement them. Most of all, be aware of comparisons being drawn between different research-based strategies. Look for comparative studies as opposed to non-comparative studies. Comparative studies are more likely to give you accuracy in research. Educators need to look at the whole picture. How is class A using strategy A performing compared to class B using strategy B? How do these same classes perform after trading strategies? How is school A using strategy A performing compared to school B using strategy B? And so on...

Lastly, before implementing any research-based strategy, an educator should ask themselves "Am I biased?" Be sure to be honest with yourself. Try to go into deliberation with an open and unbiased mind. Take into account all reliable sources whether they are in-line with your initial beliefs or opinions on the strategy or not. Remain unbiased until the end. Your openness and willingness to learn can determine the accuracy of your research.

There are a great many research-based programs out there and being implemented everyday. Many of them just don't have the proper supporting research for an educator, especially a new and inexperienced one, to simply throw their weight behind. Don't ask your students to do homework without doing your own. Research your methods before putting them into practice. Find out what's behind them, what's supporting them, and how they should be used to the biggest advantage in the classroom. Without such information your newest instructional plan could be a huge failure. Don't follow fads and trends, look for rock solid evidence and implementation methods before making that big leap of bringing it into your classroom.

Reference:

Grossen, B. (n.d). What Does It Mean To Be a Research-Based Profession? Retrieved March 8, 2007, from University of Oregon, Eugene Website: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu

Northwest Regional Education Laboratory. (2005). Research-Based Strategies. Retrieved March 5, 2007 from, Focus on Effectiveness Web site: http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/




Reference research: finance research and law research and general research and recent update




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