Research in Business, is it Really Necessary?

Research in public relations and marketing is vital to developing a successful plan. While studying PR at Utah State University a colleague of mine told me he hated conducting research and that he would never wanted to work in a PR job where he was required to do so. My friend, you are in the wrong profession; or maybe just a little misinformed.

Like my friend, some think research is boring and unnecessary. I agree that in many traditional cases it is, but we all do it every day, over and over again. Last week I bought a new cell phone but before doing so I talked to three sales reps at three different stores, searched online, and recollected in my own mind about what I really wanted. What is this called? Research. I look out my office window at all the people filling their tanks with gas and think how did they decide to come to this Chevron? Most find out prices and go to the cheapest, some pay no attention to price and seek the highest quality. In both cases research, in the simplest degree, is conducted.

To me, research is the process by which we educate ourselves to make better decisions. The old phrase ‘knowledge is power’ rings true to me time and time again. If research is the acquisition of knowledge then research equals power.
To my friend; I hope that in the 20 seconds you took to read this post you have a change of heart about research and realize you do it everyday and that in most cases you actually like it!

The following list is a compiliation of Internet sites I have used to conduct research of all kinds. Over time I will continue to find new resources as people make new information more available and more accessible. Please return every once in a while to see the latest and greatest in Web based research.

If you have a favorite that is not listed please comment and share it with us!
• Institute for PR
• SCORE
• SBA
• LexisNexis
• USU Library – PR Research Page
• HTML Coding
• The Columbia Guide to Online Style
• Internet Quick Reference
• Power Reporting
• Snopes
• Google Blog Search Engine
• StumbleUpon – Content Sharing
• Technorati – Blog Search Engine
• Twello – Twitter Dir.
• Google
Update
• NicheBot
• Google Trends
• Spacky