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To avoid either pitfall, carefully define your research objectives at the start of the project. Write a simple, one- or two-sentence statement describing why you are doing the research and what you want to accomplish. Then list the questions you want to address. For instance, if you were considering opening a pizza restaurant, your objective might read:

Find out if it would be profitable for me to open and run a pizza restaurant in Springfield

The questions you would want to answer might include:

What are the average sales of pizza restaurants in the U.S.?

How many other pizza restaurants are there in the Springfield area?

How well are they doing?

What is the population of Springfield?

How often does the average person order pizza from a restaurant?

What will rent and equipment cost?

How many employees will I need?

What salaries will I have to pay?

What would I have to do to advertise the restaurant?

What will ads cost?

How often will I have to run them?

Where will I buy ingredients and paper goods? What will they cost?

How many pizzas you'll need to sell a week to make a profit?

Can I find enough steady customers here to make a profit?

Once you outline your research in this way, completing it is then a matter of gathering the information you need to answer each question, then looking at how the answers relate to your objective.

Industry reports and market research

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