Your sources are very important. When you research, are you accessing authoritative primary sources? Or are you using secondary sources that reflect the sources own personal opinions and prejudices? Finding good sources requires a lot of background work and communicating with people who are knowledgeable the field you are researching.

In business, research often involves trying to determine what customers want and are willing to pay for. You hear of companies forming focus groups who help them try out and evaluate products and services before they hit the market.

One of the characteristics of good research is good research design that makes sure the research is really determining the answer to the question being posed.  Faulty research can often fail to take into account variables that can affect the relationship that is being studied.  When this happens, the researcher can very well draw invalid conclusions from the results.