Sources and Tools
Sources
As a whole, your research should consist of a range of sources. It is not recommended that you heavily rely on a singe source, as it decreases the validity of your arguments and severely limits your ability to develop in-depth analyses.
Secondary sources
This should be where the bulk of your data comes from. (You might notice that this approach is most similar to the Business SL internal assessment, as compared to the primary-research-focused approach to the HL internal assessment.)
The best way to obtain data is to consult a wide range of sources, such as the following:
business management textbooks
scholarly journals and general business books
industry analyses
company reports and data
government documents
Primary research
Although it is not the main focus of the EE, you may use primary research to support your secondary sources. For this to be effective, it must provide additional and significant insight that cannot be found from secondary sources.
A question that you can ask yourself when doing primary research is "Are the data obtained necessary and directly related to the research question?"
Analytical tools & numerical data
EEs that do well typically incorporate business management concepts and tools taught in class when conducting an analysis. Additionally, you must have quantitative data to provide concrete support for these tools.
Some examples of analytical tools you may use are: