Initial Idea
My initial research idea is to determine if the sale of desktop personal computers is declining in today’s market. I have not changed my original idea and plan to continue towards the path of answering this question as I have a vested interest in the outcome of the findings. The direction in which my business proceeds into the future will be largely determined by the findings of my research question. Do I continue offering PC repairs and service, or do I phase it out in favor of focusing on other avenues of data technology, such as computer networking. If I were to entertain a secondary question, it would be ‘ what are consumers buying as their go to replacement for desktop personal computers’. Perhaps there are avenues of opportunity in servicing the items that may be the replacement for PCs.
Research Findings
At the present time, I have not found any definitive articles or studies that relate to my research question. This comes as no surprise as I feel that this is a new concept to the computer industry and I anticipated having to conduct my own qualitative study to gain the data I need to analyze in order to arrive at an answer to my question.
Databases for Research
I did have an opportunity to peruse the library databases and have concluded that the following three databases may be helpful. Computer Source in that it contains a variety of information pertaining to computer systems in general. Emerald Insight actually had a number of current affair articles relating to the computer field. Finally, Science Direct also shows promise as a database of knowledge in that it contains a vast array of general science knowledge, computer systems being included. While I have done a quick review of the information available in these database services, I am not finding any concrete data related specifically to my question. There are some other options that were suggested in our second text book that I intend to pursue, but it is likely that most of my data will be obtained from my own qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative research in the form of a questionnaire to a local sample populous, the quantitative research based on actually numbers related to sales of computer systems for the last few years to determine the direction trend of PC sales in the market place.
I like your topic. It is interesting that you have personal stake in the result that you find from your research. I think that personal computers are particularly interesting at this time. Apple’s M1 chips are bringing strong competition for PC laptop makers. Intel is suffering for not advancing its chips enough. We have semiconductor shortages that have resulted in delayed car manufacturing and GPU production. I’m very interested in your research. I think you chose good databases as well.
A quick search on “sales of pc desktops by year” shows a slight reduction in in the total number of PCs sold, but this would need to be cross-referenced against the percentages of homes containing PCs as it is likely that some portion of those sales would be new PCs to someone who did not already have one, so it seems reasonable to think the market is still growing even if it has slowed. Another factor to consider is that market saturation is steadily increasing and that most users are technically illiterate and there is room for upgrading computers against selling new ones. If I were to be considering the field, I would be much more focused on upgraded existing equipment than selling entirely new systems. One real advatage is that you can offer a customer a significant increase in various aspects of their computer use, memory, processor power, video cards, etc. without the price tag of a new computer. I would focus my advertising and sales on the cost benefits of upgrades over replacing whole systems.
Unless you are looking to breaking into commercial networking, I don’t think you’d find a large market for it in the personal use industry. Once someone is setup with a reasonable router and home network they can go years without ever considering making any changes. There is very much an attitude of “Why change what’s working?”
One avenue you didn’t mention that would have potential is the concept of a smart home, and the Internet of Things. Your market would be smaller, as it would tend to be tilted to those who like to get into the tech early, but it would also be a market with a higher potential profit margin. A full home automation project could easily run well into five figures while still being reasonably priced. And that type of customer base is also more likely to want to upgrade more frequently to maintain themselves on the leading edges of what the tech can do.
Personally I would think the vast majority of your research here should be quantitative, both in existing numbers of these types of market shares, and then in the numbers of people who would be interested in being part of your customer base depending on the nature of the service you are going to offer.
The other thing to look at is the number of computing devices being sold and not just PCs, I have 3 desktops, 2 surfaces, a notebook, a netbook, a tablet, and 4 smartphones in my house (at least) at the moment, oh, and two smartwatches as well. You wouldn’t be likely to sell me a device as I either build or buy my own, but if you were able to convince me that you could integrate all my devices into a cohesive network, especially on that could integrate my smart TVs, smart lights, and future IoT devices? We’d definitely be having a talk. Even after doing that, you should database me as a customer interested in IoT setups and keep yourself knowledgeable on the newest products, because you might be able to talk me into buying new tech I don’t have.
You’ve picked an area with a lot of potential, but I think you need to be widening your view outside of narrow niches. Good luck with it!