Research methodology, different types of philosophical

Research ruleology, different types of philosophicFischer (2004) states that explore methodology is the study which raises all types of philosophical questions for the interrogati aners to fuck and check the availability of their friendship.Saunders et al. (2007) states that, the inquiry design exit be the general plan of how to dissolver the research questions and it should containClear objectives derived from the research questionsIt should specify sources from which selective information is collectedConsider the constraints that the tec will have access to entropy, location magazine and moneyDiscussing ethical issuesCooper and Schindler (2008) mentions that the research task is a attendant process involving clearly defined steps. They in any case state that despite the variation in steps involved, the idea of sequence is useful in developing a research and maintaining an order as the research progresses.According to Teresa and William (1997), research methodology prov ides a systematic, planned mount to a research give and ensures that all aspects of the project ar consistent with one another.The method that has been use for this research is based on the research process onion as described by Saunders et al. (2007). The research goes through different layers of the research onion. The sundry(a) layers be philosophies, apostrophizees, strategies, natural selections, time horizons and techniques and procedures. This chapter is split into three parts. The first section deals with the research methods that have been use for this dissertation. The second berth deals with data order methods. The last section deals with existence and sampling.Research Onion- Adapted from Saunders et al. (2007)Research doctrineSaunders et al. (2007) mentions that research doctrine depends on the way you think round the development of knowledge. It is the first layer in the research onion proposed by them. According to them, there argon three approaches to re search philosophy. They argon epistemology, ontology and axiology. Epistemology constitutes with the accept open knowledge in the field of study ontology is concerned with nature of populace where as axiology studies about the police detectives value in all point in time of research process.They argue that the choice of philosophy depends on the research question posed and the research worker feels that the approach that has to be use is Epistemology. Jancowickz (2000) mentioned epistemology as personal theory of knowing and what research worker feels as knowledge, what he counts as evidence and proof and what he does not.Saunders et al. (2007) mentioned that there are three epistemological positions videlicet, positivism, interpretivism, and genuinelyism.Positivism Saunders et al. (2007) mentions that if research philosophy reflects the principles of positivism, then we will plausibly adopt the philosophical stance of a natural scientist. According to Bryman Bell (2007) p ositivism is an epistemological position that advocates the application of methods of natural sciences to study of social reality and beyond. Reilly (2006) defined positivism as a belief that only true knowledge is scientific in character, describing interrelationships between real and observable phenomena.Interpretivism This is a philosophy where tec be critical of positivism and argue that rich insights, into complex world are lost if such complexity is reduced entirely to a series of law like generations. It to a fault ferocityes on the difference between conducting a research among throng rather than tangible objects.Realism This is a philosophical approach which is based on that a reality exists that is independent of human thoughts and beliefs. It holds many thoughts from positivism and it scientifically questions what is regarded as acceptable knowledge. In realism, the approach assumes a scientific approach to the development of data and underpins the collection of data an d intelligence of those data. (Saunders et al., 2007, p105). There are cardinal types of realism namely critical realism and take aim realism. Direct realism is what the detective experience through his senses represents the world accurately. In critical realism, what the researcher experiences are sensations and images of the things in the real world, but not the real thing.Research philosophy for this researchSaunders et al. (2007) argues that usually a combination of positivism and interpretivism are generally used in the management of business research. However, the research philosophy varies according to research question. This research stresses on uphold of gross sales promotional materials on impulse purchases. Various authors have discussed the phenomenon that happens and the researcher is trying to explore the consumer behaviour on impulse purchase. The philosophy that is used in this research is realism. For this the researcher uses acceptable knowledge in the fiel d of impulse purchase and consumer behaviour to understand the impact of sales promotion on impulse purchase and consumer loyalty. The researcher collects and analyses data employ acceptable knowledge for the purpose of answering the research question, so the research is more inclined towards realism.Research ApproachSaunders et al. (2007) states that all research work involves theories and suggests the clarity of researchers theory at the beginning of the research could inform the research the approach taken in designing the research. They, suggest dickens types of research approach of reasoning. They are Inductive approach and deductive approach.Inductive ApproachIn inducive approach, the researcher would collect the data and develop and theory with the result of data analysis. According to Saunders et al. (2007), the following are the features of inductive approach.Gaining an understanding of meanings human attach to eventsA close understanding of research contextA collection o f soft dataA more flexible structure to permit changes of research emphasis as research progressesA realisation that the researcher is part of the research processLess concern with need to generaliseDeductive approachDeductive approach method is the way of tasteing a theory. The researcher will develop a theory and suitable hypothesis. The research strategy is the developed to analyze the hypothesis that is developed.Roboson (2002) suggests a five-stage model through which the deductive stage will progressDeduct a hypothesis from the theoryExpress the hypothesis in operational termsTest the hypothesisExamine outcome of the inquiryModify theory in light of resultsResearch Approach for this researchThe researcher has chosen the deductive approach over the inductive approach for this research. In deductive approach for this research, an initial stage presents a general hypothesis. This initial stage contains secondary data mentioned by various authors. This hypothesis is then tested using the data collection methods to answer the objectives.Research StrategyAccording to Saunders et al. (2007), septette different strategies can be used for a research. They areExperimentSurveyCase studyAction researchGrounded theoryEthnographyarchival researchThe strategy that has to be used can be chosen depending on research questions and objectives, research time and other resources that are available. (Saunders et al., 2007) The most operable solution for this dissertation is the survey method. The survey method is associated with deductive approach. It allows the collection of a large amount of data from sizeable universe of discourse in passing economical way. Utilising the questionnaire, data can be standardised allowing easy compilation. It is also a cheap option for the researcher. The survey strategy also allows collecting denary data, which can be analysed using descriptive tactics. The survey strategy utilises the designing and piloting of data collection method to ensure a good answer rate.In the case of this dissertation, the researcher plans to distribute questionnaire among the customers and thus do the survey for this dissertation. This will be handed out by the researcher himself which adds to the cheapness of the survey. The researcher is also planning to do two mini focus assemblage interviews among the customers. Looking at all these options, the researcher feels that conducting a survey will be the best way to collect data for this research.Research choiceAccording to Saunders et al. (2007), the two main methods of data collection are denary data collection and qualitative data collection. Qualitative data that is used in research would be usually a non-numerical data. It has open-ended information. Example Pictures or video clips. denary data that is used in data would be numerical data consisting of graphs or statistics. It includes close-ended information such as attitude, behaviour of performance instruments. (John and Vi cki, 2007).Saunders et al. (2007, p 146)Saunders et al. (2007) mentions that the researcher can use used both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. This is known as mixed method of data collection. Both these could be done at the same time or one after the other, but the methods cannot be combined.John and Vicki (2007) argue that the weakness of both quantitative and qualitative methods can be overcome by using both the methods. If we use mixed methods, different methods like interview and questionnaire can be used for the study. They also state that mixed method research provides more comprehensive evidence for studying a research question than using just one method of data analysis. This was also mentioned as the most practical method since the researcher is free to use all the methods to address the problem.In the context of this research, the researcher used a combination of both quantitative and qualitative data techniques to find the data. The quantitative data is analysed with the help of questionnaires and the qualitative data is analysed with the help of interviews. The attitudes and impulse get behaviour and perception of customers can be studied using the questionnaire surveys. For the qualitative data analysis, two mini focus radicals consisting of three members each will be conducted by the researcher. The researcher will use the respondents observation and researchers observation to conclude his findings. In short, the researcher uses mixed method of data analysis to generalise the findings. m HorizonAccording to Saunders et al. (2007), time horizons are needed for the research design independent of the research methodology used. There are two types of time horizons namely Longitudinal and Cross-sectional. Longitudinal studies are repeated over an extended period. Cross sectional studies are limited to a unique(predicate) time frame. This research is also limited to a specific time frame and hence the cross sectional time horizo n is used.Data Collection MethodsThere are two types of data involved with this research. The first one is primary data and the second type is secondary data. The secondary data contains the literature review, which is the view by various authors about the topic. The primary data which is collected to prove the hypothesis presented which is collected using secondary data. According to Saunders et al. (2007), the secondary data may not react the needs of new research aggregations and definitions may also be unsuitable, there for to resolve this primary data has been employed to answer the nature of the problem and test the hypothesis. In other words, the secondary data is the data that is collected for some other purpose while the primary data is collected specifically for this research. alternate dataAccording to Saunders et al. (2007), the secondary data consists of both quantitative and qualitative data. It contains both raw data and published data. Bryman and Bell (2007) stated that it could provide an answer to the research question. They also mentioned about the benefits of collecting secondary data. It helps us structuring ideas, developing new concepts, widen new directions to data, sketch population and organise appropriate approach to the research.Saunders et al. (2007) also mentions that the secondary data should be viewed with the same caution that we view the primary data. The researcher needs to make sure that it will be able to answer the research question and meet his objectives.For this research, the researcher gathered the secondary data from journal articles and textbooks. The journals were electronically collected from the Emerald Insight (http//www. emeraldnisight.com) and Business source complete. The researcher also referred many books and magazines. Books provided the foundation for the topic and for the research methods. The journals helped to get an insight from various authors that discussed about this topic. Magazines helped to find the current situations related to the topic. prime dataPrimary data is collected for the completion of this research. It is the data collected from the survey and we do not have any previous results for this data. There are two categories of data collection available. One of them is quantitative data collection and the second is the qualitative data collection.Qualitative dataThe data that is non-numerical and that cannot be quantified is known as qualitative data. Saunders et al. (2007) mentions that the use of interviews can help the researcher to gather valid and reliable data that are relevant to his/her research.There interviews are mainly categorised into two namely standardised and Non-standardised interviews. Standardised interviews will have interview-administered questions where as the other one does not have that. Under non-standardised interviews, there are two categories. They are one-to-one and one-to-many. The one-to-one is further categorised into face-to-face, tele phone and internet/intranet based interviews. The one-to-many interviews are of two kinds group interviews and internet/intranet based group interviews. This kind of group interviews come under a category called focus group interviews.(Saunders et al. (2007) p 313)This research will be using the aid of focus group interviews. The focus group method is a form of group interview in which there are several participants, there is an emphasis on questioning on a tightly defined topic and the accent is upon interaction within the group and the joint construction of meaning. (Bryman and Bell, 2007) The main characteristic of this interview is, it involves more than one interviewee and typically contains four to twelve members. According to Cooper and Schindler (2001), the two advantages of using focus group interview are to get a depth understanding and it is a chance to observe reactions to the research question in an open-ended group setting.For this research, the researcher conducts two mini focus group interviews. These interviews are used to increase the credibly of the research and to form a background for the questionnaire design. The critical analysis of the focus group interviews helped the researcher to critically analyse the sales promotion and its impact on impulse purchasing behaviour of the participants. The researcher was able to find two groups of respondents who were willing to give the focus group interview. These groups contained both phallic and female participants, with the age group between 15 and 30.The interviewees were asked questions about the sales promotional activities in the store. They were also asked about the factors that affect them to buy things impulsively and if scathe promotions affect the impulse purchase. The mini focus interviews helped the researcher in questionnaire design by exploring the responses of sample population to analytically test the hypothesis using quantitative data. The response from the interviewees pulled o ut the conclusions that sales promotions play an important role in impulse buying behaviour of consumers.Quantitative dataThe quantitative data is analysed using survey method. For this research, the researcher uses, questionnaire for the survey method. Saunders et al. (2007) mentions that a questionnaire includes all techniques of data collection in which each person is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a predetermined order. They also mention that it is one of the most widely used data collection within the survey strategy.The questionnaires are used in the research as it permits prompt and honest responses from a respondent than interviews. This sort of response is required for extracting information such as personal information. The biasness that is likely to occur by the difference in phrasing questions to different respondents is also eliminated by using questionnaire. The convenience, availability of resources in terms of time and cost and ease of automating da ta instauration makes questionnaire the best choice for quantitative data analysis.According to Saunders et al. (2007), various factors affect choosing the questionnaire for a research. They areThe characteristics of the respondents to whom the researcher wish to collect the information.Importance of reaching a particular person as respondentSize of the sample required by the researcher for the analysisImportance of the responders answers not being contaminated or distortedThe type of question that the researcher needs to collect the dataThe number of questions that the researcher needs to ask to collect the dataThere are two types of questionnaires namely self-administered questionnaire and interview administered questionnaire. Self-administered questionnaire is used in this research because of its advantage that it can be completed without the presence of the researcher. This is supported by Brace (2004) that the absence seizure of the researcher makes the respondent to be honest and the respondent gets enough time to answer the questions.One important thing that needs to be noted is the nomenclature used in the questionnaire. A simple language is usually preferred than using technical jargons. Bruce (2004) mentions that double barrelled questions and jargon must be avoided in order to reduce confusion among both partiesBryman and Bell (2007) mentions that piloting a questionnaire should be an integral part of the process. Piloting is the process by which the questionnaire is revised and tested until the researcher and clients are happy. It helps the researcher to improve the quality of questionnaire and its efficiency in assembling data. A pilot test was conducted among five MBA International students to validate the questionnaire. found on their feedback, necessary amendments were made to the questions.Table 2 Questionnaire descriptionSl. noCharacteristicsQuestions1Collects the demographic information from respondentsQ1,Q2,Q32Identifies the shopping det ails like oftenness and average spendingQ4, Q53.Identifies the sales promotional activities in the storeQ6,Q7,4Identifies consumers impulse buying behaviour and factorsQ9,Q10,115.Identifies if price promotion affects impulse purchaseQ12,Q13,Q14,Q15The researcher distributed the questionnaires in Tesco retail store, Parnell Street, Dublin-Ireland. The researcher ensured that the consumers got enough time to complete the questionnaire. This researcher did not give any hints to answer the questions and this helped the respondent to honestly answer the questions. The researcher used an online tool called Surveymonkey for the data analysis (www.surveymonkey.com). The response and the scales used are mentioned in the data analysis chapterPopulation and SamplingAccording to Cooper and Schindler (2008), a population is the total collection of elements about which we wish to make some inferences. They also mentioned that to draw the conclusion about the entire population, some of the elemen ts of the population are to be selected and this process is called sampling.Saunders et al. (2007) mentions sampling technique provides a range of methods that enable to reduce the amount of data that is needed for consideration. They further mention that this is an alternative to the nose count method. They provide alternative whenIt would be impractical for the researcher to survey the entire populationThe budget constraints prevent researcher from surveying the entire populationThe time constraints prevents the researcher from surveying the entire populationResults are needed quicklyMayolor and Blackmon (2005), mentions that sampling frame facilitates, conclusion making about the social units that have been selecting units that are representative of the population.Saunders et al. (2007) classifies the sampling techniques into probability sampling Non-probability sampling. In probability sampling, the probability of each case being selected from the population is the same for all cases, where as in non-probability sampling, the probability of case being selected is being unknown.Cooper and Schindler (2008), argues that, if the non-probability sampling is feasible, if the total population for the study is unknown. In this case, the population are the customers of Tesco, Parnell Street, Dublin. Non-probability sampling is further divided into five typesQuota SamplingPurposive samplingSnowball samplingSelf selection samplingConvenience samplingThis research focuses on impact of sales promotion on impulse purchase and consumer loyalty. In this research, the quota sampling is found to be more appropriate for the sampling. Saunders et al., (2007) confirms that with the help of quota sampling, population could be divided into specific groups. This helps in calculating a quota for each group based on appropriate and obtainable data.According to Barnett (1991), cited by Saunders et al. (2007), quota sampling is entirely non-random and is normally used for interview surveys. It is based on the premise that the sample will represent the population, as the variability in the sample for various quota variables is the same as that of the population.For this research, the population is categorises into specific groups. Appropriate estimate from each group is prepared to distinguish the quota based on reliable data. Each interviewer will be analysed and the data will be collected from each quota. The data that is collected are then united to obtain a full sample. The researcher selected the quotas according to the age group and gender. The customers were selected by the respondent randomly first. The researcher then checked the respondents criteria of the age group and selected the people he wanted.Sampling FrameThe frame elements in the population are called the sampling frame. Saunders et al. (2007) states that the larger the samples size, the lower the likely error in generalising to the population. Hence, suitable sample should be governed byThe confidence required in the dataMargin of error that can be toleratedTypes of analysis that needs to be undertakenSize of the total populationThe sampling frame in this research includes the customers in the grocery section in Tesco, Parnell Street. The sampling size, frame and population are defined as followsSampling Size 100Elements Customers of Tesco, Parnell StreetUnits Grocery section in Tesco Parnell StreetExtents Dublin, IrelandSampling Technique Non-probability sampling (quota sampling)Sampling Error 5%Time May 2010-Aug-2010The quotas and total sample size are give below AGE GROUP MALE FEMALE 15-30 25 25 31-50 15 15 51 and above 10 10 TOTAL universe of discourse = 100Time constraint was the main reason for the researcher to select a small population. The researcher ensured that the researcher were ensured ample time to complete the questionnaire. The researcher made sure that the questionnaire had a simple design with no technical jargons used which would have confused peo ple otherwise. The researcher plans to distribute the questions to 100 people and expects a sampling error of 5%. Since it is a self-administered questionnaire, the researcher expects good response from the respondents.