CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction Social Media is the new face of communication in today s environment. It presents with new challenges and opportunities for the business community, economy, government and consumers. The focus of this research is to measure the influence of Social Media on the consumers of Gujarat. Now that this focal point has been laid, this chapter deals with research methodology employed in this research thesis. Research involves formulating the problem to be investigated, selecting a suitable research design, choosing and applying appropriate procedures for data collection, and analyzing and communicating the process and findings through a written report. Research methodology is a way to systematically, solve the research problem. The purpose of this chapter is to: Describe aims and objectives of the research and statements of hypothesis. Explain in detail the research design, sampling techniques, data collection methods, instruments used for data collection and clarify specific choices made in each of them in this research study. Outline the scope of the study. Discuss the research approach and to present a detailed research plan that guides the whole research thesis. 3.2 Aims and Objectives of Research This research studies the influence of social media on consumers of Gujarat. One section of the study does a usage analysis of social media among consumers and the other section studies influence of social media regarding their decision-making processes. Hence, the study has two main aims, followed by research objectives, identified through in-depth study of academic literature dedicated to social media field. 83

2 Aim 1: To study social media usage of consumers of Gujarat. Objective: 1. To study usage pattern of social media among consumers of Gujarat, identifying Who are the users of social media across the state, What are their activities, Where and How they are using social media platforms. Aim 2: To study influences of social media on consumer buying behaviour. Objectives: 1. To study whether consumer likes to connect with various types of products/services/companies on social media websites. 2. To study reasons of connecting to various products/services/companies on social media. 3. To study the extent to which consumers search for and learn about brands from their social media peers or content before actually purchasing it. 4. To study the extent to which social media influences purchase decision making, among its users, after connecting to various products / services / companies on social media. 5. To study the social and personal factors that influence consumer s behaviour on social media. 3.3 Statement of Hypotheses Research objectives identified under Aim 2 requires to be tested through following hypotheses in order to achieve results: Hypotheses 1: There is no association between demographic factors of respondents and social media consumption. 84

3 Hypotheses 2: Average preference of Social Media Attributes across demographic factors is alike. Hypotheses 3: Average preference of Social Media Utility Factors across demographic factors is alike. Hypotheses 4: Average preference of actions taken after liking or following product / services / companies on social media across demographic factors is alike. Hypotheses 5: There is no association between the intensity of using social media to search reviews and learn features for purchase of products/services and demographic factors of respondents. Hypotheses 6: There is no association between purchase decision made after searching and taking user reviews from social media platforms and demographic factors of respondents. Hypotheses 7: There is no association between demographic factors and recommendations made by reference group for making purchase decision. Hypotheses 8: There is no association between demographic factors and disliking or unfollowing product/services/companies on social media. Hypotheses 9: Social Media is preferred over Traditional Media as an information source for making purchase decision. 3.4 Research Approach Inductive versus Deductive There are two types of research approaches: inductive and deductive. According to Ghauri and Gronhaug, 1 Deductive research is the process of delivering a conclusion from a known premise or something known as true. Inductive research is the systematic process of establishing a general proposition based on observation or particular facts. 1 Pervez N. Ghauri and Kjell Grønhaug, Research Methods In Business Studies: A Practical Guide (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2005). 85

4 Mark Saunders et al 2 explain that the Inductive approach typically moves from specific to observations to broader generalisations and theories. The researchers may begin with specific observation and measures, to detect patterns and regularities, and then formulate some tentative hypothesis that they can explore. They might end up by developing some general conclusions or theories. In contrast, a Deductive approach commonly works from more general to more specific. Researchers might begin by examining theories related to their topic of interest. Then, they narrow down those theories to more specific research questions or hypotheses for testing and try to answer questions or confirm hypotheses through a number of research methods, mainly in quantitative was in order to generalise the findings. This research integrates both - inductive and deductive methods, as processes of both approaches are not exclusive in totality. 3 As Hyde 4 suggests, this research, through induction approach observed the specific context of social media and the platforms used to which, why and how the consumers are using them. On the other side, the study seeks literature review as a basis of application to the results gathered from data analysis. In line with Sunders et al, 5 the study has a clear and defined purpose that determines which, why, and how social media tools are used by consumers of Gujarat state. This purpose was determined based on theoretical framework in agreement with deduction (Sunders et al, 2007). 6 The research has undertaken both inductive and deductive stance providing a deeper insight, than would be possible with merely any one amongst them Qualitative versus Quantitative Between the two major research methods qualitative and quantitative, for this research, widely the quantitative approach is used. Only for one single question in the questionnaire, the study uses qualitative approach to understand factors relating to 2 Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 4 th ed. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2007). 3 Pervez N. Ghauri and Kjell Grønhaug, Research Methods In Business Studies: A Practical Guide (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2005). 4 Kenneth F. Hyde, Recognizing deductive processes in qualitative research, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal 3, 2 (2002): Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 4 th ed. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2007). 6 Ibid. 86

5 complex relationship between consumer and brand connection that does not support numerical quantification. 3.5 Research Design Research Method Research methods applied for this study are both Exploratory and Descriptive methods. The study chose exploratory research method due to little empirical research and prior knowledge of existence of the relation between social media and consumer behaviour. Exploratory method involved survey of literature on social media and consumer behaviour. Descriptive research studies are concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular individual, or of a group. 7 It is useful to obtain information concerning the status of the phenomena to describe, What exists with respect to variables or conditions in a situation. This research deals with describing the characteristics of consumers who use social media and its impact on them Data Collection Methods There are two types of methods for data collection Primary and Secondary. Primary data collection method involves gathering fresh information through observation, interviews or questionnaires. While, Secondary data collection method includes both raw data and published sources such as journals, database, transcripts, books, etc. Primary Data This study involves both data collection methods. Primary data collection helped to get fresh information directly from the social media users, to study their social media usage, user characteristics, attitudes, views and opinions. For this, the study majorly depends on Online Survey method, because the gathered data is relevant only if information is retrieved from active internet users, who are also actively involved in social media websites. Primary data for this research was collected through selfdesigned Structured Questionnaire. 7 C. R. Kothari, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques (New Delhi, New Age International, 2004),

6 Secondary Data In view of the fact that social media is in its nascent stage and a very recent phenomenon, the study have also been supported by secondary data which involves scholarly research studies, books, articles, journals, transcripts, white papers, Government and other official websites and various other data from reliable sources. Every secondary source is cited wherever it is used as well as in the bibliography section. The use of secondary data for this study saved cost and time, both Data Collection Instrument - Questionnaire Design The questionnaire contains total 30 questions, out of which 29 are Close-ended and one is Open-ended (Appendix-A). The reason for Open-ended question is to assess qualitative part in the study. Questions vary in types such as Dichotomous, Multiple Choice, Likert Scale Rating and Ranking in order to collect desired information. To discard bias and unwanted responses, the questionnaire consists of various checkpoints. First part of the questionnaire (from questions 1 to 9) is regarding the demographics of the respondent like Gender, Age group, Income slab, City, Education, Occupation, Internet availability, and Internet access, which are termed as Personal Background Factors. Considering the literature on types of social media, categorised differently by several authors, this research study adopts the classification by Fred Cavazza (2011) in the questionnaire (Q.no.10). It is so because, this classification holds true to the current scenario where Facebook still is considered as the centre stage among all social media sites. The next part asks respondents about the social media usage Social-graphics (from questions 11 to 18). After Social-graphics, next part of questions (Q. no. 19 to 30) probes consumers social media behaviour, opinions towards connecting to product / services on social media, and how they search for and learn about brands on social media. Question number 23 is an open-ended question, asking the reasons for connecting to particular brand on social media sites. The reason for open-ended type 8 Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5 th ed. (England: Pearson Education, 2009). 88

7 here is to determine true reasons and not limiting the thoughts and views of respondents Target Population and Sampling Design Target Population Internet Users of Gujarat are considered as a target population for this research because it is pre-requisite to have internet connectivity for using social media websites. This is also a reason for having online survey as a method for data collection. Among the internet users, the population narrows down to Social Media Users because the research is about studying behaviour of Social Media Users alone. For that purpose, in questionnaire, there is a checkpoint to take care of this most important factor, which discards the entry of Non Social Media User. Again, the population narrows down to one single state of India, i.e. Gujarat Sampling Design According to the target population, the sampling units of this study are Social Media Users of Gujarat State. Gujarat state has a population of 6.03 Crore according to 2011 census report. 9 According to TRAI, it has lakh internet subscribers as of December These figures indicate the large population size. In addition, recent trend indicates that more and more people access internet and social media websites directly on their mobile phones and other portable gadgets. This makes the calculation for sample size not only difficult but also complicated. As a result, the researcher applied a combination of sampling techniques for this research. It used Online Survey method to get responses from actual users of social media. The questionnaire was uploaded online on various platforms and the responses were awaited. This process makes the technique a random sampling method because all the social media users who are online have an equal chance to be selected as a sample. The questionnaire link was shared with friends on social media sites, asking them to fill up and pass on to their network of friends and so on. Hence, this process makes the technique a snowball sampling method. In addition, responses were also collected through reaching out 9 Gujarat State Portal, 10 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Report,

8 consumers face to face using convenient sampling method. Combination of sampling techniques was an attempt to collect as many respondents as possible due to large population size and considering limitations of time, scope of the research and budgetary constraints. The sample size of the research is 1045 respondents. Total 1108 questionnaires were received, out of which 63 were rejected due to incomplete and irrelevant responses. Out of 1045 responses, 280 samples were gathered through offline methods like meeting people face to face, and rest 774 samples responded through online channels. In online method, the questionnaire was uploaded on author s personal blog, websites like Question Pro, Monkey Survey, and Goggle Docs. The link was shared on social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus, Orkut, Quora etc, which helped in collection of real time responses through digital word of mouth. 3.6 Pilot Study A pilot study was undertaken to validate the effectiveness of research instrument, i.e. self-designed Questionnaire, and to validate the value of the questions to elicit right information to answer the primary research questions. The main objective of conducting a pilot study was to correct the problems with the questionnaire and other elements in the data collection technique. A sample of 30 respondents, surveyed through online survey method, was examined as a pilot survey for this study. The responses received from respondents through pilot study helped in making necessary improvements in the questionnaire. Questionnaire was also carefully examined and reviewed by research Guide, professors and research experts. Hence, the pilot study ensured the reliability and validity of the research instrument as well as the research methods and processes. 3.7 Scope of the Study This study focuses on the influence of social media on consumers of Gujarat State. Hence, the coverage of this study is limited to a single state of India i.e. Gujarat. The findings also focus on characteristics and behaviour of consumers of Gujarat alone. It may differ in case of other geographical areas. 90

9 Further, it should be noted that the study focuses only on the active internet users of the state. Internet Users are considered as a target population for this research because it is pre-requisite to have internet connectivity for using social media websites. The scope of this study is to determine social media usage of consumers of Gujarat in general, identifying Who are the users of social media across the state, What are their activities, Where and How they are using social media platforms. No study of this type has been conducted before. Hence, with the help of available literature review, the study outlines general behaviour of Gujarat consumers on social media. The study also aimed to review influences of social media on consumer buying behaviour, identifying reasons of connecting to various brands on social media; social, personal, cultural and psychological influences behind connecting to a brand on social media; extent to which social media influences the decision making, to purchase the brand after connecting to it on social media; extent to which consumers search for and learn about brands from their social media peers or content before actually purchasing it. The time frame allotted for the study, limits the scope to, further identify specific industry - wise consumer preferences and buying behaviour for various products, brands and services. This study will be helpful to organizations operating in Gujarat and the Government of Gujarat to understand how the population of the state uses and reacts on social media. In-return it will help them utilize social media for their marketing efforts. It will also provide a good literature review for other studies carried out in the area of social media and consumer behaviour. The aim of this chapter was to outline the methodology applied in this study. It presented research objectives and hypothesis for testing those objectives. The study is exploratory and descriptive in nature, adopts both inductive & deductive research approaches as well as uses quantitative & qualitative data for the study of variables. The study uses both primary and secondary data collection methods. Target population for the study is active internet users of Gujarat and sampling units are social media users of Gujarat. Study uses combination of sampling techniques, i.e. online and offline methods random sampling, snowball and convenience-sampling methods, to achieve 91

10 desired sample size. Careful attention has given to create high reliability and validity in the study. An in-depth data analysis and interpretation will follow in the subsequent chapters. 92