Research Methodologies for Survey Research

This assignment discusses various research methodologies for survey research, justification of using a research methodology, importance of qualitative and quantitative data, and problems that can occur during research.

RESEARCH SKILLS
STUDENT NAME
STUDENT ID
PROFESSOR NAME
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
LO1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Various research methodologies..........................................................................................3
1.2 justification of using a research methodology.....................................................................4
1.3 Importance of both the data of qualitative and quantitative.................................................4
1.4 Explaining the problems that can occur during research.....................................................5
LO2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Justification of research sources...........................................................................................5
2.2 Evaluation of using primary information sources................................................................6
2.3 Analysing a recognised system for referencing...................................................................7
LO3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Presenting a research proposal.............................................................................................7
3.2 Role of ethics........................................................................................................................9
LO4..........................................................................................................................................11
4.1 Extract from the research proposal....................................................................................11
4.2 A constructive feedback on proposals................................................................................12
Recommendation......................................................................................................................13
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
Reference list............................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
In this assignment, the researcher has discussed the various research methodologies for
survey research. The justification of appropriate research methodologies has been mentioned
in the assignment. The importance of both the data analysis methods, qualitative and
quantitative has been included in the assignment. The researcher has presented a research
proposal regarding online shopping related issues of the people of UK. The researcher has
shed light on the process of making a literature review. After making the research proposal,
the feedback of the people of UK has been also included in this assignment.
Recommendations are mentioned to make the research more efficient.
LO1
1.1 Various research methodologies
The research methodologies are the research philosophy, research design, research approach
and data types as well.
In the case of research philosophy positivism, Interpretivism and realism can be included.
According to Morris (2016, p.524), positivism mainly focuses on the research problems
based on the truth. In Interpretivism, all the problems of the research are mainly studied
based on the perception of the people. The real view of the people is the most important
factor for the Interpretivism philosophy. Apart from this, in realism, the problem must not be
depended on the human activity of any kind of human perception. Realism is mainly based on
the human senses and perceptions.
According to An et al. (2013, p.47), research approach includes both the inductive and
deductive approaches. In the case of a deductive approach, the main purpose is to test the
theory and on the other hand, the inductive approach is completely different from the
deductive approach. The inductive approach mainly concerns with the new kind of emerging
theory.
The research design includes both the explanatory and exploratory design. Exploratory design
main focuses on the background knowledge of the particular research topic. On the other
hand, the explanatory design mainly focuses on the establishment of a proper relationship
between the two different variables in the research topics.
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There are two types of data types such as primary and secondary data types. In primary data
types, both the qualitative and quantitative data analysis can be included (Edu et al. 2016,
p.40). In quantitative data analysis, the survey can be made on the customers and the
employees of the organisations and it is based on the numeric data analysis. Table, graph and
chart can be used in these data analysis methods. On the other hand, in qualitative data
analysis, interview process can be included and personal experiences can be gathered. In the
matter of secondary data collection methods the case studies can be included and books,
journals and websites are available that help in obtaining knowledge.
1.2 justification of using a research methodology
For making the research proposal, the researcher has decided to use interpretivism philosophy
to make the research more effective and efficient. In this philosophy, the main perception of
the people of UK can be taken. The perception of the people who used to buy products
through online websites can help to make the progress of the research more authentically so
this philosophy has been included.
To make the research more authentic the deductive research approach has been included. It
helps to gather the knowledge after test the theory for gathering the knowledge and the
information.
To progress the research the researcher has taken the explanatory design that helps to
understand the proper relations between the variables for the research. It helps to make the
meaning of the research progress and the factors that the currently going on in the research.
Apart from this, it also helps to understand the various effect and causes.
Finally, the primary data analysis techniques have been included to make the research more
authentic and reliable. The reason is that primary data analysis can help to collect the data
based on the survey and quantitative data analysis can help to bring the result of the reaction
of the customers that can make the research more authentic.
1.3 Importance of both the data of qualitative and quantitative
Both the qualitative and quantitative data analysis is important to make the research effective.
According to Flick (2013, p.236), the main purpose of qualitative data analysis is to provide
the detailed knowledge and information. This is subjective research process. It always
provides the rich data for the context and it helps to make the link between the cause and
effect. Qualitative is a non-statistical process of data analysis. The negative side of qualitative
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data analysis is that in the case of the wide population it brings many difficulties to make the
research. It can take extra time and effort to complete the research. Qualitative in nature is
descriptive (WANG et al. 2014, p.07).
On the other hand, quantitative research is reliable and the data collections methods can be
through surveys and the polls. All the graphs and chat can help to understand the research
over properly and it can make a positive impact on the research and the research as well. It
helps to gather the information and knowledge about the opinions and the various issues of
the people and the customers. It helps to model the data as well as analysis of all the data that
are collected by the researcher. However to make the research success both the qualitative
and quantitative data analysis are important to make the research effective.
1.4 Explaining the problems that can occur during research
The problems that are faced by the researcher is stated below-
The researcher did not make entire research fully due to the time limitation and the money
issues as well. A researcher to continue the research for a long period, it is not possible due to
the lack of-of time. Apart from this, the researcher is not dependent enough to spend money
sufficient so that the research cannot possibly to get the proper shape. The customers of UK
have made many difficulties, they did not support so that the research has a lack of more
information and knowledge. Thus, insufficient feedback is a limitation in the research. Lack
of proper feedback has made various issues for the research. The survey is made on one
organisation so that there is a limitation in gathering information about the process of other
organisation. Due to lack of time, the researcher unable to survey on a large number of
customers and this is a limitation of the research. The data are not authentic to make the
research fully completed, many customers have made fake feedback and as a result, the
researcher is unable to make the research more authentic.
LO2
2.1 Justification of research sources
Both the primary and secondary research sources are an important part of research. In the
case of primary research, both the qualitative and quantitative are included. On the other
hand, secondary research information is that information which is already researched before
like books, journal, newspaper, websites etc.
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According to Wickham (2016, p.54), in the research to use the primary data collection can
help to make the information more authentic and reliable. In primary research through the
quantitative data analysis then the researcher can gather various information in regards to the
current situation is collected for the research and can survey on the customers for making the
research more authentic. With the help of quantitative data analysis, the researcher can get the
exact amount of feedback data to continue the research and the requirement of the data for
conducting the research can be fulfilled. In qualitative by conducting face-to-face interviews
with the managers of the organisations can help to make the data more reliable for the
research. Face-to-face interviews can help to gather the personal experience of the researcher.
The researcher can utilise all the relevant data to complete the search that is already
conducted (Bazeley and Jackson, 2013, p.12). In research, both the qualitative and
quantitative data analysis can help to bring the exact outcome of the research and it also helps
to find out the issues and help to make the solution of the various issues. The researchers can
use both types of data analysis for the research.
On the other hand, the secondary data collection method is another important source to make
the research successful. There are many types of research have been conducted where
primary data could not possible to collect. In those factors to take help from the secondary
data can be effective to make the research. To gather more information using the books,
journal and from the websites can make the research more authentic (Miles, et al. 2013,
p.54). To start any research the researcher could help from the secondary data for gaining
knowledge and more information.
2.2 Evaluation of using primary information sources
In the case of primary sources, both quantitative and qualitative can be used. Quantitative
research survey can happen on the customers and on the employees of the organisations
(Silverman, 2016, p.52). Qualitative data can be made through organising face-to-face
interview with the managers of the organisations. The techniques of the interview can be
unstructured or structured or it can be semi-structured. However, most of the time structured
and well-organised question can bring a fruitful result for conducting the research. On the
other hand, semi-structured question can be effective where the extra survey can be made
besides the prepared questions. Unstructured questions are not effective for conducting
research. To make the research Semantic differential scaling can be extremely helpful to
measure the attitude for the mentioned objects. It helps to clear the concepts about the events
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and the objects as well. On the other hand, Guttman scale can be effective for the structured
interviews. It has binary feedback option and it can help to gather the feedback option easily.
Apart from all these for sampling, Quota sampling is a kind of methods that help to make the
survey on the people who are non-probabilistic. It can be extremely helpful when time is
short to make the survey and during the budget for the survey is less. According to Bazeley
(2013, p.25), random sampling is the most effective way to gain the information from a wide
group of people and it is valid sampling methods for the sampling. Stratified sampling can
help to make the researcher to divide the large people into small groups to make the survey
effective. It is vital for sampling. All the sampling process can be effective enough to make
the research more effective and efficient. The researcher can take help from all the
measurement process of attitude for research.
2.3 Analysing a recognised system for referencing
Harvard referencing style is used in this assignment and it is an effective referencing style. It
helps to make notes from the journal, books and the websites as well. This style mainly used
by the students of the university. Here two different types of citations can be used. Once is
for text citations and another is for full citation.
LO3
3.1 Presenting a research proposal
According to Treiman (2014, p.524), research proposal can be referred to as a document
whereby the research is proposed before the audience and includes a request for facilitating
the sponsorship for that research work. Research proposal depicts all the cost implications of
the project and the soundness of the research plan. A research proposal constitutes the
following points:
 The topic of the research work
 What research questions will be preferred?
 How all the research questions will be addressed?
 Details of time and cost requirements of the research?
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 What are the tasks that need to be conducted prior to commencing of the research
work?
 The requirements needed to conduct an effective and efficient research work
 Evaluation Criteria for the research
 Benefit implications of the research work for the sponsorship companies and the other
related parties.
 What can be preferable results of the research work?
 The details of the limitations of the research work.
Coming to the concept of research work of online marketing we are also required to have a
pre-defined research proposal for conducting of an appropriate research work.
In the given question, we are required to present a research proposal for conducting a
research work related to the household engagement in the sphere of online marketing. Here it
is required to include the following requisites for the presentation of the research proposal as
hereinafter mentioned before the audience:
1. The topic of the research: In the research work, the topic shall be “Household
Participation in the sphere of Online Marketing in the UK".
2. Research Methodologies: According to Mertens (2014, p.23), the research methodologies
will the acquisition of data through the means of primary data. A personal interview will be
preferred in the course of data acquisition. A sample of the households and the retail
managers will be personally interviewed and sampling technique used will be random
probability selection and each of the samples will be divided appropriately among the
members of the research groups.
3. Preferable Questions to be asked: The preferable questions to be asked to the consumers
are as drafted below:
1. What Kind of products do they feel to purchase online?
2. What benefits are they facing in undergoing online shopping?
3. Which online retailer do they prefer the most?
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4. What are the types of problems they overcome in digital shopping?
5. What are the additional facilities they are expected to have the context of online
shopping?
6. What is their purchasing power affected through digital marketing?
The preferable questions to be asked to the online retailers are as drafted below:
1. How is digital marketing helping them in fulfilling their sales target.
2. What are responses of the online consumers relating to the products and services?
3. What is the appropriate feedback they are expecting from the consumers?
4. Evaluation Criteria: The results acquired from the research work will be evaluated using
various techniques of data analysis and dispersion like mean, median, mode, mean deviation,
standard deviation, variance and the coefficients of correlation.
5. Limitations of the research: The limitations of the research work can be drafted as
follows:
 Biasness on part of the consumers
 Biasness on part of the online retail managers
 Lack of availability of funds
 Limited time frame
3.2 Role of ethics
According to Chevillet et al. (2014, p.188), ethics is defined as the moral principles that
define the appropriate code of conduct by an individual in various disciplines of life. Ethics
can also be referred to as the branch of science that deals with the human behaviour. Ethics is
one of the fundamental principles of human life and is to applied in each sphere of work.
The researchers are also required to follow some appropriate code of ethics in the context of
research methodology. There are a set of rules to be followed by the researchers in the field
of both the primary and secondary research. Many of the professional associations,
universities and the government have prescribed different codes of conduct in the field of
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research as to be strictly adhering by the researchers. The codes of conduct to be followed by
the researchers in the context of overall research work as well as conducting of research in
the context of online marketing are as hereinafter mentioned:
1. Maintaining Honesty: The researcher should maintain the principle of honesty while
conducting of research. They should not resort to methods of falsification or
misrepresentation of the collected data for their own data. They should neither
deceive their colleagues nor to the research sponsors. They should also report correct
information and data analysis to all the users of the research information and be
accountable to the public as a whole.
2. The concept of Objectivity: The concept of objectivity explains that the researchers
need to be unbiased in the context of experimentation and data analysis as well as in
the other disciplines of research work (Friend and Jessop, 2013, p.36). They should
also disclose all of their financial and the personal interest, which may leave an
impact on the research.
3. Integrity: The concept of integrity explains that the researchers need to adhere to the
agreements and the promises, act with responsibility and sincerity and strive for the
greatest degree of transparency possible (Baskerville and Wood-Harper, 2016, p.169).
4. Carefulness: The researchers should conduct a careful and critical examination of
their own research work and avoid any act of negligence on their part.
5. The concept of openness: The researchers need to adhere to sharing of important data
and the resources used for conducting the research. They should be ready to accept
criticism as well as accept new ideas and methodologies of research.
6. The principle of Confidentiality: The principle of confidentiality needs to strictly
adhere by the researchers (Creswell, 2013, p.236). The researchers need to protect any
kind of confidential data that was overcome in the course of research work as it may
result in consequences against interest.
7. Regards for Intellectual property: The researchers should not resort to means of
exploiting other’s copyrights, unpublished data and prevent any means of plagiarism.
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8. Mentoring: Mentoring implies that the researchers would be able to provide
appropriate advice to the students and other users of research work and suggest means
for their welfare and improvement (Teitcher et al. 2015, p.116).
9. Social responsibility: The researchers should aim at promoting social awareness and
help to eradicate social evils through their research work and providing advocacy.
10. The principle of Equality: The principle of equality needs to be strictly adhered by
the researchers, thereby avoid any means of discrimination based on caste, creed,
race, colour, sex and religion, and therefore produce an effective research work to
promote the social awareness (Ioannidis et al. 2014, p.166).
11. The principle of Legality: The researchers are required to strictly adhere to the laws
of the land and abide by all the rules of the legislation (Millum and Sina, 2014, p.1).
12. Competencies: The researchers are required to strictly adhere to the professional
competencies and provide appropriate steps to promote the efficiency of the research
work (Broad, 2014, p.25).
LO4
4.1 Extract from the research proposal
The research is conducted due to the issues of the customers of UK who are facing
difficulties to buy the product online. The customers are facing problems in payment systems
that are not secured and another problem is pricing.
In the UK, most of the people use online marketing for shopping. The customers are like to
buy the products by online. The organisations of UK are provided almost all the products for
the customers through online systems. In online systems, the customers have to pay the
payment via online through the bank. The home delivery option is always available for the
customers and it can make happy to the customers that they do not need to go any shop for
buying the necessary products. The customers can select their products from the websites of
the online seller's websites. All the product information is given in the websites of the
website of the organisations. All the business organisations always try their best to provide
the best service to the customers.
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In this research, the researcher has decided to use the primary data collection methods.
Through quantitative research, the researcher has made a survey on the 20 customers who are
used to shop via online. Among the 20 customers, 5 customers make negative comments and
they are not satisfied with the service provided by the organisations. Apart from this, 10
customers have said that they are happy with the service facilities of the organisations. On the
other hand, 5 customers made no comments in this survey.
The customers and the families would like to solve their problem as early as possible so that
they can purchase their products confidentiality. The customers would like to buy the
products via online but the security for the payment option must be secured so that any
unknown author unable to access the personal data of the customers. Apart from these, the
price is the most important factor to buy the products.
After the research survey, the problem outcome would be like the customers could buy the
product online and their data would be secured. Apart from this, the pricing of the products
would be effective enough that the customers would be satisfied. To solve all the issues of the
customers the online organisations can secure the payment option so that any such personal
data of the customers must not be leaked. The access to the account of the website of the
organisations must be under control and any such unauthorised accessing can be handled. The
organisation must survey the demand of the customers and the prices of the product must be
put effectively so that the customers become happy to purchase the products.
However, there are many limitations to conducting the research. As a researcher, it was
difficult to make the entire research with sufficient money so that the entire research is not
conducted with proper supports. On the other hand, due to the lack of time the researcher
unable to make a survey of many customers. The customers are not made right information to
make the research effectively.
4.2 A constructive feedback on proposals
After presenting the research proposal, the feedbacks are mixed but most of the people made
positive feedback. The people think that this proposal can be effective to make a deep impact
on the customers as well as on the organisations. Most of the people think that the entire
proposal can make many changes but still there are many portion is lack. The people think
that if the delivery issues of the people could be surveyed then the issues can be solved. Many
people used to make online shopping and facing difficulties during the time delivery. Many
people think that several times the employees of the organisation made wrong items delivered
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or delivered the items to the wrong people. Another recommendation is to include in the
research proposal is to matching the price of the products during the time of delivery. Several
times the customers paid the extra cost of the mentioned price of the product. Apart from this
most of the people thinks that the quality of the product is not good enough. It is one of the
most important issues for the customers that must be included in the research proposal.
People think that the organisations must improve the quality of the products in order to
satisfy the customers. For all the business organisations, customers’ satisfactions must be the
main criteria and there are many issues for the business organisations. The organisation must
be productive enough so that the customer could be easily reliable on the organisation. People
who attended the seminar think that all the stated factors must be included to make the
research more efficient.
Recommendation
To make the research more effective the researcher can take help from the primary data
analysis technique. Whereas the survey can helps to make the information and the knowledge
more authentic. In the case of the research where the primary data collection is not possible,
the research can take help from the secondary data collection methods. Deductive research
option can be included to make the research more effective. The research can solve the
problem of limitation of the research by giving some extra time and spending more money on
the research. To make the research more effective the scope of the research must be wider.
Conclusion
In this assignment, the researcher has given detailed information about the various research
methodologies to make the research more efficient and to complete the research successfully.
In this assignment, the researcher has chosen to gather information and survey through
primary data collection methods. The researcher has given detailed information about the
research ethic so that the research could be more efficient. The effectiveness of primary data
collection methods has been mentioned in this assignment to know how to improve the
research by collecting appropriate data. A proposal is mentioned in this assignment regarding
the issues of the customers. Then a survey is made on the customers in this assignment to
solve the issues of the customers. The feedback of the customers can help to make the
proposal more effective.
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