Maintaining Ethics While Conducting Research: A Proposal

The assignment content provides a research proposal template and references for conducting qualitative research in the field of social media marketing. The template includes activities from weeks 1-12, covering setting the aim and objectives, reviewing literature, conducting methodology, collecting data, analyzing data, concluding the research, and giving recommendations. The references include various books and journals that discuss topics such as consumer engagement, viral advertising, corporate social responsibility, and qualitative research methods.

RESEARCH
PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE..............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES.........................................................................................1
RATIONALE FOR STUDY...........................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

TITLE – How effective is advertising on social network sites?
INTRODUCTION
In today’s competitive era, for marketing communication, companies are making use of
social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and StudiVZ so as to advertise their products
and services. These sites have recently gained enormous popularity and thus, being used by most
of the firms in a competitive manner. Among all social networking sites, Facebook can be
considered as the perfect marketing tool through which firms are making all Facebook users
aware with the information about their business. This marketing tool proves to be highly helpful
in influencing the purchase decision of users as it acts as the direct way of communication in
between the organisation and its customers (Chu and Kim, 2011). It can be said that in the
present scenario, social media is the ideal platform on which marketing of products and services
is done by most of the firms. In this study, there will be discussion on the extent to which
advertising is effective on social networking sites.
RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES
Aim – To assess the extent to which advertising is effective on social networking sites
Objectives:
 To identify the importance of advertising
 To evaluate the effectiveness of advertising on social networking sites
 To recommend ways for advertising other than social networking sites
Research questions
1. What is the importance of advertising?
2. How advertising on social networking sites is effective?
3. What are the ways for advertising other than social networking sites?
RATIONALE FOR STUDY
Major purpose behind conducting the present study is to make company able to evaluate
that whether the expenses which it is making on advertising through social networking sites is
proving to be helpful in terms of increased profits and customers base as well as rise in the
goodwill and brand image or not. In the retail sector of United Kingdom, there is intense
competition in between firms. They all are competing with each other in terms of products and
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services provided, value and quality they offer as well as the prices charged (Kelly, Kerr and
Drennan, 2010). This is the reason; in order to retain the customers and make them loyal towards
firm in the long run, it is crucial for organisation to perform its marketing in an effective manner.
For this purpose, various ways of social media marketing are used through which products and
services on social networking sites like on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace as well as StudiVZ are
advertised. Therefore, in the present report, the extent to which advertising is effective on social
networking sites will be assessed (Chu, 2011).
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this section of research, text of scholarly papers is being used in which current
knowledge about topic is involved along with the substantive findings. In addition to this,
theoretical and methodological contributions of the researcher are also included based on the
subject of study. Under this section, secondary sources like books, journals and online articles
are used along with the published material of different authors on the topic of study. Various
arguments made by the scholars on same subject are evaluated here and depending on the same,
final results are gained. It does not involve any new or experimental work and completely has
secondary information on the subject on which others authors have made the research.
According to De Vries, Gensler and Leeflang, (2012) in the present world, where there is
huge competition among firms, internet is the primarily source among organisations for
communicating, entertaining and informing the target customers. Apart from that, it also acts as a
vehicle for commercial transactions which most of the companies are using in today’s era. Social
networking sites are online communities that are run by the people that share their interest in
such a way that readers can get influenced (De Vries, Gensler and Leeflang, 2012). With the help
of same, organisations effectually interact with customers with variety of ways like chatting,
messaging, email, video, blogging and discussion groups. However, Tucker, (2014) says that
now-a-days, marketers are more emphasising on social media advertising through tools like
Facebook and Twitter as here, they get variety of population at a large scale whom they can
influence by making less efforts than any other medium as well as in a cost effective manner.
Therefore, it can be said that there is huge effectiveness of advertising of products and services
offered by the firm on social networking sites (Tucker, 2014).
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It can be critically analysed as per the views of Du, Bhattacharya and Sen, (2010)
advertising on social networking sites is highly important to create an effective brand identify as
it proves to be highly helpful for organisations to increase its customer base and profits within
less span of time. There are variety of brand communications that being used by companies in
retail sector to attract the targeted leads and to beat the existing competition in market (Du,
Bhattacharya and Sen, 2010). Through websites like Facebook, Twitter and Orkut, firms get
enabled to engage the targeted people in right conversation at the time when it will render most
effective and best results. Deen and Hendricks, (2013) say that the fact cannot be ignored that
marketing through social media in today’s business environment has become precise, personal,
interactive, social as well as interesting. Therefore, it is proved that advertising on social
networking sites is highly effective and if firms want to remain in the competition, it is
significant to be highly active on these websites so as to grab the attention of maximum
customers (Deen and Hendricks, 2013).
However, in the words of Kelly, Kerr and Drennan, (2010) it can be critically evaluated
that other than social networking sites, there are many ways too by which advertising of products
and services offered by company can be done. These ways are like giving ads on television, radio
and newspapers. Digital advertisements also play a vital role in capturing the attention of target
customers at a large scale within short period of time but, it involves a huge cost. Along with
that, ratio and newspaper advertisements are also good but not effective more than TV ads. But,
the fact cannot be ignored that above than all, social networking sites are the best ways of
communication in between the firm and target audience in a cost effective manner within less
duration. At a huge scale, customers can be made aware with the offerings of company by which
it can gain higher profits, revenues, customer base as well as goodwill in the market ( Kelly, Kerr
and Drennan, 2010). Therefore, it can be said that to gain competitive advantage over others, it is
important for the firm to advertise its products and services on social networking sites that will
be highly effective for growing business.
In the words of Chu and Kim, (2011) it can be assessed that social networks are existing
since many years however, in the recent scenario, they are being used by the firms at a large
scale. In today’s era, in every sector, companies are having many competitors who all are active
on social networking sites like on Facebook and Twitter. This is the reason; if presence of
company would not be there on these sites, there will be huge chances of loss of customer base
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and profits by which the goodwill of business would also get negatively impacted. Therefore, it
can be said that there is high effectiveness of advertising on social networking sites for
businesses by which it can retain the customers for longer span of time and stay in the market
with sustainability (Chu and Kim, 2011). To gain a competitive edge with higher market share,
increasing customer base is essential which can be easily done by firms through improving their
advertising on social networking sites.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology can be termed as the systematic and theoretical analysis by which
suitability of methods being used in the research are assessed depending on nature of study. It
can also be referred as the process by which information and data is collected for the study
purpose on the basis of which decisions are being taken by the businesses. Under research
methodology, qualitative and quantitative; both research techniques are used based on the topic
and final conclusion is made with high accuracy and relevancy (Mackey and Gass, 2015). To
assess the effectiveness of advertising on social networking sites, various tools and techniques
will be used by the researcher which are like:
Research design
Majorly, four types of research designs are there being used by the scholars for
completing their study. These research designs are descriptive, explanatory, experimental as well
as diagnostic. For the present study, descriptive research design will be used as the topic of
investigation requires describing specific behaviour which is occurring in the environment. It can
be termed as an attempt taken to determine, describe or identify current issues or problems by the
way of collecting data by which situation is described in a detailed manner (Descriptive
Research, 2016). This research design proves to be highly effective for analysing non-quantified
topics as well as issues. Thus, for the present topic that does not involve any numerical
calculation, data, facts and figures, descriptive research design would prove to be the best.
Research philosophy
Basically, three kinds of research philosophies are there, that is, positivism, realism and
interpretivism. To assess the extent to which advertising is effective on social networking sites,
interpretivism research philosophy will be used by the researcher that can be termed as social
constructionism where importance is given to beliefs and value for having sufficient justification
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of the research problem. Interpretivism research philosophy plays a significant role in
highlighting the real facts and figures in accordance of which research problem can be resolved
(Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). In order to understand a specific business situation, this
research philosophy is being used by the researcher where small sample is used and evaluated in
a detailed manner where different views of the people at a large scale are understood.
Research approach
Mainly, there are two kinds of research approaches known as inductive and deductive.
For assessing the assess the extent to which advertising is effective on social networking sites,
inductive research approach will be used that is flexible in nature and does not require any pre-
determined theory of gathering information. Here, observation is being done on the collected
specific data and facts which then moves to a generalised conclusion that can be applicable to
firms of different sectors as well (Glesne, 2015). According to the present study, inductive
research approach helps in defining a theory as per the problem for which study is being carried
out.
Data collection
In this study, data will be collected from both; primary as well as secondary sources.
Under the primary sources of gathering information, data will be collected for the first time by
researcher which means it will fresh that have not been used earlier by anyone. It will be done
with the help of interviews that would be conducted through using questionnaire consisting of
open and close ended questions both. However, in secondary information, data will be used that
has been already researched by some other authors on the same topic (Silverman, 2016). Sources
from which data will be collected are like journals, online articles, published material as well as
books. From these sources, plenty of information will be gathered by the scholar on the basis of
which final conclusion will be made.
Sampling
Mainly, there are two kinds of sampling, that is, probabilistic and non-probabilistic. For
present study, to assess the extent to which advertising is effective on social networking sites,
sample will be selected by using simple random technique of probability sampling. In this
sampling method, each unit of the subset will be having equal chances of getting selected. Here,
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research universe will be people in London, United Kingdom from which the sample size of 30
will be selected.
Data analysis
After gathering information based on assessing assess the extent to which advertising is
effective on social networking sites, later, it will be analysed in which examining, categorising,
tabulating and combining of data will be done. As the topic of present research is theoretical,
qualitative method of data analysis will be used by the scholar in which tool of thematic analysis
would be applied. Under thematic analysis, investigator would frame different themes based on
assessing the effective of advertising given on social networking sites, justification of which will
help in concluding the research (What is Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA)?, 2012). Depending
on the results gained from it, suitable recommendations will be given to resolve the research
issue.
Validity and reliability
If data collected for the research purpose is valid, it will definitely be reliable. Validity
tells about the extent to which study is authentic and true to the researcher’s knowledge. Also,
validity refers to the entire experimental concept which justifies that whether the final results of
study will meet all requirements of scientific research method or not. However, on the other
hand, reliability can be termed as repeatability of findings. It means if a study is being conducted
more than a time, then if the results gained will be same as of earlier research made on the same
topic, then only it can be called to be reliable (Jackson, 2010). It can be said that validity of study
ensures that information is reliable as well. But, reliability is not the guarantee of validity of
information used in a study.
Limitations of research
While conducting the investigation, major limitations that have been faced by the
researcher are lack of resources like time, money and information. As researcher has a stipulated
time period within which the study has to be completed, researcher may face some issues.
Because of the qualitative nature of study, information will be collected from primary and
secondary sources both that will take time and due to time constraint, it might be possible that
some of the important data may remained unused. Along with that, some websites also require
some amount to get accessed and thus, due to money constraint scholar has to leave these sites in
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which that are chances of missing some authentic and accurate information about the topic of
study (Massingham, Massingham and Diment, 2012).
Ethical considerations
It is important for the scholar to maintain ethics while performing research in order to
accomplish it in an ethical manner. Thus, for the present study, while conducting interview,
researcher should inform the selected respondents of sample about purpose behind the same as
well as information given by them should not be used for any other reason other than research. It
is vital for the scholar to ensure respondents that data provided by them will be kept intimate and
would not be revealed to any third party (Yin, 2011).
Gantt chart
ACTIVITIES/WEEK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Making research proposal
Setting the aim and objectives
Reviewing the literature
Conducting research methodology
Collection of data from primary and
secondary sources
Data analysis
Concluding the research
Giving recommendations
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chu, S. C. and Kim, Y., 2011. Determinants of consumer engagement in electronic word-of-
mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites. International journal of Advertising. 30(1).
pp.47-75.
Chu, S. C., 2011. Viral advertising in social media: Participation in Facebook groups and
responses among college-aged users. Journal of Interactive Advertising. 12(1). pp.30-43.
De Vries, L., Gensler, S. and Leeflang, P. S., 2012. Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages:
An investigation of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of Interactive
Marketing. 26(2). pp.83-91.
Deen, H. S. N. and Hendricks, J. A., 2013. Social Media and Strategic Communications.
Palgrave Macmillan.
Du, S., Bhattacharya, C. B. and Sen, S., 2010. Maximizing business returns to corporate social
responsibility (CSR): The role of CSR communication. International Journal of
Management Reviews. 12(1). pp.8-19.
Glesne, C., 2015. Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction. Pearson.
Jackson, S., 2010. Research Methods: A Modular Approach, USA. Cengage Learning.
Kelly, L., Kerr, G. and Drennan, J., 2010. Avoidance of advertising in social networking sites:
The teenage perspective. Journal of interactive advertising. 10(2). pp.16-27.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S. M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.
Massingham, P., Massingham, R. and Diment, K., 2012. Q methodology: is it useful for
accounting research?. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management. 19(1). pp. 66–
88.
Silverman, D. ed., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage.
Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods:
A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Tucker, C. E., 2014. Social networks, personalized advertising, and privacy controls. Journal of
Marketing Research. 51(5). pp.546-562.
Yin, R., 2011. Qualitative Research from Start to Finish. The Guildford Press.
Online
Descriptive Research. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://research-methodology.net/research-methodology/research-design/conclusive-
research/descriptive-research/>. [Accessed on 3rd April 2017].
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What is Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA)?. 2012. [Online]. Available through:
<http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Intro_QDA/what_is_qda.php>. [Accessed on 3rd April 2017].
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