Research Ethics Proposal

This assignment presents a comprehensive research ethics proposal template. It covers essential aspects such as informed consent, potential risks to participants, data security protocols, and the ethical handling of sensitive information. The document outlines procedures for storing and protecting personal data throughout the research process and emphasizes the importance of transparency and confidentiality.

RESEARCH PROJECT

Table of Contents
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Research Proposal.............................................................................................................1
Literature review....................................................................................................................2
P2 Research Methodology......................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Consideration of primary and secondary research............................................................6
P4 Applying of appropriate research Tool.............................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................17
P5 Research outcomes..........................................................................................................17
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................17
P6 Reflection on effectiveness of research methods............................................................17
P7 Alternative research methodology..................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................19
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................22
RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORM...................................................................................................1
RESEARCH ETHIC FORM............................................................................................................6

TASK 1
P1 Research Proposal
Background
Digital technology has advanced the business world by enabling different simpler
techniques of work. The advancement is helping organisation in dealing with the changes of
business world very quickly but on the hand it can be said that the digitalisation business
operation has increased the competition across the globe (Kurnia, Choudrie and Alzougool,
2015). Like social media advertising has made marketing easier of organisation. Further it is
helping firm to target majority of population atone time. The another revolutionary updation of
technology is electronic commerce which is assisting organisation is boosting sales by
connecting with consumers online.
E Commerce is known as online buying and selling of goods which is beneficial for the
company as well as buyers because it is the source which assist the people in saving time and
buying from worldwide market (Kim and Peterson, 2017). The preferences of modern era are
changing with technological advancement and there has been noticeable change offline business
of food business. There are a million of restaurant who lack regular sale because the consumers
have started ordering food online which according to population is convenient and time saving
process. Thus, the study is focused on analysing impact of e commerce on buying behaviour of
consumers over food. In order to develop critical understanding over topic the scholar has chosen
penny black restaurant to support the aim and objective of research.
Aim
“To explore impact of e commerce on consumer buying behaviour: a case study on Penny
Black”.
Objectives
 To evaluate implication of digital technology and its tools.
 To assess concept of E commerce and its impact on business of Penny Black. To develop knowledge over benefits and limitation of implementing Electronic
commerce in business.
Questions
 Explain the implication and different tools of digital technology?
 What is the concept of E Commerce and its impact on food business?
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 What are the benefits and limitation of electronic commerce for Penny Black restaurant?
Literature review
According to the view of Tontini, da Silva and Marcon, (2015), customers buying
decision can easily influenced due to changes in technologies and way it is adopted by firm. At
present there are various changes which has been taken place in the hospitality industry related to
the implementation of new technologies. It has made easier for company to sales its product in
market and customers can easily access them from any place. Armstrong, Kotler, and Brennan,
(2015) stated that ecommerce is always been consider as never-ending process for retaining the
customers. In order to be successful and profitable company need to continuously improve
customers experience related to online shopping. There are various factors which can influence
ecommerce customers purchase decisions.
Chaffey, (2015) Product information and quality is considered as one of the important
factor that can easily influence its customers to make purchase. To be owner of the firm it is
important for them to identify the product which are most population in different occasion,
culture or regions. Through promoting selling good quality products it will become easy for
company to influence customers buying behaviour. Zhuang, and Babin, (2015) stated that free
shipping is considered as second largest factor that can influence customers. There are many
companies who kept high shipping charges and due to this reason customer avoid making
purchase. It is important for company to ensure that it can easily provide free delivery option to
its customers so that they can make purchase without thinking so many times. At the time of
making online purchase customers are quite confused related to the quality of product which the
may receive in online purchase. Hence it is important for company to provide its customers easy
return option so that customers can make purchase once with assure of easy return. According to
the view of Wang, Wang and Liu, (2016) customer review can easily affect the purchasing
decision at the time of considering online shopping. For example, if on any company website
positive review is provided by customers, then other customers can easily make purchase and
recommend to their friends. Chiu, C.M., Wang, Fang and Huang, (2014) argued that stated that
companies should take review from customers and post it on websites so that customers came to
know about its product quality. Apart from this different range option provided to customers for
similar product can influence their buying decisions.
2

To carry out investigation in an appropriate manner it is important that all methods get
selected appropriately. Here below are provided various types of philosophies.
Research philosophy: It help investigator to determine the appropriate sources from where the
scholar can collect the information. It is of two kind that are interpretivism and positivism. It
lead to focus on the way aim and objectives of the research are developed (Toye, Williamson and
Lamb, 2016.).
Research design: It enable to carry out research in appropriate manner. It can be classified into
three types that are exploratory, descriptive, experimental. As per the nature of research, the
scholar will consider descriptive research design.
Research approach: Research approach is of two type that are inductive and deductive. These
both methods are effective enough for conducting research in an effective manner. For the
present research inductive approach will be consider by the scholar.
Data collection: Both primary as well as secondary sources will be considered by the researcher
for the present research. Here, 20 customers of Penny Black will be selected. On the other side
secondary information will be gathered through books and journals.
Data analysis: To analyse the information researcher will use qualitative technique. In this
various themes will be prepared on the basis of results.
P2 Research Methodology
To conduct the research on exploring impact of e-commerce on consumer buying behaviour.
Here below are provided methods which will be use
Research philosophy
It is comprising of the belief and values of the scholar related to the collection of information. It
is concerned with some sources of knowledge. Through considering the Suaner’s onion, research
philosophy is placed at the uppermost layer, so it is considered as first topic in the research
methodology. Basically, it is of four type that are positivism, interpretivism, pragmatism, and
realism (Toye, Williamson and Lamb, 2016.). The present research is based on exploring impact
of e-commerce on consumer buying behaviour, therefore interpretivism philosophy will be
consider by the scholar. The rationale for selecting this philosophy is that it helps in carrying out
research in a right direction. Along with this it assists in gaining factual information through
observing. Therefore, this philosophy will assist in representing different aspects of the
phenomenon which is being studied.
3

Research approach
Research approach encompasses of the plan which is required to be undertaken for the
present study. It is considered as approach which is of two types that are inductive and deductive.
In deductive approach research focus on collecting information from general to specific. It is
known as top down approach as because generalised theory is to be made more specific. On the
other side in inductive approach researcher focus on collecting specific information then focus
on generalising it (Cooper, Desjardins and Croll, 2016). For the present research, scholar has
adopted inductive approach in specific observation will be made that assist in deducting patterns
and procedure. Therefore, with the help of this researcher can easily generalist summary could be
determined.
Research approach is divided into two types that are data collection and data analysing.
In order to collect data qualitative approach will be consider while for analysing purpose
inductive will be undertaken by the scholar. Reason to select this both approach is that to
analysing the qualitative data inductive approach is required. Along with this it is important to
have consistency between the methods.
Research design
Research design provide information related to the strategy which is adopted by the
scholar for logical and coherent integration for different components of the study. It is divided
into three types that are exploratory, descriptive, explanatory. Descriptive research design is
considered as one of the effective technique in which researcher focus on describing the
population which is covered in the study (Tight, 2016). For the present research, descriptive
design has been selected by the scholar in which help in developing depth understanding related
to the e-commerce and its impact on buying behaviour of customers. Along with this, research
can easily come to better solution on the basis of collected information. Rationale for selecting
this design, is that it help in depicting participants in appropriate manner.
Data collection
Data collection is related to the method through which important information can be
collected for accomplishing the objectives (Edson, Henning and Sankaran, 2016). It is important
for scholar to gather information and data from different sources as because it lead help in
arisings valid outcome. Data collection method is of two types that are primary and secondary. In
primary information which is considered is new and assist in gaining specific information related
4

to the selected topic (Kerr, Eckert and Wandwabwa, 2016.). On the other side secondary
information is known as books, journals and internet. This information is that which is published
by scholar in their books or articles. Through collecting secondary information researcher can
easily support its primary findings which make research stronger For the present research both
primary as well as secondary information is collected by the scholar to make research more
effective.
Primary information is collected from through survey in which question will be asked
from potential customers of Penny Black On the other side secondary information is collected
from books and company websites (Creswell and Poth, 2017). Reason for choosing primary
method is to gather specific information related to E-commerce and its impact on buyer’s
behaviours. Along with this, it also assist in developing depth knowledge related to the selected
topic
Sampling
Sampling is required to be done in order to collect sample size from large number of
population. It is considered of two types probabilistic and non-probabilistic method. For primary
research 20 customers are selected from random sampling method. This method is effective
enough in order to reduce the chances of biasness and to provide equal chances to customers for
being selected. Along with this reason for selected customers is that they can easily provide
information related to way they make purchase (Mebius, Kennedy and Howick, 2016).
Data analysis
After collecting the information, it is important to analyse it in proper manner so that
meaningful information can be gather for the aim and objectives of the research. Two techniques
of data analysis are qualitative and quantitative which can be considered by the scholar.
Quantitative technique is considered as effective when analysis is required to be done in
numerical form. It can be carried out with the help of various statistical tools and techniques such
as T-test, Chi-square test etc (Bailly and Comino, 2017). For the present research qualitative
technique is selected by the scholar which is based on non-numeric form. In this all the analysis
techniques considered in details. To evaluate the results, thematic analysis is carried out in which
different themes are prepared by the investigator on the basis of gathered information from
primary research. It is considered as effective technique as because researcher can easily
interpret the results on the basis of themes and come up with valid conclusion.
5

TASK 2
P3 Consideration of primary and secondary research
Ethical issues
At the time of carry out research it is important for undertake ethics for avoiding the research
from becoming less reliable
The following ethical issues were considered while carrying out the present study:
• Informed assent: One of the moral contemplations while completing the examination is to
take earlier authorization from the members by illuminating them for the current investigation.
Rebelliousness with the same could have prompted moral issues (Edson, Henning and Sankaran,
2016).. In this manner, while leading the present investigation on Penny Black, the members
were educated about the reason for the examination and educated assent was acquired from
them.
• Confidentiality: One of the other moral issue as identified with secrecy of the data gave
by the members. It was additionally basic that the namelessness of the members is looked after.
So as to address this issue, the scientist guaranteed the members that their personality would be
kept unknown. Additional, it is important to guaranteed about the privacy of data gave by them.
For this, the analyst embraced legitimate capacity of information. Additionally, unapproved
entree to the information was crisscross (Mebius, Kennedy and Howick, 2016).
Cost considerations: The research study need to carry out with different process which can
increase the cost of the research. Cost can be occurred while data collection, analysis and for
collecting secondary information. However, there is less fund available due to which it is not
easy to carry out highly detailed investigation. In order to reduce the cost issues there was not
research assistants was appointed by the scholar.
Access issues
There are access issues can be faced by the researcher at the time of collecting primary
and secondary information. While collecting information from any firm prior permission is
required to be taken (Bailly and Comino, 2017).. Along with this, there are some cites which are
restricted and create barrier in collecting secondary information. Therefore, permission is
required to be obtained to access the full article.
P4 Applying of appropriate research Tool
Questionnaire
6

Theme 1: Consumers visit restaurant sometimes.
How often do you visit restaurant? Frequency
Always 6
Sometimes 11
Rarely 2
Never 1
As per theme 1, it has been evaluated that consumers visits restaurant according to 11
potential visitors of penny black. These respondents stated about facts of offline food services in
which the consumer have the right to complain against taste and quality of food instantly.
Further, visitors can ask of additives in food item according to their taste. In addition, the
respondents stated that the individual visit restaurant for the sake of moving out of home and
relaxing. However, 6 respondents who always visit restaurant it has been concluded that the
restaurant services offer convenient facility whee the consumers just need order and eat and need
not to make much effort. As per these consumers the visiting restaurant is the most convenient
way which helps in relaxing and changing environment of food (Einav, Levin and Sundaresan,
2014). Thus, from the analysis it can be concluded that people visits restaurant for the sake of
minimizing own efforts and for relaxing.
7
Always Sometimes Rarely Never
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
6
11
2
1
Frequency

Theme 2: Yes, respondent prefer online food services.
Do you prefer Online ordering food? Frequency
Yes 12
May be 7
No 1
According to theme, it ha been evaluated that yes people prefer ordering food online
because the participant said that emergence of e commerce has created easy consumer centric
approach where buyers are at benefits and enjoy homely services. All the 12 respondents in
interview quoted that online food services is the most convenient way of eating outside food. In
the individual gets opportunity to of order anything at anytime with minimum efforts. However,
as per 7 individuals it is convenient to order food and we do prefer online food but its is some
time hectic because there are food organisation who delay food delivery.
Theme 3: Yes, people believe online food system is effective technique and will help Penny
black restaurant in enhancing its sales
Do you believe online food system is effective technique and will help
Penny black restaurant in enhancing its sales? Frequency
Yes 13
8
Yes
May be
No
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
12
7
1
Frequency

May be 3
No 4
According to theme 3, it has been analysed that yes people believes that online food
system is effective because it helps people in saving time of visiting restaurant. Further, there
were participants who stated that visiting restaurant increase transportation expense where the
online food system is assisting controlling transportation cost. Further, it has been determined
that according to respondents ordering food online helps to compare different food choices and
therefore as per these people it is the most viable and beneficial advancement of digital
technology (Chen, Yen and Widjaja, 2015). Thus, it has been concluded that 13 respondents
believe that online food system is an effective technique and will help Penny black restaurant in
boosting sales.
Theme 4: Food items and price are the two factors for which consider seeks when order
food online.
What you seek for when ordering food online? Frequency
Price 7
Reviews 6
Food items 7
9
13
3
4
Yes
May be
No

According to theme 4, it has been analysed that price and differences in food item plays a
vital role in influencing consumer buying behaviour. Online food services offers price
comparison to consumers which helps them in making choices according to their convince. As
per 7 respondents price is the key criteria which is considered by people when ordering food
online. Apart from this, 7 respondents stated that food item is the preferences which we seek for
when we order food online. Thus, it can be said that E commerce has made easy for food
business to target consumers by offering competitive pricing and differentiated food products.
Apparently, as per 6 individuals it has been derived that reviews plays a vital role when order
online food because these are the real comments which helps in learning about company and its
food services. In accordance to these people viewing consumer reviews of food services is the
best way which needs to considered before ordering foot online.
Theme 5: Yes, people compare price of different restaurant when ordering food online.
10
7
6
7
Price
Reviews
Food items

Do you compare price of different restaurant ordering food online? Frequency
Yes 11
May be 6
No 3
According to theme 5, it has been analysed that 11 respondents compare price at time of
ordering food online. In accordance, to this it can be said that society across the globe is price
sensitive therefore with the emergence of commerce the consumer holds the control over pricing
strategy of organisation. Apparently, 6 people were not sure of price comparison because these
were the individuals who are more focused on quality of food and the individuals believes that if
the restaurant or food business is charging high price than the organisation is offering premium
quality food (Morganti, Seidel and Lenz, 2014). Thus, as per the evaluation it can be concluded
that Penny black can offers it food services online because the firm offered food at competitive
pricing which is most effective technique of gaining customer at online platform.
Theme 6: Yes, respondents check for reviews before ordering food from online restaurants.
Do you check for reviews before ordering food from online
restaurants? Frequency
Yes 9
11
Yes
May be
No
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
11
6
3
Frequency

May be 7
No 4
As per theme 6, it has been demonstrated that according to 9 respondents reviews on
online website over food services is the priority because it helps the individual in gaining
insights over firm food quality and taste. Further, reviews are public ad no organisation can
control negative and positive publicity because it enables power to consumers of analysing about
quality and taste if food before ordering. However, there were 7 respondents who were confused
over reviews over online products and services because these people believes that reviews can be
fake and are just for manipulating, therefore can not trust (Grbovic, Radosavljevic and Sharp,
2015). Thus, it can be concluded that consumer considers reviews as priorty when ordering food
online therefore if penny black will implement e commerce selling than it is important or the
organisation to control over the negative publicity because the online platform is the biggest
approach and innovation which is related to consumer buying behaviours.
Theme 7: Home delivery is the most convenient facility offered by e commerce.
What according to you is the most convenient facility offered by e
commerce? Frequency
Home delivery 10
Take away 4
On the way delivery 6
12
Yes May be No
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 9
7
4 Frequency

As per the analysis, it has been evaluated that according to 10 respondents home delivery
is the most convenient way offered by online food organisation. The participants stated that the
motive of ordering food online is home delivery because it is the situation where the person is
stuck and cannot move out for having food. However, as per 6 people on the way delivery is
spotted at limited at application but offers most convenient way because in this the person is able
to collect food from his or her way without wasting time on waiting for delivery (Nica, 2015).
Theme 8: Time saving and choices are the best advantage of online food system
What according to you is the best advantage of online food system? Frequency
Price comparison 4
Choices 7
Time saving 7
Convenient 2
13
10
4
6
Home delivery
Take away
On the way
delivery

As per theme 8, it can be concluded that according to majority of participants in interview it has
been analysed that only food services is the time saving process where the person gets different
food choices according to their paste and preferences. However, there were respondents
according to whom e commerce establishes transparency between business functions and
therefore it allows price comparison to society. Thus, it can be concluded tat almost every
individuals agreed to the facts and benefits of online food offering therefore penny black can
implement the use of e commerce in order to enhance its food services across UK.
Theme 9: Implementing use of e commerce will assist Penny Black in increasing sale.
What can be the benefits to penny black by implementing use of e
commerce? Frequency
Increasing sales 8
Increase in market share 3
Increase in consumer base 5
14
4
7
7
2
Price comparison
Choices
Time saving
Convenient

Create value of food 4
As per theme 9, it has been determined that E commerce will assist black penny
restaurant in increasing sales because it will help the food business in making services
recognized to large number of consumers. Further, there, were 5 participants according to whom
it has been evaluated the e commerce will assist the restaurant in increasing consumer base.
Thus, it can be said that increase in consumer base will automatically boost the sale of firm.
Hence, the food business implement use of e commerce to influence visitors behaviours and
preferences over restaurant services.
Theme 10: Yes, respondents will prefer online food of Penny Black restaurant.
Will you prefer online food of Penny Black restaurant? Frequency
Yes 10
May be 6
15
Increasing sales
Increase in market share
Increase in consumer base
Create value of food
0
2
4
6
8 8
3
5 4
Frequency

No 4
In accordance to theme 10, it has been analysed that Penny Black can implement thee use
of e commerce because it will help the firm in enhancing its services. Further, it will help
restaurant in gaining consumer base because it is a consumer centric approach and therefore
influence consumers buying behaviour. Apparently, 6 respondents stated that they will prefer
online service of restaurant when needed otherwise according these people offline food services
are more convenient because it helps the person in relaxing.
16
10
6
4
Yes
May be
No

TASK 3
P5 Research outcomes
In accordance to analysis it has been determined that emergence of E commerce has hold
the control over buying and selling of consumers. If offers most convenient way to people for
food services. Majority of participants in interview believed that online food services helps them
according to their level of comfortable. Thus, from the analysis it has been found out the em
commerce impacted buying behaviour of buyers on online food services and therefore its will be
beneficial for Penny black restaurant to enhance its food services by making them online. Hence,
as per the discussion, it can state that it will assist the restaurant in increasing customers, market
share and will also help in creating value of its services. Hence, further it will assist the food
business in establishing own identity and consumer recognition.
TASK 4
P6 Reflection on effectiveness of research methods
As per the study I learned about digital technology and its advancement which is
developing competition in business world across the globe. Further, I was unaware about the
methodological tools which helps scholar in making study effective and systematic. It was
interesting for me collect data con impact of e commerce on consumer buying behaviour over
online food services. The interview assisted me learning various about various aspects which are
considered by consumer when ordering food online. Thus, with the research project in can state
that it is the effective research which helps me in exploring my knowledge over different key
concepts such as secondary data collection, interview, questionnaire data analysis etc.
P7 Alternative research methodology
In accordance to research methodology used in this research it can be concluded that
there are several alternatives' method of research which can be used in project like instead of
primary data collection the study can be only on secondary resources and past facts because it
helps the understanding aims and objective clearing with regards to change management.
However, the data could have analysed with the quantitative analysis in which the researcher
could have use SPSS tool for evaluation. This tools offers different mathematical approach of
analysing significant relation between collected information. Thus, from alternative tools it can
be sated that for research approach deductive can be used as it offers use of theories and models.
Further, for philosophy positivism can be used as it provides logical framework of study
17

18

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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and Prospects. In Marketing at the Confluence between Entertainment and Analytics (pp.
729-734). Springer, Cham.
Bathelt, H. and Glückler, J., 2017. Relational research design in economic geography.The New
Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography.
Chaffey, D., 2015. Digital business and e-commerce management. Pearson Education Limited.
Chen, J.V., Yen, D.C., Pornpriphet, W. and Widjaja, A.E., 2015. E-commerce web site loyalty: A
cross cultural comparison. Information Systems Frontiers, 17(6), pp.1283-1299.
Chiu, C.M., Wang, E.T., Fang, Y.H. and Huang, H.Y., 2014. Understanding customers' repeat
purchase intentions in B2C e‐commerce: the roles of utilitarian value, hedonic value and
perceived risk. Information Systems Journal, 24(1), pp.85-114.
Cooper, S. A., Desjardins, P. J. and Croll, S., 2016. Research design considerations for single-
dose analgesic clinical trials in acute pain: IMMPACT recommendations. Pain.157(2).
pp.288-301.
Creswell, J. W. and Poth, C. N., 2017. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among
five approaches. Sage publications.
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Philosophy, processes and practice (Vol. 10). Springer.
Einav, L., Levin, J., Popov, I. and Sundaresan, N., 2014. Growth, adoption, and use of mobile E-
commerce. American economic review, 104(5), pp.489-94.
Grbovic, M., Radosavljevic, V. and Sharp, D., 2015, August. E-commerce in your inbox: Product
recommendations at scale. In Proceedings of the 21th ACM SIGKDD International
Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (pp. 1809-1818). ACM.
Kerr, R., Eckert, L. O., Winikoff, B., Durocher, J., Meher, S., Fawcus, S., Mundle, S., Mol, B.,
Arulkumaran, S., Khan, K. and Wandwabwa, J., 2016. Postpartum haemorrhage: Case
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safety data.Vaccine.34(49).
Kim, Y. and Peterson, R.A., 2017. A Meta-analysis of Online Trust Relationships in E-commerce.
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Komro, Kelli A., and Alexander C. Wagenaar. "Research design issues for evaluating complex
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Kurnia, S., Choudrie, J. and Alzougool, B., 2015. E-commerce technology adoption: A Malaysian
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Mebius, A., Kennedy, A. G. and Howick, J., 2016. Research gaps in the philosophy of evidence‐
based medicine. Philosophy Compass.11(11). pp.757-771.
Morganti, E., Seidel, S. and Lenz, B., 2014. The impact of e-commerce on final deliveries:
alternative parcel delivery services in France and Germany. Transportation Research
Procedia, 4, pp.178-190.
Nica, E., 2015. Satisfaction and trust in e-Commerce. Psychosociological Issues in Human
Resource Management, 3(1), pp.107-112.
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Zhuang, W. and Babin, B.J., 2015. The Influence of E-Service-Quality on Customer Value
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APPENDIX
Questionnaire
Name:
Age:
Gender
1. How often do you visit restaurant?
 Always
 Sometimes
 Rarely
 Never
2. Do you prefer Online ordering food?
 Yes
 May be
 No
3. Do you believe online food system is effective technique and will help Penny black restaurant
in enhancing its sales?
 Yes
 May be
 No
4. What you seek for when ordering food online?
 Price
 Reviews
 Food items
5. Do you compare price of different restaurant delivering food online?
 Yes
 May be
 No
6. Do you check for reviews before ordering food from online restaurants?
 Yes
 May be
22

 No
7. What according to you is the most convenient facility offered by E commerce?
 Home delivery
 Take away
 On the way delivery
8. What according to you is the best advantage of online food system?
 Price comparison
 Choices
 Time saving
 Convenient
9. What can be the benefits to penny black by implementing use of e commerce?
 Increasing sales
 Increase in market share
 Increase in consumer base
 Create value of food
10. Will you prefer online food of Penny Black restaurant?
 Yes
 May be
 No
23

RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORM
Annexure:
Research Proposal Form
Student Name: ______________________ Student ID:
______________________
Centre Name: _____________________
Tutor: ________________ Date:
___________________
Unit: ____________________
Proposed Title: ______________________________________________
Section One: Title, objective, responsibilities
Title or working title of the research project (in the form of a question,
objective or hypothesis)
Aim: “To explore impact of e commerce on consumer buying behaviour: a case study on Penny Black”.
Research objectives (e.g what is the question you want to answer? What do
you want to learn how to do? What do you want to find out?):
Objectives:
 To evaluate implication of digital technology and its tools.
 To assess concept of E commerce and its impact on business of Penny Black.
 To develop knowledge over benefits and limitation of implementing Electronic
commerce in business.
Section Two: Reasons for choosing this research project
Reasons for choosing the project (e.g links to other subjects you are studying,
personal interest, future plans, knowledge/skills you want to improve, why the
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topic is important):
The reason for choosing this topic is that there is lack of implementation of new
technology within the small enterprise. It will help in develops deep understanding of
researcher related to the digitising the kitchen system.
Section Three: Literature sources searched
Use of key literature sources to support your research question, objective or
hypothesis:
According to the view of Tontini, da Silva and Marcon, (2015), customers buying decision can easily
influenced due to changes in technologies and way it is adopted by firm. At present there are various changes
which has been taken place in the hospitality industry related to the implementation of new technologies. It
has made easier for company to sales its product in market and customers can easily access them from any
place. Armstrong, Kotler, and Brennan, (2015) stated that ecommerce is always been consider as never-
ending process for retaining the customers. In order to be successful and profitable company need to
continuously improve customers experience related to online shopping. Chaffey, (2015) Product information
and quality is considered as one of the important factor that can easily influence its customers to make
purchase. Zhuang, and Babin, (2015) stated that free shipping is considered as second largest factor that can
influence customers. Chiu, C.M., Wang, Fang and Huang, (2014) argued that stated that companies should
take review from customers and post it on websites so that customers came to know about its product quality
Section Four: Activities and timescales
Activities to be carried out during the research project (e.g research,
development and analysis of ideas, writing, data collection, numerical
analysis, tutor meetings, production of final outcome, evaluation,
writing the report):
Activity/Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
undertaking
investigation
Ho
w
lon
g
this
will
tak
e:
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Make the
contextual of
investigation
and objective
Carry out
secondary
research
Concentratin
g on the
investigation
methods
Gathering of
data by
secondary
and resources
Study and
inspect
together data
Clarification
of the
composed
information
Assumption
and Comment
Milestone one: _________________
Target date (set by tutor): ____________________
Milestone two: _______________________
Target date (set by tutor): ______________________
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Section Five: Research approach and methodologies
For collecting the information both primary and secondary method will be used. In
primary researcher will ask question from 20 customers of the Penny black . On the
other side for secondary research investigator will collecting information from book,
journals and articles.
What type of research approach and methodologies are you likely to use and
why?
Research approach
Inductive approach will be used for the present research in which the scholar
will collect first general information then focus on specific one.
For the present research qualitative approach is considered by the scholar in order to
carry out entire research
Research design
For the present research, descriptive design has been selected by the researcher in which help in developing
depth understanding related to the e-commerce and its impact on buying behaviour of customers.
Primary information is collected from through survey in which question will be asked from potential
customers of Penny Black On the other side secondary information is collected from books and company
websites
Sampling
Radom sampling method where 20 potential customers were chosen participants for primary data
collection process for the study.
Data analysis
Information is analysed with the help of qualitative technique which is based on non-numeric analysis.
The data will be analysed with the help of thematic analysis where 10 themes will be framed on the
basis of questionnaire.
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Reference
Gnyawali, D. R. and Park, B. J. R., 2011. Co-opetition between giants: Collaboration with competitors for
technological innovation. Research Policy. 40(5). pp.650-663.
Nambisan, S., 2013. Information technology and product/service innovation: A brief assessment and some
suggestions for future research. Journal of the Association for Information Systems. 14(4). p.215.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a digital
strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Chaffey, D., 2015. Digital business and e-commerce management. Pearson Education Limited.
Chiu, C.M., Wang, E.T., Fang, Y.H. and Huang, H.Y., 2014. Understanding customers' repeat purchase
intentions in B2C e‐commerce: the roles of utilitarian value, hedonic value and perceived risk.
Information Systems Journal, 24(1), pp.85-114.
Zhuang, W. and Babin, B.J., 2015. The Influence of E-Service-Quality on Customer Value Perception and
Satisfaction: The Case of Third-Party Web Sites. In Marketing Dynamism & Sustainability: Things
Change, Things Stay the Same… (pp. 114-117). Springer, Cham.
Comments and agreement from tutor
Comments (optional):
I confirm that the project is not work which has been or will be submitted for
another qualification and is appropriate.
Agreed: ________________ (name)_______________ Date ______________
Comments and agreement form project proposal checker( IV sampling)
Comments (Optional):
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I confirm that the project is appropriate.
Agreed /Disagree: (Name of the IV)
Date
RESEARCH ETHIC FORM
Research Ethics approval form
All students conducting research activity that involves human participants or the use of data
collected form human participants are required to gain ethical approval before commencing their
research. Please answer all relevant questions and note that your form may be returned if
incomplete.
Section 1: Basic details:
Project title: “To explore impact of e commerce on consumer buying behaviour: a case study on Penny
Black”.
Student name:
Student ID number:
Programme:
College Name:
Intended research start date:
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Intended research end date:
Section 2 Project summary
Please select all research methods that you plan to use as a part of your project:
➢ Interviews No
➢ Questionnaires Yes
➢ Observations No
➢ Use of personal records No
➢ Data Analysis Yes
➢ Action Research No
➢ Focus Groups No
➢ ➢ Others (Please specify) :
Section 3: Participants
For further support and guidance please see your respective Unit Tutor:
Before completing this form, we advise that you discuss your proposed research fully with your
unit tutor. Please complete this form in good time before your research project is due to
commence.
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Please answer the following questions, giving full details where necessary.
Will your research involve human participants? Who are the
participants? Tick all that apply:
Ages 12-16: Young people aged: 17-18 Adults: √
How will participants be recruited (identified an approached)?
Particiants were recruited by a face to face meeting.
Describe the processes you will use to inform participants about what you are doing:
Personal interaction with the participants as well as participant information sheets will be used for
communicating about research.
How will you obtain consent from participants? Will this be written? How will it be made clear to participants
that they may withdraw consent to participate at any time?
Written consent will be obtained.
Studies involving questionnaires: will participants be given the option of omitting questions that do not wish to
answer?
No
If no please explain why below and ensure that you cover any ethical issues arising from this
This is because all the questions in the questionnaire are important for attaining the aim of the study.
Studies involving observation: Confirm whether participants will be asked for their informed
consent to be observed.
Yes
Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e give them a brief explanation of the study)?
Yes
Will participants be given information about the findings of your study?(This could be a brief summary of your
findings in general)
No
Section 4: Data Storage and Security
Confirm that all personal data will be stored and processed in compliance with the Data Protection Act (1998)
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Yes
Who will have access to the data and personal information?
Only the researcher and other authorized personnel.
During the research:
Where will the data be stored?
In electronic form.
Will mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops be used
Yes
If Yes, please provide further details:
Laptop will be used for collecting and storing information.
After the research:
Where will the data be stored?
In Laptop
How long will the data and records be kept for and in what format?
Till the research is over. It will be kept in electronic form.
Will data be kept for use by other researchers?
No
Section 5 : Ethical Issues
Are there any particular features of your proposed work, which may raise ethical concerns? If so, please outline
how you will deal with these:
No, there are no such features which may raise ethical concerns.
It is important that you demonstrate your awareness of potential risks that may arise because of your research.
Please consider/address all issues that may apply. Ethical concerns may include, but are not limited to the
following :
➢ Informed consent. – This will be obtained from the participants
➢ Potentially vulnerable participants- There are no such participants.
➢ Sensitive topics – No, the research does not involve sensitive topics.
➢ Risk to participants and /or researchers – No risk.
➢ Confidentiality/anonymity – This will be considered in the research.
➢ Disclosures/ limits to confidentiality
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