HI6008 Reflective Journal: Social Media Influence on Consumer Buying

This reflective journal documents a student's learning experience throughout a 12-week business research course, focusing on the influence of social media on consumer purchasing intentions. The journal entries detail weekly learnings, covering research design, ethics, qualitative and quantitative research methods, data analysis techniques, and the significance of mixed-method research. The student reflects on how each week's content, including literature reviews and research proposals, contributed to their understanding of business research principles and their ability to conduct effective research. Furthermore, the student articulates how the acquired knowledge and skills will be valuable in their future academic and professional endeavors, enabling them to address real-world challenges and make informed decisions.

Running head: ASSIGNMENT 3
Influence of Social Medial on Consumer Buying Behaviour
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1ASSIGNMENT 3
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Week 1.............................................................................................................................................2
Week 2.............................................................................................................................................2
Week 3.............................................................................................................................................3
Week 4.............................................................................................................................................3
Week 5.............................................................................................................................................4
Week 6.............................................................................................................................................4
Week 7.............................................................................................................................................4
Week 8.............................................................................................................................................5
Week 9.............................................................................................................................................5
Week 10...........................................................................................................................................6
Week 11...........................................................................................................................................6
Week 12...........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................8

2ASSIGNMENT 3
Introduction
Prior to conduct assignment 1 and assignment 2, I have been through a 12 week learning
course based on business research. The learning course was intended to help me in conducting
literature review and research proposal on the topic of “the importance of social media on
influencing the purchasing intension of the customers. The learning courses seem to provide me
a great experience in my career life. Such experience can also be helpful in exploring in my
career life through enhancing my work experience. In this reflective journal, I will discuss about
my learning experience, which I have experienced during the learning course in a weekly
manner.
Week 1
In week 1, I learned about different nature, strategies and process of business research.
Moreover, I learned the common business research practical that can be applied to any kind of
business research. This week was associated with learning about the general principles of
conducting business research. Most of the most important thing that I came to know in this week
is the difference between academic research and business research. Such learning experience will
definitely help me in perfectly conduct the business research as its specific format. Furthermore,
from my opinion, such learning experience would also help in understanding different business
factors in my future career.
Week 2
Week 2 was associated with learning about research design and planning of several
business researches. I came to know that research method is quite different from the research

3ASSIGNMENT 3
design in terms of conducting business research. Most importantly, I understood the concept of
cross sectional, case study, experimental, longitudinal and comparative research that are highly
important for successful completion of research. Such learning experience helped in a lot in
selecting the best research method and research deign for gathering most valuable research
information.
Week 3
In week 3, I learned about reviewing business research and writing business research. I
understood that I need to review the main ideas and research based on those ideas to my chosen
area of interest. I came to know about different types of research reviewing and their importance
on the research. It was clear to me that I need to very clear and concise in structuring the research
for its successful completion. I was learned about the importance of social norms in conducting
the research. Hence, such learning experience will help in understanding the social values of the
people, which will help me understanding the values of people in my personal life.
Week 4
In this week, I learned about the importance of research ethics for successful completion
of business research. I was provided with the learning of codes and guidelines of professional
association, which can help me in guiding my business research program successfully. Such
learning experience would be extremely important for my academic career and future
professional career to maintain ethics and honestly in my work. The boundaries between the
ethical and unethical practice was become clear to me in this week. Hence, such learning
experience would facilitate me in differentiating between the ethical and unethical work in every
aspect of my personal life as well as career life.

4ASSIGNMENT 3
Week 5
In this week, I learned about the details of qualitative research and preciously read the
process of qualitative research. I observed that qualitative researchers mostly prefer visual
materials for collecting data and see the things through the eyes of research participants. I
understood that qualitative research is completely different from the quantitative research.
Qualitative research mostly used open ended questions for gathering detailed information
regarding the research topic. I focused more of the theoretical and conceptual outcome of the
qualitative research, which entirely different from the research result of quantitative data.
Week 6
In this week, I learned about the interviewing method to be adopted for collecting
qualitative data. I understood that qualitative interview is quite flexible and need to employ
random sampling for data collection. In this week, I also learned about the concept of focus
group to be selected to collecting qualitative research. However, I observed that there are various
issues associated with the focus group. Moreover, I saw that it was quite difficult to recruit the
participants in the focus group research. Hence, I decided to avoid group interview like focus
group in my research and undertake interview method for smooth collection of qualitative
research for my business research.
Week 7
In this week, I learned about the way of analyzing the qualitative data collected from the
research participants. Mostly importantly, I got clear idea about the codified rules for governing
the data analysis process of qualitative data. It has been discussed that secondary analysis is
being increasingly prominent for analysis the qualitative data. I have learned the documentation

5ASSIGNMENT 3
process of storing the collected qualitative data. In this business research, I clearly discussed and
reviewed the process of qualitative data analysis method. In this way, the business research has
provided me the real experience in relation with the qualitative data analysis technique.
Week 8
In week 8, I came to know about the nature and sampling associated with the quantitative
research. The measurement process linked with the quantitative research entails the search for
indicators. I learned about different types of sampling process and their relevance with the
research process. It was my perspective that probability sampling can be perfectly used for
reducing the biases in the collected quantitative data from the selected samples. In my business
research, especially in assignment 2, I choose accurate sample size and sampling technique for
assessing the influence of social media on the purchasing intension of the customers. In this way,
this particular business research was quite useful in providing me hands on experience, which I
can use in conducting the final business research successfully.
Week 9
In this week, I realized the significance of structured interview for standardizing the ways
of asking interview questions to the chosen research participants. The response sets can damage
the data retrieved from the structured interview. On the other hand, I also learned about the ways
of designing self-completion questionnaires that is quite similar to those of structured interview.
I have conducted assignment 1 for gathering the core information regarding the research topic.
Moreover, the scope and opportunities of literature review in assignment 1 led me to design both
interview questions as well as self-completion questionnaires for gathering primary research
information.

6ASSIGNMENT 3
Week 10
In this week, I found the alternative of survey based measure that is structured observed
method for assessing the collected data. Such method is actually comprised of explicit rules to
record the behaviour of the research participants. Moreover, the learning in this week has been
emphasized on the significance of reactive affects for analyzing the collected data effectively. On
the other hand, I came to know regarding the content analysis associated with the tradition of
qualitative research. In such analysis, the clarity of research questions to be asked to the research
participants is extremely important. I conducted assignment 2 for settling on most appropriate
research methods for collecting best research information that can result in accurate research
outcome.
Week 11
This week highlighted on the importance of secondary analysis in conducting research
process successfully. This analysis can employ high quality data set based in reasonably and
large representative samples. However, I also realized that some advantages associated with the
secondary analysis. I understood that official statistics are much less prone to error. In this week,
I also learned about quantitative data analysis process. I gave more emphasize on SPSS tools for
conducting quantitative data analysis. The learning experience regarding both types of data
analysis can be helpful for me in perfectly analyzing the collected data of my business research
for completing the program successfully.
Week 12
In this week, I realized the growing significance of mixed method research for leading
most authentic research result. I also understood the objections associated with mixed methods

7ASSIGNMENT 3
like epistemological impediments and ontological impediments. The learning experience of
conducting several types of quantitative and qualitative research can facilitated me a lot to
conduct different types of business research in my future career life. Moreover, the knowledge
gathered from this learning course help in identifying the issues associated with the business
research. Such learning experience can also help me in resolving several challenges in my
personal life as well as professional life.
Conclusion
While concluding the reflective journal, I must articulate that the 12 week learning course
can be high beneficial for me in my personal life as well as professional life. The learning
experience facilitated me in conducting assignment 1. In this assignment, I learned a lot
regarding the influence of social media on the purchasing decision of the customers. The
preparation of assignment 2 facilitated me in choosing suitable research method for gathering
most authentic research information. The learning experience regarding the data analysis has
tough me to solve several challenge on my own hand. Such experience would definitely be
fruitful for me to resolve several real life challenges in personal and career life.

8ASSIGNMENT 3
Bibliography
Caillaud, E., Rose, B. and Goepp, V., 2016. Research methodology for systems engineering:
some recommendations. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 49(12), pp.1567-1572.
Choy, L.T., 2014. The strengths and weaknesses of research methodology: Comparison and
complimentary between qualitative and quantitative approaches. IOSR Journal of Humanities
and Social Science, 19(4), pp.99-104.
Dumay, J. and Cai, L., 2015. Using content analysis as a research methodology for investigating
intellectual capital disclosure: a critique. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 16(1), pp.121-155.
Farooq, S. and O'Brien, C., 2015. An action research methodology for manufacturing technology
selection: a supply chain perspective. Production Planning & Control, 26(6), pp.467-488.
Fletcher, A.J., 2017. Applying critical realism in qualitative research: methodology meets
method. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(2), pp.181-194.
Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.
McCusker, K. and Gunaydin, S., 2015. Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed
methods and choice based on the research. Perfusion, 30(7), pp.537-542.