Cardiff Met University: Ethics Application for Marketing Project

This document represents a comprehensive ethics application submitted to Cardiff Metropolitan University for a research project focusing on niche furniture marketing strategies in the UAE. The application outlines the project's objectives, which include evaluating strategies for niche furniture companies to penetrate the UAE market and comparing them to mass marketing approaches. The research design employs a descriptive approach, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. Data will be gathered through surveys administered to employees in UAE and interviews with managers. Statistical analysis, including SPSS, will be used to analyze quantitative data, while qualitative data will undergo coding. The application addresses potential risks to researchers, the project, participants, and the university, detailing measures to mitigate them. It also includes required attachments, such as information sheets and consent forms, ensuring adherence to ethical guidelines and research governance frameworks.

CARDIFF METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
APPLICATION FOR ETHICS APPROVAL
When undertaking a research or enterprise project, Cardiff Met staff and students are obliged to
complete this form in order that the ethics implications of that project may be considered.
If the project requires ethics approval from an external agency ( e.g., NHS), you will not need to
seek additional ethics approval from Cardiff Met. You should however complete Part One of this
form and attach a copy of your ethics letter(s) of approval in order that your School is aware of the
project.
The document Ethics application guidance notes will help you complete this form. It is available
from the Cardiff Met website. The School or Unit in which you are based may also have produced
some guidance documents, please consult your supervisor or School Ethics Coordinator.
Once you have completed the form, sign the declaration and forward to the appropriate person(s) in
your school or unit.
Participant recruitment or data collection MUST NOT commence until ethics approval has been
obtained.
PART ONE
Name of applicant: Click here to enter text.
Supervisor (if student project): Click here to enter text.
School / Unit: Click here to enter text.
Student number (if applicable): Click here to enter text.
Programme enrolled on (if applicable): Click here to enter text.
Project Title: Niche furniture marketing in UAE to penetrate the
market segment and its comparison with the mass
marketing strategy for taking on the market
Expected start date of data collection: The expected start date of the data collection
Approximate duration of data collection: 13 days
Funding Body (if applicable): Click here to enter text.
Other researcher(s) working on the project: If your collaborators are external to Cardiff Met, include
details of the organisation they represent.
Will the study involve NHS patients or staff? No
Will the study involve human samples
and/or human cell lines?
Choose an item.
Does your project fall entirely within one of the following categories:
Paper based, involving only documents in Yes

the public domain
Laboratory based, not involving human
participants or human tissue samples
No
Practice based not involving human
participants (eg curatorial, practice audit)
No
Compulsory projects in professional practice
(eg Initial Teacher Education)
No
A project for which external approval has
been obtained (e.g., NHS)
Yes
If you have answered YES to any of these questions, expand on your answer in the non-technical
summary. No further information regarding your project is required.
If you have answered NO to all of these questions, you must complete Part 2 of this form
In no more than 150 words, give a non-technical summary of the project
This research has proposed to evaluate the strategies required by niche furniture companies in UAE to
penetrate into the market in comparison to the mass marketing strategy. This research will evaluate the
current furniture market in United Arab Emirates to examine the growth rate and potential. This will
facilitate in understanding the current scope and opportunity in the furniture market. The study will also
evaluate the factors affecting the purchase decision of the buyers to develop strategies effective necessary
for increasing market penetration. The comparison between mass marketing and niche marketing in the
niche marketing will also be provided to recommend suitable strategies.
DECLARATION:
I confirm that this project conforms with the Cardiff Met Research Governance Framework
I confirm that I will abide by the Cardiff Met requirements regarding confidentiality and
anonymity when conducting this project.
STUDENTS: I confirm that I will not disclose any information about this project without the prior
approval of my supervisor.
Signature of the applicant: Date:
FOR STUDENT PROJECTS ONLY
Name of supervisor: Date:
Signature of supervisor:
Research Ethics Committee use only
Decision reached: Project approved
Project approved in principle
Decision deferred
Project not approved

Project rejected
Project reference number: Click here to enter text.
Name: Click here to enter text. Date: Click here to enter a date.
Signature:
Details of any conditions upon which approval is dependant:
Click here to enter text.
PART TWO Only to be completed if primary research is to be undertaken
A RESEARCH DESIGN
A1 Will you be using an approved protocol in your
project?
Yes
A2 If yes, please state the name and code of the approved protocol to be used1
n/a
A3 Describe the research design to be used in your project
Research design defines the choice between qualitative and quantitative data in research. It can
also be defined as the plan for selecting data and analysing. There are mainly three types of
research designs and they are descriptive, exploratory and explanatory research design. The
exploratory research design is used for exploring data and examine the research problem to
provide a framework for conducting a conclusive research. On the other hand, descriptive
research design is used for describing a phenomenon using both quantitative and qualitative
analysis. Explanatory research is used for examining the causal relationship between two
variables. In this research, descriptive research design has been used to describe the phenomenon
and prediction of one variable to another variable.
Sampling is the process of choosing elements from the whole population and is used for large
population to reduce time and complexity of the research. The sampling process starts with
choosing the target population in the research. In this research, the employees in UAE will be
target population. The next phase is choosing the sampling frame and in this study, the employees
working in Pan Emirates has been chosen as the sample population. The third phase is selecting
the sample size and in this study, 50 employees and 3 managers of Pan Emirates have been
chosen. The research will use stratified random sampling to choose the respondents for the
survey. On the other hand, purposive sampling will be used to choose the managers for the
interview.
In this research, primary data has been collected through survey and interview as the research
instrument. The survey questionnaire will consist of close ended questions framed on five point
Likert scale and will also include nominal questions. The interview questionnaire will consist of
open ended question which will collect in depth answers from the respondents.
The quantitative data collected will be analysed using statistical tools such as SPSS (Statistical
package for social sciences). The data collected will be represented in frequency tables and
graphs. Correlation and regression analysis will be used to examine the suitability of niche
marketing and mass marketing. The qualitative data will be analysed using coding. Open coding
will be used to evaluate the qualitative data to identify the patterns in the comments made by the
managers and axial coding will be used to link the codes with the existing theories to address the
relevant objective in the research.
1 An Approved Protocol is one which has been approved by Cardiff Met to be used under supervision of
designated members of staff; a list of approved protocols can be found on the Cardiff Met website here

A4 Will the project involve deceptive or covert
research?
No
A5 If yes, give a rationale for the use of deceptive or covert research
Please read the CSM Ethics Guidelines for guidance if yes.
A6 Will the project have security sensitive
implications?
Choose an item.
A7 If yes, please explain what they are and the measures that are proposed to address
them
This is likely to only affect some students undertaking research on Data Security. If you think this
applies to you discuss with your supervisor
B PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
B1 What previous experience of research involving human participants relevant to this
project do you have?
Click here to enter text.
B2 Student project only
What previous experience of research involving human participants relevant to this
project does your supervisor have?
The research described here must be relevant to this project and will be supplied by your
supervisor
C POTENTIAL RISKS
C1 What potential risks do you foresee?
Consider any potential risk to each of the following;
 the researcher
 the project
 the participants
 the university
Risk might include the following examples but the list is not exhaustive:
 The location of the data collection, time of day etc.
 Gaining access to key stakeholders for in-depth and or expert data collection
 The ability of the potential participants to engage safely and in confidence, in
particular, consideration of the vulnerabilities of the population
 Actions which could bring the university into disrepute such as unprofessional
behaviour including poor quality data collection instruments
C2 How will you deal with the potential risks?
Any potential risk identified in A3 , C1 or anywhere else in the application must be addressed in
this section
When submitting your application you MUST attach a copy of the following:
 All information sheets
 Consent/assent form(s)

An exemplar information sheet and participant consent form are available from the
Research section of the Cardiff Met website.