Reflective Journal: HI6008 Business Research Project, Holmes Institute

This document is a reflective journal from a student's business research project, focusing on the impact of social media marketing on the Australian automobile industry. The journal details the student's personal contributions to the topic approval, literature review, and methodology selection, along with reflections on their experiences. The student discusses their role in the research design, ethical considerations, data collection methods, and analysis. The journal highlights the challenges faced, such as time constraints and team collaboration, and the learning outcomes achieved, including the importance of effective communication and ethical research practices. The student also identifies specific areas of responsibility within the project, such as research strategy and design, and data collection methods. The reference list provides a compilation of the sources used for the research.

BUSINESS RESEARCH

Table of Contents
1. Personal contribution to topic approval....................................................................3
2. Personal contribution to literature review.................................................................3
3. Personal contribution to the methodology of the research.......................................4
4. Reflection on experience..........................................................................................5
5. Stating specific area.................................................................................................6
Reference list................................................................................................................7
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1. Personal contribution to topic approval
I have communicated with my team members before selecting the topic. We have
discussed that social media marketing has become essential for targeting a large
audience. I have mentioned that purchasing decision of an automobile is difficult as
this kind of product is expensive. Other team members included that it is easier for a
buyer to make this decision, if they get detailed information regarding a product
through social media. In this way, I have contributed to select the topic. I searched
for more information related to the topic and have found problems associated with it.
I have cooperated with my team members while developing the research questions.
We have decided to research questions based on problem definition. I also helped in
writing the topic for approval by suggesting appropriate words and definitions. I and
my team members have mentioned our roles and responsibilities in the team charter.
Throughout this process, I have experienced a positive gesture from my team
members and accurate cooperation. As opined by White (2017), a researcher gets a
reliable outcome when he or she gets dedicated team members. I have learned that
effective communication can help in making mutual decisions and working
collaboratively on the topic can help to get approval for selecting a research topic.
2. Personal contribution to literature review
At first, I have built an in-depth understanding of the research area. Then I
investigated relevant literature sources containing adequate data. This includes
ProQuest and Google scholar. These sources contain vast information and previous
works of other researchers. The search process includes different keywords like
‘Social media marketing', ‘automobile industry of Australia', ‘Impact of social media'
and others. As said by Booth (2016), searching literature through keywords helps
researchers to gain relevant articles. From these sources, I collected several
literatures and then eliminated irreverent and outdated articles. After going through
the relevant articles, key points are summarized in the literature review report under
a specific theme. The literature review is designed by choosing different relevant
themes that answer the research question. The literature review was written in an
argumentative way. Different views of a past researcher were used to construct a
critical literature review. Conducting an argumentative literature review helps
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researchers to discuss contradictory points, which helps to build an in-depth
understanding of a research topic (Miller and Fleming, 2016).
I have experienced many things, which include the searching process of relevant
literature. Searching proper literature helps to gather adequate information about the
subject area. This guides a researcher in further data collection process. I have
learned the searching process by using different sources like Google scholar.
Moreover, I learned about different filtering data and designing a literature review by
choosing appropriate themes, which helps to answer the research question. I have
collected huge information about the research topic, and then filtered for eliminating
irrelevant articles.
3. Personal contribution to the methodology of the research
Research methodology is an important part of research and I have performed my
responsibility to select appropriate methodology. I have studied previous research
papers to get an idea of different kinds of methodology. After that, I have conducted
a meeting with my team members regarding selection of methodology. I have agreed
with the small sample size as I thought that it can help us to complete this research
within budget and time. Both surveys and interviews will be conducted in this
research. I have decided to conduct a survey for understanding the buying behavior
of customers of the automobile industry, who are social media users. On the other
hand, I have selected the interview research strategy to understand the perspectives
of managers of Australian automotive industry towards the research topic.
I have suggested my team members adhere to a descriptive research design as it
was the most appropriate for this research. On the other hand, selection of the
positivism research philosophy may help us to conduct objective research. As
mentioned by Sharp et al. (2017), researchers must maintain ethical guidelines while
collecting the data. In this case, I am concerned about data collection and I must
maintain ethics during this process. I have realized that I need to inform all the
participants about the purpose and the process of the research. After getting their
consent, I will be able to collect data. I must not ask for any personal information and
must inform respondents that they can leave the process whenever they want. My
team members have helped me to develop ideas for the questionnaire on the
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selected topic and I think I will have their assistance in maintaining confidentiality of
the data. As suggested by Ebrahim (2016), researchers must be aware of the
process of eradicating bias responses for generating authentic results from research.
My communication skills will help me to collect authentic information from the
respondents and till this stage of the research; I have got support from my team
members. I have cooperated with them in selecting the methods of analyzing and
interpreting the data.
During the entire process of selecting methodology, I have learned a lot of things.
For example, I have experienced face-to-face communication processes and
different viewpoints of other team members. I have learned that it is important to
work collaboratively to get reliable outcomes. According to Mayer and Alexander
(2016), experience and learning of a researcher helps in future research projects and
career building. I have learned that effective communication skills help to deal with
team members and respondents as well.
4. Reflection on experience
I have gained knowledge about selecting topic and presenting it for approval.
Moreover, I have learned about different strategies that can be used by resaerchers
to search literature on the selected topic of the research. On the other hand, by
evaluating different types of methodologies, I have gained knowledge about different
methodologies and their uses in research projects. Social media is an advanced
technology, which has been incorporated by business organizations in marketing
process. I have learned the strategies used by the automobile industry to attract
potential customers through the use of social media. Collecting proper data is
essential to gain desired outcomes in research (Wilson and Varma-Nelson, 2016). In
this research, different issues have been faced by me regarding choosing
appropriate data collection methods. For conducting interviews, it may require a
large amount of time. Lack of time and budget has acted as a great challenge for me
and the whole team. Moreover, inadequate collaboration between team members is
another challenge, which got mitigated through open communication during team
meetings.
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I have struggled during identification of the process of secondary data collection. I
have realized that I have to sort data based on their validity and reliability. As social
media technology is changing rapidly in the business field, hence, it is necessary to
collect recent data (Eaton et al. 2018). During conducting secondary and primary
data, collaboration between team members is very essential. During the phase of
selecting data collection and data analysis method, I have faced synergies between
team members. We worked together and conducted both processes of data
collection simultaneously. However, during questionnaire design process, I struggled
to choose appropriate questions that can help to satisfy research objectives.
5. Stating specific area
I was responsible for working on different points in this research, which includes
research strategy, research design, and ethical consideration. Moreover, I was also
involved in selection of data collection method.
I gained experience with different research strategies and data collection processes.
I have learned many things including the importance of ethical consideration, which
can help to avoid any legal issues. This learning can help me in management of
research process in future.
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Reference list
Booth, A., 2016. Searching for qualitative research for inclusion in systematic
reviews: a structured methodological review. Systematic reviews, 5(1), p.74.
Eaton, A.D., Ibáñez-Carrasco, F., Craig, S.L., Chan Carusone, S., Montess, M.,
Wells, G.A. and Ginocchio, G.F., 2018. A blended learning curriculum for training
peer researchers to conduct community-based participatory research. Action
Learning: Research and Practice, 15(2), pp.139-150.
Ebrahim, N.A., 2016. Research Tools: Choosing the Right Journal for Your
Research. University of Malaya, 2(1), pp. 4-5
Mayer, R.E. and Alexander, P.A. eds., 2016. Handbook of research on learning and
instruction. UK: Taylor & Francis.
Miller, T. and Fleming, K., 2016. Research Strategy for Searching the Literature
More Effectively. In Integrating Information Literacy into the Chemistry Curriculum
pp. 169-186
Sharp, J.A., Peters, J. and Howard, K., 2017. The management of a student
research project. UK: Routledge.
White, P., 2017. Developing research questions. UK: Macmillan International Higher
Education.
Wilson, S.B. and Varma-Nelson, P., 2016. Small groups, significant impact: A review
of peer-led team learning research with implications for STEM education researchers
and faculty. Journal of Chemical Education, 93(10), pp.1686-1702.
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