Reflective Journal: Impact of Social Media Advertisement on Consumers

This reflective journal explores the student's research on the impact of social media advertisement on consumers. The journal details the topic selection process, focusing on the relevance and challenges of studying this subject within the broader context of social media's influence on business. It outlines the student's contributions to the literature review, emphasizing the background research and analysis of existing studies. The journal further describes the research methodology, highlighting the process of defining the research scope, selecting appropriate methods, and addressing data collection challenges. The student reflects on the research experience, discussing both the difficulties and the learning outcomes, including the iterative nature of the research process and the support received from supervisors. The journal concludes with a statement summarizing the research's significance and the benefits of understanding how social media advertisements evolve business and consumer behavior. References to relevant academic sources are included to support the research findings and methodologies discussed in the journal.

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
Reflective Journal
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Table of Contents
My personal contribution to the Literature Review:........................................................................2
My personal contribution to the research methodology:.................................................................3
My reflection on the research experience:.......................................................................................4
My statement:..................................................................................................................................5
References:......................................................................................................................................6

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My personal contribution for the topic selection:
To commence a research work, it is very important to select a topic that is
relevant to the subject matter of the study. In general our instructor provides us with the
ideas of the topics. However, this time I decide to choose the topic of my interest. “The
effect of Social Media Advertisement on the consumers” is my topic which I have
chosen after a lot of research work. Social media plays an important role in our daily
lives. Hence, the impact of social media over the business market is highly debatable. I
thought that how consumers are benefited from the social media advertisement of the
products and in return how the business is benefited for the usage of the social media
like Facebook, Whatsapp, and many more will throw some light upon the benefits of the
social media where discredits are mostly focused (Myers, 2019).
The main challenge I faced while deciding the topic was to understand what can
be taken as for the purpose of research as too broad or too narrow topic are difficult to
discuss. Social media is huge topic for discussion. Thus impact of social media on the
consumer is comparatively smaller yet informative for the purpose of research (Taylor,
Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). Moreover impact of social media advertisement has not
been discussed in the field of business; hence it can be helpful in the industry or the
business sectors who are yet to advertise their content over the social media.
My personal contribution to the Literature Review:
This is the section where I had to do a lot of background study and research work
in order to get a detail idea about the project (Hart, 2018). I had to go through a
thorough study through the topic and the other sub topics related to it so that I can find

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out the areas where I can proceed with my research. This is the first step amongst the
many other steps that I followed in the course of the research.
When I confirmed my area of research I went through different books and articles
and blogs regarding my topic in order to have a good idea about the present scenario of
the social media and the business sector. Moreover, I have to do an extensive research
on the back grounds and the plot holes of the researches that has already been
conducted. This is because those researches were performed by the experts and each
one of them has something or the other to say which are important for my research
work (Booth, Sutton and Papaioannou, 2016). In the end, I created the conceptual
schema for the literature review which says from where I should proceed with the
research and how I should start.
After all the study and the analysis are done and the conceptual schema was
developed I begin with my literature review. The literature review is the most important
and descriptive part of the entire research work (Flick, 2015). This consisted of the
background of the subject matter and all the important information regarding the past
researches. Hence, this is the part where I had to invest the most of my time.
My personal contribution to the research methodology:
Research methodology is the part of the research proposal which helps us in
determining the process of conducting a research (Walliman, 2017). For a presentable
research paper a good research methodology has to be chosen. While considering the
methodology section I had to revise my research area in order to remain within the
research area. I had to make a list of my problem statement such that I stay focused in

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the research topic. After that I had to determine the layers of my research in order to
explain the techniques I have used in my research work. I had to be very careful while I
chose the methods for research as the methodologies chosen by me had to be justified
and the readers must be able to find a proper connection between the methodologies
used by me and context chosen by me. The data collection method of the methodology
section of the is very essential (Drake, Rancili and Stafford, 2017). I had to sort out all
the detailed explanations collected for the experts as well as the internet sources and
have to cite them in the report. Writing the research methodology is one of most
challenging part of the research according to me.
My reflection on the research experience:
My research process was based on trial and error. I have a very little experience for
undertaking a research. Searching for the relevant information and putting them to use in correct
places are very challenging. At some point of time I was utterly confused whether I was
proceeding in the right direction; whether the topic I have chosen for my research enough for
conducting a research. I got a significant amount of help from my supervisors and I am eternally
thankful to the faculties of our institution who helped me out in all possible ways. Writing the
methodology of the research was indeed a great challenge for me. At first I had no clue of what
to write and what not to (Kumar, 2019). I had to check the Google scholar again and again for
assistance. In this course of time, I learned a lot of different aspects of study and identified many
scopes of research work in the future. I was able to unleash a huge knowledge base while
conducting this research and will like to do that again in the near future if possible (Velarde et
al., 2018).

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There were many obstacles which I had to surpass in order to complete my research and
generate a proper report on that research work. Identifying the appropriate advertisements for the
social media, comparing the benefit and the discredit of the social media advertisements when
they are so closely related; these were very challenging and time consuming. Conducting the
market surveys are one of the most exhausting part of the research. Often the shops and
companies were out of time to provide me with information; in those cases I had to return empty
handed and I often got frustrated. I have finished the research few days back and I have gained a
lot in return of the frustrations and exhaustions that I have gone through.
My statement:
Research is one of the very broad area of education. It is time consuming,
elaborative and most importantly has lots of challenges to offer. Though there are many
obstacles which I faced during the research I would like to say that to understand a
subject matter at a depth research work plays a significant role in doing so, internet is
source of knowledge and they provide information in abundance, selecting a topic and
conducting researches based on that increases the knowledge on that particular area of
the topic along with the main frame. Most importantly, I wanted people to know how the
advertisement in the social media helps in evolving the business and how the
consumers are benefited in return (Shareef et al., 2019).

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References:
Booth, A., Sutton, A. and Papaioannou, D., 2016. Systematic approaches to a
successful literature review. Sage.
Drake, B.F., Rancilio, D.M. and Stafford, J.D., 2017. Research methods. In Public
Health Research Methods for Partnerships and Practice (pp. 174-187). Routledge.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a
research project. Sage.
Hart, C., 2018. Doing a literature review: Releasing the research imagination. Sage.
Kumar, R., 2019. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage
Publications Limited.
Myers, M.D., 2019. Qualitative research in business and management. Sage
Publications Limited.
Shareef, M.A., Mukerji, B., Dwivedi, Y.K., Rana, N.P. and Islam, R., 2019. Social media
marketing: Comparative effect of advertisement sources. Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services, 46, pp.58-69.
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research
methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Velarde, J., Adams, D., Piaw, C.Y. and Sumintono, B., 2018. Crafting a Successful
Research Proposal to Graduate on Time. Instructional Leadership To The Fore:
Research And Evidence, 1, p.72.

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Walliman, N., 2017. Research methods: The basics. Routledge.