BUS703: Managing Research Exam - Critique of a Research Article

This assignment presents a student's critique of a research article titled "Thematic Analysis to Assess Indian Consumers Purchase Intention for Organic Apparel." The student evaluates the literature review, focusing on the influence of product quality and price on consumer behavior in India, particularly regarding organic apparel. The critique assesses the research design, including focus group discussions, purposive sampling, and the descriptive nature of the study. The assignment also examines the lack of ethical review due to exemption from the Institutional Review Board and its potential impact. Finally, the student critiques the research outcomes in relation to achieving the stated goals and objectives, considering the thematic analysis and the study's focus on sustainable production and consumption to influence consumer behavior. The critique highlights strengths like the focus on consumer intentions and weaknesses such as the limited geographical scope.

Running head: MANAGING RESEARCH
Managing research
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Literature review for the research article.........................................................................................3
Focus groups and various features of the research design...............................................................4
Research exemption from review by the Institutional Review Board contributing to the lack of
ethical review...................................................................................................................................4
Critique on the outcomes of research to achieve the research goals and objectives.......................5

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Literature review for the research article
It has been seen that the purchasing behaviors of consumers in India are often influenced
by the quality of products and also the prices set for those. The buying behaviors of consumer
change from time to time and thus it is necessary for ensuring that their needs and requirements
are kept in mind while distributing the products and services in the different market segments for
easy access by them along with focusing on influencing their purchasing intentions. Following
the trade activities, it is important to ensure that the quality and price are needed to be kept
consistent along with focus on environment friendly produce to influence their behaviors and
make sure that they remain inclined with the cosmetics brand rather than purchasing from any
other brand that are associated with the cosmetics industry. It has been seen that the consumer
sin India have a likings for ethical fashion and organic produce, due to which, the cosmetics
industry has a good status. The foreign direct investments have made it much easier for the
cosmetics brand and organic produce brands to come to India and deliver products and services
for meeting the needs and expectations of the customers all over India. The products and service
are targeted at different market segments, especially the beauty products and treatment services
have been targeted at female clients. The women who have high disposable income have spent
most of their money on cosmetics and beauty products, which makes it ease and effective for
managing the retail accommodation for the cosmetics brand in India. To influence the
consumers’ buying behaviors, the cosmetics brands have mainly focused on specializing the
areas of green practices, green consumerism and green buying behaviors and this has been an
effective approach to create a positive mindset among their minds regarding the products and
services delivered too. Based on various researches, it has also been found that the consumption

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behaviors are influenced by green apparel knowledge and thus it is relevant to identify the issues
in green consumption and other environmental aspects of marketing for ensuring proper
purchasing intentions for the environment friendly green products and services.
The strengths of the article relating to the question is that it has managed to effectively
assess the purchasing intentions of Indian consumers for the organic apparel products. The
planned behavioral model has focused on the model related to the Perceived behavioral control,
subjective norms, attitudes and intentions that are essential for managing the TpB model for
fostering the sustainable fashion and cosmetic products’’ consumption. The socio and
demographics factors are also considered that represent the customers’’ tastes and preferences
for the sustainable clothing items while the perceived behavioral control brought positive
outcomes through influencing the consumers’ choices for the sustainable fashion products. The
knowledge about the products have further lead the young consumers to form perceived
awareness and transform the expected outcomes into something more effective related to the
buying behaviors of clients all over India. The literature review section also shed light on the
willingness or interest to pay some more money for the organic produce, which can be skin
friendly and at the same time do not create any harmful effects after usage. The products are
bought not just according to the prices set for those, but also by adopting greener approaches to
represent sustainable production by the cosmetics brands and sustainable consumption by the
clients too. The weaknesses related to the question are that only India has been focused and not
any other nations where sustainable consumption of organic apparel is experienced. The usage
and consumption should have been assessed along with the knowledge on environment friendly
production of organic apparel. This would have helped the business organizations within the
cosmetics and organic apparel brands to strategize the business model, furthermore evaluate the

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various dimensions related to the buying behaviors of consumers to progress towards a greener
and sustainable economy.
Focus groups and various features of the research design
The focus groups are managed to make discussions about the article related to the
thematic analysis for assessing the purchasing intentions or behaviors of the consumers in India
for the organic apparel. The focus group discussions have allowed for obtaining the different
responses of the focus group individuals, which have made it easy for conducting the research
and at the same time, focus on one to one interview and to manage the ethnographic study
effectively. The purposive sampling method has been used to manage the focus group
discussions and create scopes for conducting the research and bring favorable results through
coming together of the various participants. Due to this, the responses provided by them are
different and this has favored the completion of task within the allocated time frame too. The
research design, being descriptive, allowed to conduct the research in a detailed manner and
covered all the important aspects of research through consideration of customers’ views and
behaviors towards sustainable organically produced apparel items’ consumption. The four focus
group discussions managed here consisted of the young individuals. i.e., the students who have
work experience and knowledge on the cosmetics industry while the purposive sampling
technique has further contributed to the management of homogeneity across the groups with ease
and efficiency. From the research, it could be understood that most of the respondents were
female and aged between 20 to 29 years of age and the researcher has put his best efforts to
discuss both qualitative and quantitative data properly. The respondents’’ views and opinions are
obtained through interviews and also by collecting their voice recordings with the use of a smart

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phone to demonstrate how the behavioral intentions are influenced by sustainable production of
organic apparel items. Considering the focus group discussions and exploratory research stance,
there should be analysis of qualitative data and thus a thematic analysis has been conducted as
well for ensuring that the responses of participants are obtained through discussions made by the
individuals present in the focus groups with ease. The grounded theory arises, which can
determine the relationships between the views and opinions presented by the customers
regarding the research topic. The strengths are that the different views and opinions have been
obtained through the focus group discussions, while the varying responses sometimes can create
confusion and lead to contradictory circumstances that might affect the way the research would
be conducted.
Characteristics of descriptive research design
 This kind of research design enables formulating the principles, procedures and
generalizes the data and information to obtain findings on a specific research subject
easily
 The problems are identified and possible predictions are made for the findings to be
achieved in the future as well
 The instruments used for implementing this suitable research design could be checklists,
score cards, schedules, etc.
Yes the research design has been suitable for finding the answrs of the questions addressed in the
research and thus the research objectives are accomplished with ease and effectiveness.

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Research exemption from review by the Institutional Review Board contributing to the
lack of ethical review
The research has been conducted with the help of focus group discussions to reflect the
varying responses of the participants engaged in the research, This has been effective for
structuring the discussions appropriately, furthermore allowed for purposive sampling method to
select the participants and then conducting the focus group discussions by grouping the
participants all together all throughout the research. From the research article, it could be seen
that four focus group discussions are arranged, though most of the participants were students and
the remaining participants were friends and colleagues. The clustering or grouping of the various
participants are done with the use of purposive sampling method, which has assisted in
maintaining homogeneity, furthermore maintain proper values and ethics to undermine or
strengthen the research outcomes. The research has though been exempted from review by the
Institutional Review Board, which has created lack of ethical review of the focus group
discussions and this has been a major flaw that could affect the research negatively while
conducting. The Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects has not been
allowed to review the research though the demographics of the multiple participants associated
with the research and their details were provided thereafter. The Institutional review board is
considered as an independent ethics committee that maintains the research values and ethics and
then makes sure to review the various methods associated with the research along with
consideration of designs of the research that are needed to be approved. The IURB is also
responsible for conducting the risk benefit analysis, which can help in protecting the rights and
welfare of the individuals who have taken part in the research. The main purpose of review by

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IRB is to safeguard or protect the ethical conduct of research with proper maintenance of ethical
rules, regulations, international norms and codes of conduct too.
For the present research article, it can be understood that the research is solely conducted
for educational purposes and thus it may be suitable for exemption from review by the
Institutional Review Board. The research, being conducted in established and has accepted
educational settings, so different educational practices have been arranged. Due to this, there has
been focus on educational institutional strategies and class room management techniques as well,
which proves that the research is conducted in a commonly accepted educational setting, which
does not need review. The research neither is nor conducted with any intention of drawing
commercial benefits and thus the research does not involve any risks associated with the
educational practices. It is not a sensitive survey research like the other, which make it much
more convenient for using various educational tests like diagnostic, cognitive, achievement and
aptitude tests along with survey processes and interviews that have been managed with proper
consideration of research values and ethics. According to the rules and regulations, the research
involves analyzing the previous data and information that have been made available publicly
while the research studies are also aimed at improving the performance to benefit the society,
contribute to the public benefits and manage consumer acceptance too. Therefore, I agree with
the fact that exemption from review by an Institutional Review Board during the research is
acceptable.
Critique on the outcomes of research to achieve the research goals and objectives
From the article, it could be understood that focus had been on the thematic analysis for
the assessment of purchasing behaviors of customers for the organic apparel items. This has been

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primarily focused on the fact that sustainable production and consumption could create positive
mindsets among the clients regarding the organically produced apparel items, which should be
effective for generating higher revenue in business along with gaining competitive advantage as
well. The literature review stated about the likings of Indian consumers for the ethical fashion
and environment friendly apparel goods that can keep them safe and at the same time, contribute
to the ecological balance in nature as well. From the article’s literature review, it has also been
understood that the greener approaches are considered as vital for influencing the buying
behaviors of clients, furthermore contributing to the effectiveness of production and delivery of
eco friendly apparel goods all over India to raise consumer awareness about environment
friendly products’ consumption too. The business organizations have strategized the business
model to create something unique that can be healthy and skin friendly, as it has been targeted at
the female customers mostly. The research was conducted considering the purposive sampling
strategy and focus group discussions where varying responses of the participants were
considered, which helped in maintaining research homogeneity too. Though the research
considered most of the participants who were students and the research has been done for
educational purposes, still it was exempted from review by the Institutional Review Board. Later,
I found that there were certain rules and regulations that could exempt an article from review and
the same happened here. It was because the research firstly shed light on the topic, which could
benefit the community while on the other hand; it was managed with the consideration of a n
educational setting with no such intention of gaining any kinds of commercial benefits. The
social and demographical factors were also considered that contributed to the influencing of
consumers’ behaviors and purchasing intentions towards the organic apparel products. Therefore,
it could be stated that the researcher had covered the most important aspects of the research

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through proper literature focus and assessment of research design and review for managing
proper values and ethics and ensured that the research objectives were achieved properly.