Research Methodology Report: CSR, Social Media, and Consumer Behavior

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the research methodology employed to investigate the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumer behavior through social media. It begins with an introduction to research methodology, emphasizing its role in data collection and decision-making. The report outlines the research onion framework, detailing ontology, epistemology, and axiology. The research philosophy is justified as positivism, the research approach as deductive, and the research design as explanatory, with reasons for each selection. The data collection procedure includes both primary and secondary data sources, with a focus on an online survey using the BOS tool. The research instrument is a questionnaire with closed-ended questions, including demographic and subjective inquiries. The sampling technique involves a sample population of university students, with a sample size of 100, and the sampling frame is the BOS tool. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of sampling in conducting accurate research and the process of pilot testing to refine the questionnaire. The report details the research process, from initial conceptualization to data collection and instrument design.

Running head: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Methodology
Topic:
Student’s name:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

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Research Methodology
Introduction
Research methodology is the process of collecting data and information for the purpose
of establishing decision for the research. As stated by Friend and Jessop (2013), research
methodology is the procedure through which the researcher can describe, predict and explain the
phenomena. In this research, the researcher has collected the data about the influence of
corporate social responsibility on social media and consumer buying behaviour. Through
collecting the data, the researcher has strived to evaluate the extent to which the consumers care
about CSR and to ascertain the concern about CSR affects buying behaviour. Proper use of
methodology has provided a chance to the researcher to collect primary data to determine the
different demographics uses social media to gather information on company’s CSR.
Research Onion
In research methodology, research onion is a layered approach to collect the data in a
systematic way. Research onion is segregated in three different layers, ontology, epistemology
and axiology. Research onion concept was developed by Saunders and other researchers to
conduct the research following some specific layers of conducting the research. As stated by
Saunders et al. (2015), research onion helps the researcher for the effective progression for
collecting data and most importantly, it provides the exact framework to formulate the process of
data collection and data analysis.
Research Philosophy

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Research philosophy deals with the source, nature and development of knowledge. In
business research, research philosophy is an assumption about the ways in which data about a
phenomenon should be gathered, analysed and used (Neuman 2014). In this research, the
researcher has collected data based on the impact of corporate social responsibility on social
media and consumer behaviour. There are four kinds of research philosophy, positivism, realism,
interpretivism and post-positivism.
Justification of selecting positivism philosophy
In this research, the researcher has used positivism research philosophy as it helps in
directing the research in a logical way. Positivism philosophy of research depends on
quantifiable data those analyses through statistical data analysis process. In this research, data on
consumers’ observation towards corporate social responsibility has been gathered and the data
have been collected using scientific process. Positivists believed that objectivity was a
characteristic that resided in the individual scientist. Scientists are responsible for putting aside
their biases and beliefs and seeing the world as it 'really' is (Panneerselvam 2014). In positivism
research, the data must be empirically observable through human senses and it is based on
inductive reasoning. Positivism assumes in the deductive process where the researcher can
generalise in leading towards prediction through explanation and understanding (Garcia-Rosello
et al. 2015). On the other hand, realism philosophy has not been selected by the researcher as this
philosophy deals with the conceptual scheme, linguistic and perceptions of the respondents. In
addition, interpretivism is based on social science and it mainly helps in qualitative research and
its related discipline. However, this research has been based on the quantitative data.
Research Approach

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Research approach is an arrangement of which a research should be done. Research
approach depicts the detail strategies through which information can be gathered (Smith 2015).
There are two principal kinds of research approach, inductive and deductive approach.
Justification of selecting a deductive approach
In this research, the researcher has followed deductive approach as this approach helps
the researcher to deduce knowledge from the existing literature sources. There are a large
amount of data already present in the existing literature based on corporate social responsibility
(CSR) on social media and consumer behaviour. Deductive approach aims to test the theory from
which the information can be gathered. The fundamental aim of the CSR is to respond more to
demands of the customer to create awareness; the organisations can do this through the social
media. CSR is the primary factor in the relationship between brand and customers that in turn
can affect consumers’ behaviour. Moreover, deductive approach helps to analyse the data from
generalised to specific perspective. The deductive approach starts with a proposition and ends
with the result either confirmed or reject (Palinkas et al. 2015). On the other hand, the inductive
approach has not been selected in this research as inductive theory starts with observation and
the researcher tries to create a theory out of this. Through inductive approach, the researcher
needs to establish a theory deducted from the observation. In this research, the researcher did not
want to conceive any theory as large numbers of existing literature already explained about CSR
and consumer buying behaviour.
Research design
Research design helps to collect the data in a systematic plan. Research design helps the
researcher to recognise the issues keeping in mind the objectives to sum up (Knobe and Nichols

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2015). Therefore, research design tries to analyse the problem statement of the research. The
research design is mainly three specific kinds, descriptive, exploratory and explanatory.
Justification of selecting an explanatory research design
In this research, the researcher has selected explanatory research design as explanatory
research is generally conducted for the research problem that is not well-researched before. As
stated by Bowling (2014), explanatory research is mainly conducted to recognise the extent and
nature of the cause-and-effect relationship between the variables. The researcher can find the
operational definition of CSR, consumer behaviour and social media; however, the relationship
between these variables is hard to establish. In addition, explanatory research design focuses on
describing the aspects of the research in details manner. On the contrary, exploratory research
design aims to provide the conclusive answers to the research questions and it merely describes
(Creswell and Poth 2017). Exploratory research design mainly uses for the subject area which
has not been researched yet and it helps to develop a definition and improve the final research
design. Moreover, descriptive research design has not been taken as the researcher did not know
the participants of the research individually and descriptive research design helps to depict the
respondents in an accurate way.
Data collection procedure
There are mainly two types of data collection procedure, primary data collection and
secondary data collection. Primary data are mainly based on raw data that are collected directly
from the participants of the research. On the other hand, secondary research is based on the
secondary data sources as this type of data is collected from the secondary sources like books,
journals, websites, magazines, online articles, websites and government reports. In this research,

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the researcher has taken help of both primary and secondary data sources. Secondary data
sources have been used in the literature review section where the researcher has analysed a
significant amount of secondary data to underpin the theoretical understanding of the study. The
researcher has gathered the idea about the relationship between CSR and the behaviour of the
consumers as these are the two important variables of the research. In addition, the researcher
has collected primary data for this research. In order to collect the primary data, the researcher
has conducted the survey. Survey method is useful to collect the primary data from the
respondents. Online survey allows the researcher to have unlimited respondents and the users can
share the survey with each other so that they can collaborate the different accounts on the same
survey. According to Hewson and Stewart (2016), the survey is low-cost process among all the
data collection process and survey is convenient for data gathering. Most importantly, the survey
can be done through online and questionnaire can be delivered to the respondents using online
method also. The research topic is based on consumers' behaviour and primary data was needed
to understand the perspectives of the customers' behaviour. Through the survey, the researcher
has gathered information regarding the influence of company’s CSR policies on consumer
buying behaviour and determines the role of social media in informing the customers about
company's CSR. Through online survey; customers' perspective of the relationship between CSR
and the social media has been strived to judge. As stated by Flick (2015), a survey has inflexible
design as the researcher cannot change the process of data gathering. The survey can also
provide possible inappropriateness of questions that the respondents do not like. The alternative
to the survey is an interview and the researcher did not take the process of the interview as
interview takes a lot of time to collect the data. The interview process is time-consuming and the
researcher cannot take the interview a large number of persons. The researcher has faced the

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issue of designing the survey questions and at the initial stage; the researcher has faced the issue
of uploading the survey question on BOS.
Research instrument
The instrument of the research was the questionnaire. 12 close-ended Multiple Choice
Questions type questions have been prepared for conducting the survey. In addition, there were
two types of questions, demographic questions and subjective questions. Through this survey
questions, the researcher has gathered the information regarding respondents’ idea of corporate
social responsibility and the consumers’ behaviour. A survey has been conducted as part of
research; the researcher has used BOS (Boston Online Survey tool) and UWL is subscribed to
this survey software. The researcher has asked the supervisor to give student number to IT
services and the researcher has asked them to create an account for me. The questionnaire has
been uploaded on BOS software tool. BOS software is designed for the academic researchers and
this tool was easy for getting the primary data as part of the research. BOS is easy-to-use service
and it allows the researcher to deploy, develop and analyse the survey. BOS was not a
complicated set-up for or minimal technical knowledge is required for using BOS. On the other
side, questionnaire does not provide conscientious responses and the questionnaire of the survey
does not make differences between interpretation and understanding. The respondents cannot
convey emotions and feelings. The researcher overcame the issue of making the appropriate
questionnaire through doing pilot testing. The researcher has done the validity testing through
doing the conscientious responses.
Sampling technique

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The sample population of the research was university students. The researcher has taken
the decision to take the data from the university students as they are adults now, they are sensible
and they use social media sites. The university students have the idea about CSR and it would be
easier to get the data from the university students as it was the convenient way for me. The
researcher chose the sample size of the research was 100. The researcher sent out a survey to the
masses and hoping to get 100 respondents. The researcher has used the sample frame as the BOS
tool through which the researcher sent research questionnaire.
Sample
population
Sample size Sampling
frame
All university
business students
100 A
questionnaire
using BOS tool
Table 1: Sampling technique
(Source: Self-developed)
The appropriate size of sampling helps in order to conduct the research in an accurate
way to extract the information from the respondents (Flick 2015). In this research, 100
respondents have been chosen about the corporate social responsibility, social media and the
consumers' behaviour. Sampling is the accurate representation of the larger population of the
research. The researcher has conducted a pilot testing before conducting the actual survey using
100 sample sizes. The researcher has sent to 20 respondents using questionnaire. The researcher
has given them 5 days to revert. The respondents reverted with their responses and some of the

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respondents did not answer all the questions. They have given some feedback on the
questionnaire. The researcher has changed accordingly to prepare a final set of questions.
 The order of questions
 Changed the type of questions and selection of words
 Changed some of the options
Stratified Random Sampling is a sampling which involves the division of population
from the group or strata. In addition, in cluster sampling, the researcher divides the population
into many groups. Quota sampling is non-probability sampling wherein the assembled sample
has the same proportion of respondents as the entire population (Friend and Jessop 2013). The
researcher has selected the sample size using the simple random sampling technique. Simple
random sampling is the subset of the statistical population through which each of the members of
the subset has an equal chance of getting selected (Hair et al. 2015). Simple random sampling is
very difficult to achieve as it requires money and time. Simple random method carries larger
errors from the sample size. Simple random sampling cannot be employed where the units of the
population are heterogeneous in nature.
Data analysis process
This research is based on quantitative data as the survey questionnaire provides the
researcher quantitative data. Quantitative data analysis is based on numerical data (Garcia-
Rosello et al. 2015). Quantitative data are gathered using the survey as the researcher has used a
statistical method to analyse the data. The quantitative method of research is designed to provide
summaries of data that support a generalisation about the phenomenon under the research. The
researcher has used the variables like corporate social responsibility, social media and consumer

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behaviour. Therefore, maximum questions in the subjective genre have been developed using
these variables to ensure reliability and validity of the study. Since the researcher has used
quantitative data analysis method, the researcher has analysed the survey questions using SPSS
analysis. SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Science) is a statistical data analysis method that
helps to show the correlation and regression between independent and dependent variables. SPSS
is used for complex data analysis and it helps to manipulate the data with just simple instruction
(Friend and Jessop 2013). SPSS graph and tables have been used in the data findings and
analysis section.
Research Ethics
This research is associated with the human participants. The ethics of the research is
associated with following the norms and as a researcher; the researcher followed all the ethical
standards. Most importantly, the researcher followed Data Protection Act 1998 UK. According
to this act, the researcher has not revealed the names of the respondents and the confidentiality of
the respondents has been maintained throughout. The researcher has collected the data only for
the research purposes. As a researcher, the researcher has not done any coercion during the
research. Any kind of the exchange of money has not been done. After the research process is
done, the researcher would destroy the data. The researcher has taken the permission of the
university students who have participated in this research process. The researcher has filled in
Ethics Forms given by the university. The researcher has followed all the details given in the
ethical form.
Summary

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Therefore, research methodology has helped the researchers to gather the information in a
uniform way that aids contextualise data findings for the research. The researcher has followed
positivism research philosophy, deductive approach and explanatory research design in order to
collect the data as the researcher wanted to put fundamental stride to collect the data in a
systematic way. Primary data have been collected through an online survey. Various research
processes have helped to decide the findings and legitimacy of the data. Collected data will be
analysed on Data Findings and Analysis section to meet the research objectives.

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