LC571 Qualitative Research Methods: Thematic Analysis Report

This report presents a thematic analysis of qualitative data from an interview transcript, focusing on the impact of social media on individuals and organizations. The report begins with an introduction and then delves into epistemological and ethical considerations relevant to the research. It identifies five key themes emerging from the participants' responses: social media as a marketing tool, as a query-resolving tool, time effectiveness, as a promotional tool, and innovation and creativity. Each theme is discussed in detail, drawing on social science academic, research, and policy materials to support the analysis. The report interprets the respondents' answers within these themes and draws conclusions based on the data, emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations in social science research. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, highlighting the impact of social media marketing on consumer behavior. The report is structured as per the assignment brief requirements and includes references and an appendix with interview questions.

LC571 Qualitative
Research Methods for
Social Scientists

Table of Contents
Aim: “To analyse the changing impact of social networking and social media on the individuals
& organisations.” ............................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discuss epistemological issues in relation to this research.........................................................3
Discuss relevant ethical issues....................................................................................................4
Identify themes emerging from the participants’ responses in the transcript.............................5
Discuss these themes, drawing on an appropriate range of relevant social science academic,
research and policy material to enable you to develop your analysis.........................................6
Interpret the respondents answers using the above.....................................................................6
Draw conclusions based on the data analysis.............................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
Appendix 1:....................................................................................................................................11
Interview questions:.......................................................................................................................11

Introduction
Social sciences are the disciplines that are part of studying the group and individual
behaviour, it includes economics, geography, political sciences, sociology and social studies
(Eacott, 2017). In case of various disciplines of social sciences each discipline customised its
related methodologies the epistemological basis for each methodology remains unchanged, but
there are several issues that are commonly arsing in case of every research that have to be dealt
in order to enhance the outcomes of a particular research work.
Discuss epistemological issues in relation to this research
Epistemological research is related with the existing theories of knowledge.
Epistemology issues are related with the perception that can provided knowledge or justified
belief that is related with external world. such as in the present report there is analysis of the
impact of social media as a marketing tool in the process of influencing the purchasing decision
of people. The two respondents who have been selected in the course belongs to the millennium
generation.
Some of the epistemology issues that arises is result of the theory of knowledge & the
justified belief. Epistemology is a aspect that is not confined to traditional issues as with the
changing environment it is concern with analysing the new philosophical tools and condones that
have emerged in the present scenario (Epistemology–Ontology Relations in Social Research: A
Review, 2020).
Another issues that arises is to explain the way perception can give us a knowledge or a
justified belief that is part of the external world (Alston, 2018). In respect of present qualitative
research and other type of research where there is analysis of the view points of respondent with
respect to their personal belief and view points. Commonly there is a problem of sceptical
argument that relates to difficulty in depicting of such knowledge and the overall justification
becomes difficult.
Scepticism is about the various epistemological difficulties that is regarding the nature &
Epistemic role of experience. It is the way perception might bring the contact with a independent
reality.

Another questions is related to the way perception can bring the contact of mind independent
reality. This issue arises from the importance of understand the justification and knowledge that
is connected with skpeticism.
There are two main types of responses to the skeptical argument that have been provided
traditionally.
 It includes the metaphysical response that is focusing on the nature of world.
 Another is perceptual experience that is the relation between the efforts to depict a
perceptual knowledge that is a more direct epistemological response that is focused on
principles specifying about the basic required knowledge with respect to a particular
asked question by the interview (Chakravartty, 2017).
 The empirical foundation includes justified contingent beliefs and the appearances are
also beliefs. For the purpose of having genuine knowledge about the external world and
to develop a basic perception regarding it respondent must posses a direct acquaintance
with it, so in some instances it becomes the responsibility of the investigator to select the
target segment of respondents who posses the required base of knowledge with respect
the topic that has to be instigated in the course of a research work (Lee, Parkand Davis,
2018).
 Another issues the appearance of belief that is related with something extrinsic.
Appearance belief that has to be justified with the experiential fact.
Discuss relevant ethical issues
There are many ethical issues that may arise in the context of research that are based on
social sciences. There are certain ethical issues that may arise in the course of research work
(Russ, 2018). It has to be dealt for the purpose of having voluntary participation of all the
respondents.
Informed consent is the question of basic human rights that has to be safeguarding
participants from physical mental harm that may arise as a result of their participation (Madary,
2017). Another ethical consideration that has to be focus by the investigator is to have
knowledge of proper procedures to be set in place to deal with any negative overcome that may
arise in the future.
Participants have to be made full disclosures about the informed consent that is related to
qualitative research (Jonassen, 2017). Having proper adherence to ethical guidelines along with

the informed consent can be of best interest for all the research respondents with respect to a
particular research work.
Another ethical issues that is to be considered by the researcher includes the participant
observer, in this the main concern of the researcher is to be neutral for the purpose of
maintaining objectivity in the course of research work. Ethical concern is also related to
following up of various ethical regulations. In universities there are ethics committee that are set
up to review the research principals as part of the ethical review process, it has created
development of a formulaic approach towards research ethics so that researchers can have timely
adherence and there can be no conflicting prescriptions.
Ethical regulations have lead to development of a formalistic approach towards
qualitative research ethics. In this researcher can tick the right boxes. Some of the issues that are
affecting the present research in social sciences includes the issues that arises in case of
“vulnerable group”. Such as in the ethical Clarence process the social research category it is the
young people and the children who may be suffering from any type of mental health problems &
sometimes people may be with learning disabilities. In the present interview transcripts that is
related to the view points of respondents with respect to impact of social media marketing on the
purchasing habits of people (Hannon, 2018).
The final issues can be solved by having proper informed consent. The increasing
bureaucratisation of social science research that is resulting from the changes that take place in
research governance & regulations means that social researchers have to get the projects assessed
by various ethics committees (Smithies, 2019).
Identify themes emerging from the participants’ responses in the transcript
As per the discussions made from the key themes arising in the course of present research work
there are major five themes that are identified in this course:
Theme 1: social media as a marketing tool
The main theme of this is the use of social media as a marketing tool for the organisations.
Theme 2: Social media as a query resolving tool
In this theme it was asked to the participants about the use of present social media tools as a
medium to resolve or solve various issues that are arsing as a consumer.
Theme 3: Time effectiveness in social media applications

In this particular theme while it was questioned about social networking sites help in getting
instant news and information as compared to to other platforms.
Theme 4: social media marketing as great promotional tool
In this theme it was asked whether social media marketing has emerged as a effective
promotional tool in the changing context of dynamic environment
Theme 5: Innovation & creativity across organisations
In this particular theme it was questioned about whether creativity and innovation aspect is
helping organisations in achievement of higher competitive advantage in the changing times.
Discuss these themes, drawing on an appropriate range of relevant social science academic,
research and policy material to enable you to develop your analysis
Social science is the science related to people, collection of people that includes firms, societies,
groups and economies that are collective behaviours or individuals (Mandelbaum, 2019). Social
scenes are classified in various disciplines that includes sociology that is the science of social
groups, psychology that is the science of human behaviours and economics that is the science of
markets, firms and economies.
In the present report there is use of social science research where there is consideration of the
view points of respondents who belong to the millennium generation (Wolff, 2017). There is use
of social science as a aspect that is used for studying the human behaviour with respect to a
particular social issue. So there is use of interview method generally in which a particular social
phenomena has to be evaluated in detailed. In this the view points of respondents have to be
collected with respect to their feelings and opinion on a respective topic.
Interpret the respondents answers using the above
Theme 1: social media as a marketing tool
In this the focus was that whether the impact of social media as a marketing tool on your
purchasing decisions. The response of both the participants in this context was positive as they
felt that yes in present times social media is having a crucial impact on the overall purchasing
decisions.
Theme 2: Social media as a query resolving tool
In this case there was a mixed response where one participant had a view that social media is
very helpful in resolving of their problems and complaints in least time period. While another
felt that traditional mediums were far more effective in the process of solving such issues.

Theme 3: Time effectiveness in social media applications
One respondent had a positive view point as they felt that social media is very helpful to get the
required information and updated news. But another response denied to this view point as
Theme 4: social media marketing as great promotional tool
In this question both of the respondents supported the view point that social media marketing can
be used as a great promotional tool across business organisation. First respondent had a view that
social media helps in reaching target segment of customers. Second respondent said that social
media is very helpful for understanding the changing preferences of target segment of customers.
Theme 5: Innovation & creativity across organisations
In this particular theme first respondent had a view that social media marketing helps in the
process of achievement of competitive advantage for organisations while another respondent felt
that sometimes too may options might lead to confusion for customers.
Draw conclusions based on the data analysis
Social science research has been concerned with ethical issues, in case of social science
as a matter of subject there is investigation of complex issues that may involve economic,
cultural, legal and political aspects that have to be evaluated, but complexity is related with
social science researches to have proper moral integrity to ensure that research process &
findings have to be valid and trustworthy enough, research involves human subjects or
participants that have to be related with proper dealing with ethical issues to ensure its long term
relevance.
From the collected data as per interview questions mentioned in appendix 1. Its analysis
can be made that social media marketing is a very important tool that can be used by
organisations for the purpose of managing their social media presence. It is affecting the
purchasing behaviour of customer by helping them in making relevant choices, reaching to
relevant conclusions whether to purchase a particular product or not. With changing scenario of
external environment and increasing competitive nature of organisations it becomes important to
consider various factors that can help in making correct choices as per their needs.

CONCLUSION
From the above made analysis of the information it can be said that the main reasons of
having proper ethical considerations in the course of research work is to ensure that participants
posses knowledge with respect to issues of anonymity and confidentiality that may arise while
they are providing their view points with respect to various questions that are asked by the
investigator. Ethical standards if properly managed and applied in the course of qualitative
research work then it helps participants in answering the questions freely during the interview
without any type of hesitations. So there will be unbiased answers and responses that will be
provided that is further going to help in having a base of authentic and reliable information to
reach relevant recommendations.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alston, W.P., 2018. The reliability of sense perception. Cornell University Press.
Chakravartty, A., 2017. Scientific ontology: Integrating naturalized metaphysics and voluntarist
epistemology. Oxford University Press.
Eacott, S., 2017. A social epistemology for educational administration and leadership. Journal of
Educational Administration and History, 49(3), pp.196-214.
Hannon, M., 2018. What's the point of knowledge?: a function-first epistemology. Oxford
University Press.
Jonassen, D.H. ed., 2017. Learning to solve complex scientific problems. Routledge.
Lee, J., Park, T. and Davis, R.O., 2018. What affects learner engagement in flipped learning and
what predicts its outcomes?. British Journal of Educational Technology.
Madary, M., 2017. Visual phenomenology. MIT Press.
Mandelbaum, M., 2019. Philosophy, Science, and Sense Perception: Historical and Critical
Studies. JHU Press.
Russ, R.S., 2018. Characterizing teacher attention to student thinking: A role for epistemological
messages. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55(1), pp.94-120.
Smithies, D., 2019. The epistemic role of consciousness. Philosophy of Mind.
Wolff, J., 2017. Hermeneutic philosophy and the sociology of art: an approach to some of the
epistemological problems of the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of art and
literature (Vol. 4). Routledge.
Online:
Epistemological Problems of Perception, 2019 [online], Available through<
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/perception-episprob/>
Ethical Issues in Social Science Research in Developing Countries: Useful, 2020[online],
Available through<Symbhttps://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/156620447.>
Epistemology–Ontology Relations in Social Research: A Review, 2020 [online], Available
through<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0038022918819369>

Appendix 1:
Aim: “To analyse the changing impact of social networking and social media on the
individuals & organisations.”
Interview questions:
Theme 1: social media as a marketing tool
1) What is the basic impact of social media as a marketing tool on your purchasing decisions?
Respondent 1: Social media tools are now helpful in the process of analysing the previous
reviews provide by customers that helps in making timely decision.
Respondent 2: Yes, social media has influenced the decision making process by evaluating a
particular brand or a product based on various
Theme 2: Social media as a query resolving tool
2) Does social media platforms helps in resolving queries earlier as compared to traditional
mediums?
Respondent 1: Yes, there is fast processing of complaints that are posted on such social media
platforms that is helpful in the process of having proper solutions with respect to specific
queries.
Respondent 2: No, there is delay as many times there are large number of complaints at a
particular point of time, it affects the overall process of complaint processing and development
of solutions.
Theme 3: Time effectiveness in social media applications
3) Does social networking sites help in getting instant news and information as compared to
to other platforms?
Respondent 1: Yes, definitely social media has emerged as a tool that is assisting in the process
of getting fast information as compared to earlier used traditional forms of applications.
Respondent 2: No, traditional forms of applications are more helpful for getting the information
though it used to take more time but they are more reliable source of getting information.
Theme 4: social media marketing as great promotional tool

4) Do you believe that social media marketing is a great promotional tool for business
organisations?
Respondent 1: Yes, It is emerged as a tool that is very helpful for reaching to the target segment
of customers at a particular point of time.
Respondent 2: Yes, business organisations are now using it as one of the most effective tools
that helps in influencing the choices of the prospective customers in least specified time period.
It also helps in laying direct communication channels with their target customer base.
Theme 5: Innovation & creativity across organisations
5) Does social networking platforms helps in the process of exchange of ideas and foster the
process of innovation & creativity across organisations?
Respondent 1: Yes, social networking sites have emerged as great tool for having required
innovation and creativity that helps them in getting required competitive advantage as their
competitors.
Respondent 2: Yes, but only in some instances because it creates lot of confusion as a customer
which might lead to wrong decision making and there is requirement of lot of time in analysing
the pros and cons of each option.