Marketing Essay: Social Impact
In this module, you will work on a live project developed by the module leader in conjunction with a third party organisation, The Social Impact Team (SIT). Assignment B will take the form of a 3000 words (+/-10%) essay. In response to the Social Impact Team’s client brief (see Appendix I below), you are asked to develop EITHER a (1) qualitative research instrument OR (2) quantitative questionnaire survey to address the following topic: Consumer’s Perception of Greenwashing and Eco-Anxiety (see client’s brief below for further details).
In this assignment, you should focus your discussion on the process of developing either a qualitative or a quantitative instrument. In your essay, you must provide clear rationale to justify your methodological choices by drawing on relevant research theories and readings introduce to you in your module. Explain the research procedures involved in operationalising your research design. Lastly, reflect on the limitations of your research design and discuss the ethical issues that may arise in your study. You are expected to cite academic references to support your arguments.
Note: Please do not conduct fieldwork/collect primary data as part of this assignment. This assignment asks that you pitch your research design by taking on the role of a researcher at a market research agency. You are not expected to conduct fieldwork for this assessment as this would require ethics approval from the module leader.
Guidance on Essay Preparation and Writing
Prior to writing your essay, please follow the guidance below on how to prepare for your essay.
Preparation prior to writing your essay:
- Read the client’s brief below and note down the research need highlighted by the Social Impact Team. What information does SIT require?
- Conduct a brief literature search on the topic stipulated in the client’s brief. I have provided a number of readings on the topic, which you can consult as a starting point. You are not expected to do extensive reading on the topic. Rather the literature should be used only to identify: suitable topic areas for developing an interview guide (qualitative research) or relevant variables that inform the development of hypothesis, which in turn shape the design of a questionnaire (quantitative research).
- List 1-2 broad research aim(s), and no more than 4-5 research objectives for the topic.
- Based on your research aim and objectives, consider whether qualitative (Option A) or quantitative (Option B) research should be used to address these research objectives.
- If you propose to conduct quantitative research, outline a list of hypotheses for testing.
- On a piece of paper, outline your research design. First, decide which data collection method is best suited to address your research aim/objectives and/or hypotheses you have outlined above. As part of your preparation, outline or sketch a plan on how your data collection method can address them.
- For example, if you propose to conduct quantitative research, design a questionnaire, making sure you utilise different types of measures (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) that will allow you to address the listed hypotheses above.
- If you propose to conduct qualitative research, focus on developing a research instrument for ONE qualitative data collection method only: focus group, in-depth interview or ethnography.
- If you propose to conduct qualitative research, design an interview/observation guide making sure you utilise different interviewing techniques (e.g. projective techniques) and different types of questions/observations that will allow you to address your research objectives above.