Business Research Method Research Proposal: Evaluating The Positives And Negatives Of Social Media Marketing

Justification of choosing the research question

Discuss about the Business Research Method Research Proposal.

This study will identify the positives and negatives of social media marketing. The use of social media is one of the most common phenomenon in the global business scenario as the advent of web 2.0 have widened the reach of social media. The number of persons enrolling to social media websites have increased significantly. Social media websites increases the visibility of the products and services of different organizations operating on global platform.

The global organizations have shifted their focus form being product oriented to marketing oriented. This has resulted in the use of the traditional marketing media to penetrate into the operating market. However, the traditional marketing media are expensive and increases the operational cost of any organization. On the other social media marketing is cheap and has a better reach than the traditional media due to the increase in popularity of the social media websites (Whiting & Deshpande 2014). The social media have increased the level of transparency among the consumers and the companies so having a strong social media presence is essential for the companies to gain competitive advantage. Social media websites are responsible for providing connectivity to those areas where the organization is unable to reach due to the entry barriers in that particular market. Therefore, it is essential for the companies in the market to incorporate strategies in order to reach potential consumers in such areas. However, even though, there are positives of using social media marketing there are certain disadvantages. The study will evaluate the concept of social media marketing to identify both the positives and negatives.

• To evaluate the positives and negatives of social media marketing
• To identify the different elements of social media marketing
• To recommend suitable strategies for mitigating the negative aspect of social media marketing

The research question is appropriate as it is will facilitate in identifying the positives and negatives of social media marketing. Similarly, secondary question will describe the different elements of social media.  The research will conclude by providing recommendation that can be used to mitigate the negative impacts of social media marketing.

Research methodology consist of different methods and frameworks used for gathering data and evaluating them. The research methodology can be various types based on the purpose of the research, research design, nature of the study and general classification.  The research methodology will extract the facts that are hidden in the study (Flick, 2015).  The study will provide valid justification for choosing each of the methods and frameworks. The research methodology in each study consists of some dogmatic assumptions that are implemented while conducting the research.  The different types of research are conclusive or exploratory, applied or fundamental, descriptive or analytical, qualitative or quantitative which are chosen based on different criteria. In this current study, the research methodology can be either fundamental or applied research based on the nature and purpose of the study (Humphries, 2017). This a fundamental research as it addresses a general scope for the study where the findings are generalized and applicable to all the industries. Moreover, the study does not address any specific problem so the study will explore materials to draw tentative conclusions.

Research Philosophy

Research philosophy defines the different ways of data analysis and collection.  The research philosophy describes the assumption in the study. The research philosophy is chosen based on the outcome that the study is trying to achieve. Pragmatism, positivism, realism and interpretivism are the different types of research philosophies. In this current study, interpretivism is the philosophy that has been selected (Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015).  This philosophy includes the human element and reality can retrieved by using social construction. Hermeneutics, constructivism and phenomenology are combined in interpretivism and in interpretive approach subjectivism is the appropriate view. This facilitates in collection of secondary data form different articles, blogs, new articles, and peer reviewed journals. The interpretive view provides flexibility to the research where naturalistic approach can be used to collect data using questionnaires and surveys. Moreover, the direction of focus can be easily shifted based on the data collected from the secondary analysis.

The different research approaches are deductive, inductive and abductive. The abductive research will provide shocking facts and the remaining research will provide valid justifications for such facts (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016). The inductive approach is used to develop new theories and frameworks and the theories developed are tentative theories which has to be proved to confirm it. The deductive approach is used for conducting quantitative analysis of data which can be used for hypothesis testing. This will prove the existing theories already been discussed in the literature review of the study. In this present study, inductive approach has been chosen as the study is subjective in nature.

Research design contains definite techniques of accumulating data and scrutinizing them. Research design is separated into two parts, one is conclusive research and other is exploratory research (Lewis, 2015). Exploratory investigation will target to discover the research question but any relevant conclusion may not be drawn from it. The problems that have not been defined specifically in the study will be evaluated using the exploratory research. The substitute option to a precise problem will be acknowledged using this research. The studies in which the conclusion have been specified conclusive research is used. Conclusive research is used to investigate the conclusion by developing premises that will lead to the conclusion (Marczyk, DeMatteo & Festinger, 2017). The present study is an exploratory study as interpretivism and inductive approach has been selected. Moreover, the research question does not have any definite conclusion so exploratory should provide a better result.

Data collection and analysis

The study will use mono method which consist of single research design. The research will use secondary data and secondary data will be collected through different peer reviewed journals, blogs, web articles and articles. The study will conduct secondary analysis of data where the content collected from different peer reviewed journals, blogs, web articles and articles will be analyzed. This means that content analysis is the basis of data evaluation in te study (Dumbach, 2014). On the other hand, the study will use thematic analysis where different themes will be developed based on the objective which will be analyzed by collecting data from diverse high quality journals.  The study will use evaluation of different cases regarding the use of social media marketing to identify the negative and positive impacts. This will facilitate in providing a different dimension to the study and the three mentioned method will valid the findings the developed using each of the methods. Therefore, qualitative analysis is the basis of analyzing data in this study.

Sampling is a technique of classifying the sample respondents from the overall populace. The target population in particular instances are very large and it is problematic, costly and time consuming to examine the statistics of the entire population. Sampling is implemented to diminish the sample size considerably that can successfully epitomize the general target population. The two types of sampling methods used in research of different nature are probabilistic sampling and non-probabilistic sampling (Palinkas et al., 2015). The different types of probabilistic sampling are cluster sampling, stratified sampling, systematic sampling and simple random sampling. The method of haphazardly choosing sample from the complete population is known as Simple random sampling. The nth variable from the entire list of respondents will be chosen in Systematic sampling where n is the range. In Cluster sampling, different groups are developed into clusters and other mentioned sampling methods are used. Therefore, multi stage sampling is the basis of choosing the sample population from all the sample. The sample populace is Stratified sampling if the population is separated into group of non-overlapping population and population sample is selected based on randomization. The different methods of non-probabilistic sampling are quota sampling, snowball sampling, judgement sampling, convenience sampling, and extensive sampling. In this current study non probabilistic sampling has been chosen where initially 15 articles will be chosen and non-probabilistic sampling will be used to reduce the sample size to 10 articles.

Reliability is the capacity of the study to reproduce the outcome obtained using different data sets. The reliability of secondary data analysis is hard to reach as the inclusion of human element make it impossible to replicate the result in most cases. The reliability of the study will be measured by conducting pilot study where the reproducing capability will be analyzed using different articles and cases.  The study will also use test rated reliability which will use different articles and peer reviewed journals to obtain the same result (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014). The validity of the study will inspect the relevance of the diverse approaches. In this present study, the appropriateness of the diverse methods will be identified using the content validity.

The most important aspect for the success of the study is research ethics and the authenticity of the data has been maintained by collecting journals and articles that are of highest quality. The study has used materials that are plagiarism free and the data taken from other sources have been cited (St John et al., 2016). There has been no manipulation of data collected from the study.   The journals have been selected based on their relevancy in the current market conditions and all the journals have been published within the last five years.

The biggest limitation of the study is that it consist of a single research design which will only provide the perspective of the authors that have spoken in the article.  The study has a broad scope and covering everything in the given span of time is challenging and not feasible for the study. The study may not produce any relevant findings as interpretivism is a risky philosophy where chances of not attaining any relevant data is quite prominent in research. Moreover, the study cannot provide any definitive conclusion and there are chances of shift in the focus of the study.

The current study has developed effective objectives, research questions, literature review and research methodology. The study is expected to reach the desired result if the suggested methodology is followed. The study will able to identify the positives and negatives of social media marketing but it is essential to identify the mitigation techniques that could be used to counter negative impact of social media marketing. This outcome can be obtained if the prescribed methods are followed.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded from the report that effective proposal has been developed which is aimed at examining and evaluating the different drawbacks and advantages of using social media marketing. Social media marketing is essential for gaining competitive advantage in the market for majority of the companies so the research holds significant importance in this context. Social media websites are responsible for providing connectivity to those areas where the organization is unable to reach due to the entry barriers in that particular market. Therefore, it is essential for the companies in the market to incorporate strategies in order to reach potential consumers in such areas.

References

Dumbach, M. (2014). Data collection and analysis. In Establishing Corporate Innovation Communities (pp. 70-78). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.

Flick, U. (2015). Introducing research methodology: A beginner’s guide to doing a research project. Sage.

Humphries, B. (2017). Re-thinking social research: anti-discriminatory approaches in research methodology. Taylor & Francis.

Lewis, S. (2015). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), 473-475.

LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2014). Reliability and validity. Nursing research-ebook: Methods and critical appraisal for evidencebased practice. Missouri: Elsevier Mosby, 289-309.

Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533-544.

Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2016). Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley & Sons.

St John, F., Brockington, D., Bunnefeld, N., Duffy, R., Homewood, K., Jones, J. P., … & Razafimanahaka, J. (2016). Research ethics: assuring anonymity at the individual level may not be sufficient to protect research participants from harm.

Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R., & DeVault, M. (2015). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.

Whiting, A., & Deshpande, A. (2014). Social media marketing: A myth or a necessity. The Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 16(5), 74.

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