Exploratory Research Design for Investigating Consumer Feelings Towards Print Advertising
The purpose of the first research objectives is to investigate the consumers’ feelings towards print advertising in Grill’d and other similar restaurants so the study will choose an exploratory research design. The exploratory research design is selected for investigating of the research problem, where the knowledge is significantly low (Brace, 2018). It assists in investigating and developing the research through the continuous identification of new facts and observations. Therefore, it evaluates a problem that is well defined, and in this case, the feelings of the consumers towards print advertisements are not clear (Erickson, 2017). Therefore, the feelings of the consumers towards print advertisement can be better understood but the results will not be conclusive. It will start with a basic idea and use it as the medium of identifying different issues so that significant emphasis can be placed on future research. The problem identified is at the initial stages so exploratory research is the right way to examine the feelings of the consumers.
Research Strategy can be described as the step-by-step plan for providing direction to efforts and thoughts so that the market research can be conducted systematically for producing quality and detailed results. It describes the rationale of the research for accomplishing the desired goals (Hague, 2021). The research will choose a quantitative research technique where the data will be collected using the primary method. A survey questionnaire will be used to gather information for the respondents’ groups, and these respondent groups have been predefined. There are different survey types used for exploring opinions and trends, and online surveys have become significantly common for their easy accessibility. The surveys can be accessed through tablets, laptops, and mobile phones (Nunan & Di Domenico, 2019). These surveys often offer rewards to the respondents for gathering a higher level of responses. In this case, the survey has been chosen as the respondents are quite impatient, and they do not want to spend too much time behind it. Therefore, the survey will be developed with multiple choice answers so that the desired result can be gathered and their perspective can be understood objectively (Tulung & Ramdani, 2018).
The research will choose a survey questionnaire where QuestionPro has been used for developing the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 12 questions, where demographic questions and questions on consumer feelings about print advertisement have been asked. The first two questions are on age and gender, which facilitates understanding the demographic background of the respondents. The remaining questions have been developed to address the feelings of the consumers towards print media (Malhotra, Nunan & Birks, 2017). It checks the trust level of the consumers towards print media and the credibility of the print will also be examined. It also examines the importance of print media for the consumers so that the company can find out whether they should spend on print media or not. The questionnaire has used the nominal and the ordinal scale to develop the questions, and it is the most effective of developing the questionnaire (McDaniel Jr & Gates, 2018).
Quantitative Research Technique for Data Collection
Grill’d is one of the major burger joints serving healthy burgers to the consumers so the consumer segment consists of the mass market looking for a healthier fast-food option as fast food is one of the most popular food segments. When the target population is huge, sampling is used to choose a small subset that can represent the overall target population. Sampling is used to reduce the complexity, cost, and time taken for gathering data and examining it (Brace, 2018). The sampling process commences by selecting the target population for the research and this market research has selected the consumers of Australia as the target population. The next step is choosing the sampling frame for the market research which will include the consumers in Sydney and Melbourne. The sample size for the current study is 200 consumers coming into the stores for meals. The next step is choosing the sampling technique for the current research (Sarstedt et al., 2018).
Probabilistic sampling uses randomization to choose respondents and this is the basic difference between probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling (Sarstedt et al., 2018). The current marketing objective can be addressed using a probabilistic sampling method where simple random sampling will be used to choose respondents for the survey. It will assist in reducing the bias in the research by actually identifying the feelings of random consumers resulting in a lack of sampling bias.
In case of market research, Field work is the terminology used for collecting primary data from different external sources, which is often followed by evaluation and investigation of the evidence gathered. The restaurant will hire a fieldwork company for conducting the survey and will use quantitative methodologies where CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews) will be conducted with face-to-face interviews in stores. However, the fieldworkers have to abide by the strict guidelines of reliability and data protection and follow the guidelines provided by the restaurant. Therefore, none of the consumers should be disturbed during their meals, and if the consumers do not want to participate in the survey, they will not be forced to. The consumers will be provided a brief introduction regarding the purpose of the survey in a polite and objective way. Similarly, the anonymity and privacy of the consumers will be protected to ensure their confidentiality. Moreover, the fieldworkers will have to be aware of the purpose of the survey at all times, and remain attentive to gather data will high reliability. They will also have to focus on the local WHS policies before visiting the survey areas. The fieldwork team shall consist of 4 members in a team where one of the team will be the team leader and will monitor and guide the performance of other respondents.
The purpose of the second research objective is to investigate the characteristics of a Grill’d print advertisement to produce the highest purchase intention and attitudes so the research will select an explanatory research design. The explanatory research design examines the cause-and-effect relationship between the characteristics, purchase intention, and attitude of the consumers (Brace, 2018). Explanatory research design examines the theories in past research by validating the results using statistical tools and techniques. It uses inferential statistics for validating the results. The consumer behaviour and marketing theories will be used to develop the questionnaire, and validate these theories, and establishing the relationship is the most effective way of understanding the different characteristics of print media that affect consumer behaviour (Erickson, 2017). This research will use a cross-sectional study so that the data is collected of a specific time frame so the change in behaviour cannot be examined using the causal relationship design.
Random Sampling for Respondent Selection
Research strategy has been defined as the planning process of market research that helps in gathering a direction by ensuring effective efforts and thoughts. It results in a systematic process of gathering information and generating high-quality and detailed data results. The rationale of the study has also been described using the research strategy that facilitates in achieving the mentioned goals (Hague, 2021). A quantitative research technique will be used where a close-ended survey questionnaire will be developed consisting of questions on a Likert scale for examining the different factors affecting the attitude and purchase intention of the consumers (Erickson, 2017). The data will be collected using a primary method where the respondents will be predefined so that proper data can be gathered. Surveys are used for diverse purposes, they can be used to examine trends, opinions, and even causal relationships between variables, and survey online has gained significant popularity due to accessibility to real-time data, and convenience for both the consumers and the fieldworkers (Nunan & Di Domenico, 2019). The surveys can be accessed through tablets, mobile phones, and laptops, and these surveys have been used to provide offer rewards to the respondents so that a large number of responses can be gathered. The survey has been chosen as a causal relationship cannot be evaluated using a qualitative interview, and a close-ended survey facilitates in gathering the data required. Moreover, it is highly convenient for the consumers and can be finished within 10 minutes so they do not need to spend much time on it. The survey will comprise multiple-choice answers along with questions on the Likert Scale (McDaniel Jr & Gates, 2018).
The survey questionnaire for the research has been developed using QuestionPro that provides free access to developing questionnaires. The questionnaire consists of 6 questions, where the first three questions are in the demographic aspect of the respondents and include age, gender, and income of the consumers. The second part of the questionnaire consists of questions on attitude, purchase intention of the consumers, and print media characteristics (Tulung & Ramdani, 2018). The first three questions have been developed using the nominal and ordinal scale whereas the questions in the second section have been developed using the Five Point Likert scale as it will facilitate examination of the causal relationship between print media characteristics, and its impact on the purchase intention, and attitude of the consumers. The questionnaire has been developed as such that the three variables can be compared using inferential statistics and descriptive statistics (Malhotra, Nunan & Birks, 2017).
Grill’d is one of the major burger brands in Australia and have set up more than 100 stores in different locations, and the target market consists of consumers looking for healthier and tastier burger option. When the target population is huge, sampling is used to choose a small subset that can represent the overall target population. Sampling is used to reduce the complexity, cost, and time taken for gathering data and examining it (Sarstedt et al., 2018). The first step of the sampling process is choosing the target population which consists of the consumers in Australia. The following step includes the sampling framework where the consumers that can contribute effectively should be chosen, and it consists of the consumers in Sydney and Melbourne stores. The sample size for the research is 300 consumers coming into the store and the final step is selecting the sampling technique for conducting the market research.
Probabilistic sampling uses randomization to choose respondents and this is the basic difference between probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling (Sarstedt et al., 2018). The current marketing objective can be addressed using a probabilistic sampling method where stratified random sampling will be used for the survey, where the respondents will be divided into different strata, and respondents will be selected from each stratum randomly. Therefore, the respondents will be divided based on their seating arrangements, and one respondent from each of the seating areas will be chosen.
Field work has been used for collecting primary data by using external sources where the data collected is sent for further investigation and analysis. The company will hire a market research company to conduct the fieldwork where CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews) will be used to gather the information so that the respondents can quickly fill up the survey, and the data can be tracked in real-time for quality. It will include face to face interviews within the stores, and the fieldworkers will provide strict guidelines for managing the reliability of the data, and protecting the privacy of the consumers. Moreover, the fieldworkers will be provided with a proper code of conduct so none of the respondents feels disturbed and they participate voluntarily. However, the free vouchers to be given to the respondents should be promptly put into the conversation so that they are willing to participate. Similarly, the anonymity and privacy of the consumers will be protected to ensure their confidentiality. Moreover, the fieldworkers will have to be aware of the purpose of the survey at all times, and remain attentive to gather data will high reliability.
References
Brace, I. (2018). Questionnaire design: How to plan, structure and write survey material for effective market research. Kogan Page Publishers.
Erickson, G. S. (2017). New methods of market research and analysis. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Hague, P. (2021). Market research in practice: An introduction to gaining greater market insight. Kogan Page Publishers.
Nunan, D., & Di Domenico, M. (2019). Rethinking the market research curriculum. International Journal of Market Research, 61(1), 22-32.
Tulung, J. E., & Ramdani, D. (2018). Independence, size and performance of the board: An emerging market research. Corporate Ownership & Control, 15(2).
Malhotra, N., Nunan, D., & Birks, D. (2017). Marketing research: An applied approach. Pearson.
McDaniel Jr, C., & Gates, R. (2018). Marketing research. John Wiley & Sons.
Sarstedt, M., Bengart, P., Shaltoni, A. M., & Lehmann, S. (2018). The use of sampling methods in advertising research: A gap between theory and practice. International Journal of Advertising, 37(4), 650-663.