Sample Research Proposal on The Effect of Extraversion on Impulsive Buying Among High School Students
Summary This paper presents a proposal for a research involving the effects of extraversion on impulsive buying among high school students which includes the statement of the problem, the research objectives, the procedures for the research and the nature of the data collected and its analysis. There will also be an outline of the ethical issues that the study may raise. Finally, the paper provides a gant chart which shows the estimate duration of the research. Background The issue on the underlying reasons as to what drives impulsive behavior has long been the interest of many marketers and academic scholars. They have significantly focused on what causes a person to indulge. The context of impulsive behavior has been studied in a variety of fields including shopping, gambling, drinking and sex. Different views from literature have emerged on the mental processes underlying such behavior. Advocates of the cognitive view have suggested that impulsive behavior arises from a tendency to over-value benefits ad undervalue long term consequences. According to this argument, individuals try to maximize the immediate utility of consumption even as they come to conflict with the goal of maximizing a higher-order long term utility. Failures happen due to the inconsideration of long-term costs unless they are certain and salient (Puri, 1996). A different perception on impulsive behavior highlights the relationship between the affective and the cognitive systems (Hoch and Loewenstein, 1991, Metcalfe and Mischel, 1999; Shiv and Fedorikhin, 2002). This body of work has suggested that actions regarding indulgence are influenced by two separate processes which are the activation of spontaneous lower order affective reactions in response to tempting stimuli and more intentional, conscious and cognitive reactions. Hence, impulses have also been defined as "desires" which compete with the "willpower" of the individual (Hoch and Loewenstein, 1991). Metcalfe and Mischel (1999) hypothesize that impulses are guided by "hot" or affect-laden cognitions and often carry on to completion when "cold" or rational cognitions are under-developed. Shiv and Fedorikhin (2002) found verification for the activation of appetitive or approach goals when lower-order affective reactions occurred after exposure to a temptation. While all these accounts have largely concentrated on single indulgence situations, they do not address why some individuals over-indulge over time by going on shopping splurges. In addition, they have not explored the world of the teens. They have generalized individuals to be the same regardless of their ages. The purpose of this research is to explore first the buying patterns of the teens. Once the researcher has established proof that teenagers particularly high school students have a tendency for impulsive buying, an appropriate framework will be provided as to explain the impulsive buying pattern among high school students. The research will be of significance to other scholars in the field of psychology as there is only limited research on the extraversion of the impulsive buying among high school students. This research serves to be one of the pioneering researches conducted in studying the effect of the extraversion among high school students and is also hoped to be a future reference for subsequent studies related to the topic. In addition, the research will also be able to help marketers of companies for manipulating individuals to purchase their products. The data acquired in this research will provide merchandising companies with sound evidence which will help them increase their sales and maximize their profits. Aims/Objectives The main objective of this research is to identify and analyze the various effects of extraversion on impulsive buying among high school students. The study aims to achieve the following: a. To determine the buying patterns among teens; b. To categorize the effects of the buying patterns of the teens as either an advantage or disadvantage; c. To understand what drives impulsive buying among the teens particularly those in the age bracket of 14 to 18 (high school students); and d. To analyze and evaluate the effects of the extraversion of these buying patterns among teens. Procedures In every research, an organized data gathering is necessitated to pinpoint the research philosophies and theories that will be included in the research, the methodology and the instruments of data interpretation (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003). This particular study will be using a descriptive approach which will utilize observations in the study. This descriptive type of research is to collect information about the present existing condition of the extraversion of the buying pattern of high school students. The purpose of using this type of research method is to illustrate the nature of the situation as it exists at the time of the study as well as explore the cause/s of the particular phenomena. The researcher has opted for this type of research taking into account the desire of the researcher to acquire first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendation for this study. The research is based on qualitative research methods which will allow a flexible and iterative approach. During the course of the data gathering, the choice and design of methods will be constantly modified basing on the ongoing analysis of the study. This will allow investigation of relevant issues and questions that may arise, as well as allow the investigator to drop unproductive areas of research from the original research plan (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003). There will be three sources of data in the research. These sources include: primary, secondary and tertiary sources. Primary sources are those data obtained from the questionnaires as well as the in-depth interviews among the respondents who are basically high school students. The secondary sources are those information obtained from previous studies on the topic as well as existing literature on the topic from various books and journals. Finally, the tertiary sources are those observations made by the researcher. All of these sources are believed to complement one another in the data analysis because they would either support or disprove the other which would eventually make the research more encompassing because all pertinent prevailing issues were covered. The researcher has decided to conduct the study in three high schools in The questionnaires that are distributed to the three schools are delivery and collection type of questionnaires. Fifty questionnaires will be delivered to each school and will be randomly distributed to the high school students by their guidance counselors. Aside from the questionnaires as data collection, the researcher will visit the respective schools to interview some high school students with regards to the research topic. An in-depth interview will happen in the counselor's office which will be permitted by the principal of the school. The one-on-one interview will last for 30 minutes for each student wherein the research records the whole course of the interview as well as takes down important notes and non-verbal expressions communicated by the interviewee. Data Analysis The information collected from the interviews will be manipulated using the by utilizing the open-coding and axial coding procedures which will facilitate easier analysis of the qualitative information gathered. Patterns, similarities and differences of the responses made by the interviewees of the study will be classified and categorized in order to form logical data analysis and presentation. Each of the concepts that will be tackled during the in-depth interview method will be analyzed and related accordingly in order to come up with sensible findings and results. Ethics Upon conducting this study, there will be several ethical issues that will be raised along the way such as access to the participants, informed consent, confidentiality and/or anonymity, potential harm to participants, the uses of the information and the conflict of interests. All of these issues will be discussed in this section. Access to the participants includes right of entry to the participants for the observation and interviews and questionnaire respondents. The researcher must allow himself/herself sufficient time to gain access to the participants. This means that prior to the time allotted for the research itself, the researcher is to have sufficient time for planning which will include activities of contacting and meeting with their intended participants and providing assurances. Some of the researcher's strategies to gain access to its participants are to use existing contacts and develop new ones, to provide a clear account of the purpose and type of access necessitated, to illustrate to he organization the possible benefits to the organization in granting access, to use suitable language when communicating with intended participants, to facilitate ease of reply when requesting access and to establish credibility with intended participants. For informed consent, the researcher plans to inform the intended participants the nature of the research (its purpose, people undertaking the research, sponsorship, people asked to participate, degree of progression), the requirements of taking part, the implications of taking part and the participants rights and about the use of data collected and the way with which it will be reported. In gathering the data, ethical issues like anonymity or confidentiality, potential harm to participants, the uses of information and conflict of interest of roles will be raised. Confidentiality and anonymity have been shown to the important in terms of gaining access to individuals and organizations and once promises regarding confidentiality and anonymity are made, it is of great relevance to make sure that these are maintained. Thus, the researcher aims that the following ethics are observed during the course of the research: (1) to respect the privacy rights of the intended and actual participants; (2) to avoid deceiving the participants why the researcher is undertaking the research, its purpose and how they will be used by informing giving the participants and informed consent; (3) to maintain the researcher's objectivity during the data collection, analysis and reporting stages; (4) to respect assurances provided to the individuals about the confidentiality of the data; (5) to respect assurances given to organizations and individuals and their anonymity; and (6) to consider the collective interests of the participants in the way the data provided are being used. However, it should be noted that the data collection with the use of observation will raise some ethical issues; hence, the boundaries of what is permissible to be observed should be clearly drawn by the researcher. Without this type of agreement, the principal participants may feel and find that their actions are being constrained (Bryman, 1988). In addition, the researcher will avoid attempting to observe behavior associated with the participant's personal life. Furthermore, without the clear agreement of the researcher and the observed participant, the latter will find the observation process as an intrusion on their privacy right. Timeline Below is a gant chart that provides a schedule which plots the tasks, people responsible for these tasks and a timeline for the tasks. Gant charts are valuable and practical as they allow the team to examine the architecture of the structure of the project or the study and easily identify the responsibilities. The gant chart will serve as a document that the researcher uses in his/her planning as a visualization tool in see how the tasks will depend upon each other. |
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