Research Methods for Business Decisions

Question : Discuss with Statistics and Research Methods for Business Decisions ? Answer : Introduction: Contemporary society has recognized and accepted the contribution of the social media on the communication, promotion or other influential factors to ease the implementation of the strategies for any organization. Social media has become a familiar term nowadays; the main aspect that has made social media well recognized because it can connect the maximum of the people in minimum time. Thus, social media plays an important role in the promotion of the service or the products. This report has been constructed to propose a research on the topic Impact of Social Media on Promotion of Bakers Maison. Bakers Maison is one of the popular bakery shops in Australia. It is reputed for its taste, quality and variety of the baked foods. The service and the products are key elements behind the reputation of this bakery; however, it has also taken the digital promotion very seriously along with the traditional measures (Bakersmaison.com.au. 2016). Social presence of Baker's Maison has helped to reach millions of people about their products and service. The research will be conducted to verify the projection that social media has left the great impact on the promotion for Baker's Maison. This report has followed the perfect structure for a research proposal. To consider the theoretical approach literature review has been added here. Apart from that, research questions and hypotheses have been included to make the research more valid and practical. An important inclusion in this report is the description of the methods of the data collection and analysis of that information. Along with the research process, expected outcome has been given here so that a transparent idea can be obtained from the research from the research proposal. Literature review: Discussion in the chapter of the effect of social media on the promotion has been started since the ending of the 90s and now it has become one of the major concerns for the experts. Research has been undergoing to make social media the best platform for the promotional activities of any organization. As mentioned by, Sashi (2012), social media actually tend to share the condition with the audience by means of audio-visual measures and it is proved that visualization of a product or service makes it more interesting and attractive to the viewers or the buyers. On addition, utilization of social media as the promotional tool is cost-effective when comparing to the traditional methods (Papasolomou and Melanthiou 2012). Moreover, Tuten and Solomon (2014), mentioned that social media is influential due to its properties of connecting the audience instantly. As customers can give feedback directly to the service providers, they can easily act on those feedback top make the service and pro ducts better. Furthermore, as different companies are now inclining to the social media as their promotional tool, consumers can easily compare the products of their preferred brand to that of the others (Laroche et al. 2013). Research questions and hypotheses Research questions important as it helps the researcher to reasons that have led to conducting a research. For the research on the previously mentioned topic will be: What are the main aspects that have made social media important for the promotion? How different components of social media can be aligned with the promotional factors for Bakers Maison? Why Bakers Maison should give the social media more importance as a promotional tool? Hypotheses: Hypotheses for this research are H0- Social media has impact on the promotion of Bakers Maison H1- social media is not influential for the promotion of Bakers Maison. Operational definitions and measurement: Operational definition involves the process of operationalization for defining a process that is essential to determine the nature of variables. Ary et al. (2013), mentioned that the intensity of the operationalization is prone to vary, that is why it can result in less or more operational definitions. Measurement of the variables is another important approach; the variable can be defined as the symbol that varies in terms of quality and quantity. Variable are two types one is independent variable and another one is the dependent variable. Dependent variables can be controlled or manipulated during the research and the dependent variable is the piece of interest for the researcher. Independent variables can influence the change of dependent variables. Researcher actually looks for the change in the dependent variable so that they can understand the fact that changes in independent variables are influencing dependent variables (Coleman and Ringrose 2013). Here, in this research, the dependent variable is the promotion, whereas, the independent variable is the social media. The researcher will ask for the outcome to know the matter that changes in the practice of social media is effecting the promotional strategy for Baker Maison or not. Research methodologies: Data collection and analysis Research methodologies involve the description of the methods that will be applied during the research. Research methodologies represent the systematic presentation of the procedures that are required for the completion of the research. Sampling techniques: As mentioned by, Levy and Lemeshow (2013), sampling technique is crucial for a research because it is responsible for obtaining the maximum valid response during the research. For this research, probability sampling will be conducted. Probability random sampling is the technique where there is no boundary, restriction and particular criteria for the participation. In probability sampling, samples are chosen regardless of age, gender, social, political and economic background. The reason behind selecting probability sampling is to gather as much information as possible from the service users or customers because opinion and thoughts from every section of the society can be counted in this process. Moreover, social media is known factor to all that is why it will not get complicated if the sampling is selected randomly. In this regard, ethical consideration should be followed during the sample to avoid any moral degradation while conducting the research. Method of analysis: Data collection is followed prior to the data analysis. Data can be collected by using two types of sources; primary sources and secondary sources; primary sources involve the surveys, interviews, questionnaire session, online surveys and field observation. In this form of data collection direct interaction with the samples is held. Secondary research is the extraction of knowledge from different available academic sources like articles, journals and books. This form of research helps to enrich the idea about the research topic; researchers come to know different aspects of that particular research topic that have been recorded for years (Matthews and Ross 2014). Moreover, a theoretical comparison is also obtained if the researcher makes a comparison with the previous scenario and present scenario. For this research, both primary and secondary sources of data collection will be followed. Using both the type resources will help to obtain an outcome that is practically and theoretically satisfied. For the obtaining of primary resources, the researcher will conduct an online service on the topic social media has a great impact on the promotional strategy of the Baker's Maison. Secondary data will be collected from different journals, articles and books related to this topic. The method of analysis involves two different approaches; one is the qualitative analysis that involves analysis of the case studies, surveys and observations (Yilmaz 2013). Another one is the quantitative approach that involves numerical and statistical analysis of the data (Ritchie et al.2013). To make the data reliable and practical a number of charts, graphs are included. The research will conduct quantitative analysis to obtain accurate information on the research topic. Research process: The research process is the explanatory documentation on the entire steps and methods that will be followed from the starting to the completion of the research. A research process is the illustration of the disciplines and norms, maintained through the entire process of the research. The research topic is first selected and then research methodologies are followed step by step. The procedures of research methodologies must be followed strictly to successful completion of the research. Pickard (2012), divided the research process into four different parts; inquiry, collection, organization and presentation. Inquiry reflects looking for the appropriate data; the collection is gathering of the collected information; organization seeks the analysis of the data. The presentation is the completion of the research. Expected outcomes: The expectation from this research is that it will be successful to assess the impact of the social media on the promotion of the Bakers Maison. If the company revise the result of the research it will get acknowledged about the future strategies for the promotion through social media. Proper implementation of the research methodologies will also help to gain valid data on the thoughts, opinions and expectation of the sample. Moreover, revision of the research cane is helpful for the reader to understand the emerging trend of the promotion and the factors that influencing the trend. Conclusion: The research proposal has been constructed on the research topic social media has an impact on the promotion for Baker's Maison. Social media has become very popular way to promote any service and this report has proposed a research so that importance of the social media for promotion can be evaluated or justified. The inclusion of the literature review has added a theoretical account of this report. In addition, research questions and hypotheses have given to draw a clear outline for the objective of the research. Research methodologies have explained the sampling techniques, data collection and data analysis methods so that an idea can be obtained by how the research will be going. research process has elaborately described the procedures. Expected outcome and its impact have been added to give the research proposal accountability prior to the research. Reference List: Ary, D., Jacobs, L.C., Sorensen, C.K. and Walker, D., 2013.Introduction to research in education. Cengage Learning. Bakersmaison.com.au., 2016. Home. Available at: https://www.bakersmaison.com.au/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Coleman, R. and Ringrose, J. eds., 2013.Deleuze and research methodologies. Edinburgh University Press. Laroche, M., Habibi, M.R. and Richard, M.O., 2013. To be or not to be in social media: How brand loyalty is affected by social media?.International Journal of Information Management,33(1), pp.76-82. Levy, P.S. and Lemeshow, S., 2013.A sampling of populations: methods and applications. John Wiley Sons. 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