MKMR303 Marketing Research Proposal Method

The sudden decision by the management of Coles and Woolworths to ban the use of plastic bags in their stores came as a shock to the customers and the stores experienced the presumed outrage of such a hasty and weird decision (Mortimer and Russell-Bennett 2018). The management of both the companies was too fast in taking the decision and implementing them in a hurry. The main outrage came from the regulars and the loyal customers in their stores. The decision though applauded and praised by the environmental groups was met with severe criticism, abuse and even in worst cases with assault (Chib and Sheikh 2016). The following research will be based on the reasons that were mainly behind the cause of such an outrageous event. The research will be based on exploring the various factors that were clearly related to the understandings of the different factors behind such an outrage and also the reasons which forced the management of the companies to take such a decision (Mortimer 2017). The research will concentrate largely on Woolworths Company and will highlight the reasons behind the huge outrage amongst the loyal employees of Woolworths. 

The main problem or the issue that lay behind the decision to ban plastic was especially the breaching of the psychological contract of the company with that of the customers. The major issue was created when a company with the reputation of Woolworths decided to ban the use of plastic bags suddenly (Grimmer 2018). There has been earlier a pre ban psychological contract with each and every customers of the supermarket that he will shop the things from the supermarket and in return the employees of the supermarket will pack the goods for him for free (Mortimer 2017). Therefore the breach in the following area was surely one of the major problems. The research will thus find out the reasons behind this main problem accordingly.

Research Questions

Some of the research questions that can be sorted out from the following research are as follows;

1. What were the reasons behind the outrage of the customers of Woolworths just after the ban of the plastic bags?
2. What are the reasons behind the ban of the plastic bags by the management of Woolworths?
3. What can be some recommendations on the avoidance of public backlash against such decisions?

Research Methodology

The nature of the study is one of the most key elements in the research and it prepares a proper base for the preparation of a methodology for the particular study. The methodology part that will be prepared in the research will describe in detail about the various kinds of methods as well as the different processes that are helpful to derive the strategies of the following research. The research will be based on the use of the quantitative as well as the qualitative research study to have a much in depth analysis of the different forms of data. 

The descriptive research design will be chosen as the means of the following research as it has the capability to provide the perfect analysis by relating to the different theories and concepts related to the outrage happened due to the ban of plastic bags in Woolworths. The large scale use and easy acceptability will also be one of the main reason for the selection of the particular research topic.

The deductive research approach will be the main form of approach of the particular research. The use of deductive approach will be helpful to formulate the much needed hypothesis on whether the outrage caused by the ban had an effect on the operations and the productivity of the organization.

The selection of the survey and interview research strategy in order to complete the conduction of the research an appropriate and suitable sampling technique needs to be selected. The research will be using the Systematic Probability sampling technique in this particular regard.  The use of the following sampling technique has been selected to avoid any form of biasness in the research and construct a clear and transparent research.

Data Collection Technique

The use of both primary and secondary data collection methods will be used in the case of this particular research method. The conduction of the literature review will be totally based on the secondary data analysis (Domhoff and Fox 2015). The data of the secondary sources will be collected from the likes of the journals, paper publications, company articles, internet sources and many others as such. The use of the primary data collection technique will be useful to analyze the reaction of the people, especially the customer of Woolworths. The primary data will all be based on the quantitative data analysis. A number of open-ended and close-ended questions will be formed in this particular regard. The research will be conducted over a selected number of employees and customers of Woolworths.

The data will be analyzed accordingly. The primary data will be analyzed using the SPSS method while the secondary data will be analyzed by a thorough verification of the different resources. The SPSS method will be helpful for the research as because it will help to gather and collect the correct and accurate data that will be helpful for research of such complex issues (Domhoff and Fox 2015). The secondary research analysis on the other hand will help the research to find out the reasons behind the outrage of the customers in view of the ban of the plastic bags.

Ethics must be the main priority of the following research. The research must be based on free thoughts and not thoughts and ideas must be copied from any other researches. The participants of the research must be assured of security and safety in the form of their participation and responses to the research contents. Apart from this the research must follow the basic rules and regulations and must be completed within time using reliable information.

Timeline and Gantt chart

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
Research Proposal Project Timeline	101 days	Tue 8/28/18	Tue 1/15/19
Selection of the Research Topic	1 day	Tue 8/28/18	Tue 8/28/18
Approval of the Research Topic	2 days	Wed 8/29/18	Thu 8/30/18
Identification of the Secondary Data Sources	30 days	Fri 8/31/18	Thu 10/11/18
Start of the collection of the Secondary data	1 day	Fri 10/12/18	Fri 10/12/18
End of Data Collection	35 days	Mon 10/15/18	Fri 11/30/18
Submission of the Draft	1 day	Mon 12/3/18	Mon 12/3/18
Assembling the total Secondary Data	20 days	Tue 12/4/18	Mon 12/31/18
Finalizing the total Research in a Organized manner	10 days	Tue 1/1/19	Mon 1/14/19
Submission of the Final Research	1 day	Tue 1/15/19	Tue 1/15/19

 

References

Chib, S. and Sheikh, H., 2016. Eco Friendly Carry Bags: Shop Owner's Perception. Splint International Journal of Professionals, 3(6), p.7.

Domhoff, G.W. and Fox, K.C., 2015. Dreaming and the default network: A review, synthesis, and counterintuitive research proposal. Consciousness and cognition, 33, pp.342-353.

Grimmer, L., 2018. ‘Good business sense’: Coles and Woolworths to rake in $71 million profit from plastic bag ban: Interview with Frank Chung.

Mortimer, G. and Russell-Bennett, R., 2018. Why plastic bag bans triggered such a huge reaction. The Conversation, (16).

Mortimer, G., 2017. Getting rid of plastic bags: A windfall for supermarkets but it won’t do much for the environment. The Conversation, (17).

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