Researching the Purchase Intentions of Consumers Concerned About Ethics: A Mixed Methods Research Pr

Some investors are questioning the viability of this strategy. They are questioning whetherthe moves to ‘ethical product’ will have a negative impact on their investment,and whether consumers are discerning.The company has hired you as a consultant to conduct some research and deliver a seriesof recommendations. They wish to find out more about this target market of ‘ethical product'. To justify the intended business strategy, they want to know if people who saythey are concerned about the ethics of consumption, actually turn these concerns intopurchasing decisions. They also want to find out more about the viability of, and strategiesfor, increasing this target market.

You will need to present substantial evidence using primary and secondary research to backup your claims and recommendations, as the results from your research may influence thedirection in the future.

Project Phases and Assessment
You are to complete a research project in response to the brief above. This research projectwill be self-guided, meaning that the steps you are to undertake to carry out the project havemostly been decided for you.

Phase 1: Problem discovery and definition
For this phase, you will work to define purchase intention links with price, knowledge, virtuos traits dilemma and the scope and direction of your research.

For this phase, you will need to:
Complete a preliminary exploration of the broad topic of the project, as defined by theconsultancy project brief, familiarising yourself with terms and concepts.Draft a working title, a research aim, research objectives and research questions,based on the project brief and your preliminary exploration of the topic.

Phase 2: Planning the research design
With the support of your instructor, you will work to design your mixedmethods research project and produce a methodology and research tools to use to collect data.

There are two main elements to complete and submit for this assessment:
a) Methodology (1500 words)
b) Research tools and associated documentation (no word limit)

To complete this assessment, you will need to reflect on what you found out through yourliterature reviews to re-define your project aim, objectives and research questions to designan achievable project, involving the collection of data through appropriate qualitative (e.g.focus groups) and quantitative data (e.g. survey) collection tools.In this phase, it is important to consider the limitations and scope of your project. What isachievable regarding data collection in terms of these limitations (e.g. time and what hasbeen specified above)? How will you transcribe, enter and organise your data in preparationfor analysis? How long will this take?

Your project must:

•Be mixed methods in design

•Collect and use both qualitative and quantitative data

•Use a convenience sample of friends and family (n=10 min for each group member,not exceeding a total sample of 50 for the whole group if collecting quantitative data).

Your methodology should:

•Include your project aim, objectives and research questions

•Describe and justify your mixed methods research design, identifying the type of design and describe the mixing, timing and weighting of the study

•Show an understanding of and care for research ethics

•Describe your method, including a description and justification of sampling design and the tools you will use to collect data

•Describe and justify how you will organise and analyse your data