CH 4: Research Methodology

4.1 What is research methodology?

The system of collecting data for research projects is known as research methodology. The
data may be collected for either theoretical or practical research for example management
research may be strategically conceptualized along with operational planning methods and
change management.

Some important factors in research methodology include validity of research data, Ethics and
the reliability of measures most of your work is finished by the time you finish the analysis of
your data.

Formulating of research questions along with sampling weather probable or non-probable is

followed by measurement that includes surveys and scaling. This is followed by research
design, which may be either experimental or quasi-experimental. The last two stages are data
analysis and finally writing the research paper, which is organized carefully into graphs and
tables so that only important relevant data is shown.

Business research is the process to find out unknown variables related to business decisions
or to find out unknown relation between known or unknown variables. Marketing research is
defined as the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data and findings
relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the company.

4.2 Problem Statements

(not done)

4.3 Research questions

(not done)

4.4 Research Objectives

 A. Primary Objective
i. To know about online consumer behaviour in surat city.

B. Secondary Objective
i. To know why they prefer to shop through online websites.
ii. To study the factors resisting consumers for making decision in purchasing
through online.

4.5 Research Design

4.5.1 Type of Research Design

Research design is the specification of methods and procedures for acquiring the information
needed. It is the overall operation pattern or framework of the project that shows that what
information is to be connected from which sources by what procedures.

Research design is classified into three types:

a) Exploratory Research: As its name implies the objective of exploratory research is

to explore or search through a problem or situations to provide insights and
understanding.
b) Descriptive Research: The purpose of this research is to describe characteristics of
the population or phenomenon. It seeks to determine the answers to who, what,
where, when and how questions.
c) Causal Research: The main goal of causal research is to identify cause and effect
relationship among variables. It is appropriate to determine the nature of the samples.

We will imply descriptive type of design as it can make us know about who, what, where,
when and how study is done.

4.5.2 Sampling

(Not done)
4.5.3Data collection tool

a. Primary data
Primary data are originated by a researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the
problem at hand. Obtaining primary data may be expensive and time consuming. It
will be collected by the filling the questionnaires.

b. Secondary Data
1. Secondary Data are the data that have already been collected for purpose other than
the problem at hand. These data can be located quickly and inexpensively.
2. In this study the data are collected to address the problem. The study includes the
primary data which are collected from the respondents. The data related to the
company and the industry will be collected through various sources of secondary data.
The reference books would also be useful in collecting the information.

Data Source

a. Primary Data Collection

For the collection of the primary data following methods were used:

 Personal Interview

Personal interviews of the customers are taken at different levels to get their
opinions and suggestions. And the interview was structured in nature.
In interview the investigator and the respondents set together and they exist
a face to face conversation between the two for a specific purpose. Interview is a
process of meet with interviewee either by telephone or face to face conversation
to discuss some purposeful thing.
 Telephonic Interview
In this method a interviewer from office or call center ask a question to to the
respondent. They ask questions one by one and therin fill the questionnaire by
themselves in paper. Also another method in which interviewer ask the questoion
and directly fill the data in computer.
 Mail Interview
 In this method one is the way where questionniares are posted through post office
or couriered to respected respondent. There is also another way in which group of
respondents will participate in periodic mail questionnaire and product testes
which is better known as mail panel system.

 Electronic Interview
This is conducted in two ways. First is E-mail interview in which respondent
direct mail is send to respondents and they fill the data whenever they get the time.
Second is internet interview in which special websites is prepared and respondent
are ask to fill the data by visting respective website.

4.5.4 Tools For Analysis

a. Sample size

The sample size in this study is small so the data cannot be accurate. The sample size
was 100. It means that 100 different respondents are the part of the study.

b. Sampling method

There are two methods and they are as follows:

a. Non-probability Sampling method:

Non-probability sampling is a sampling technique where the samples are gathered
in a process that does not give all the individuals in the population equal chances
of being selected.

b. Probability Sampling method:

Probability sampling is a sampling technique where the samples are gathered in a
process that gives all the individuals in the population equal chances of being
selected.
The Method which is used in my study is Convenience sampling method which is
the part of non-probability sampling method.

c. Sampling frame

The sampling frame of this study is Adajan, Bhatar, Piplod, Vesu and City light
 of the Surat city.

d. Sample element

The target market of the study includes all those who prefer online travel booking or
offline travel agencies. It includes the girls, boys, businessman, housewives and
children.

e. Survey tool:

The survey tool used for the study is structured questionnaire.

Analysis of Data

Analyses of the data are on the basis of the

 pie charts
 tables,
 bar diagram and
 percentage of the respondents.

4.5.5 Benefits of the study to

(not done)

4.5.6 Limitations of the Study

Limitation of time in the research project.

1. The scope of the study is limited in terms of place and usage both. This study is
limited up to the Surat city and cannot be used as the representative for the whole
target market of Britannia and Parle.
2. Difficulties to find the secondary data that exactly needed for some specific research
investigation.
3. Sampling method selected can also be the limitation because the respondents selected
are on the basis of the convenience of the interviewer not on the systematic basis.
4. The secondary data which will be collected from the Internet would not be exact.
5. There will be differences in understanding and interpretation.
6. Difficulty in hard to convey feelings and emotions.
7. Respondent may show dishonesty while answering to the questionnaire.
8. Some question may be difficult for resondet to analyse and therefore data can be
inadequate.