Perceptible Changes in Consumer and Economic Behaviour: A Causality Analysis

Tagged: Research Methodology

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A systematic and intentional research approach is supposed to yield data about a particular study issue and problem (McMillan 2010). The technique selected for the proposed study is fully described in this section. It outlines the research design planning, representative participant selection procedures, data collection methods, and analysis. An in-depth examination of the ethics considered for this research project will also be included. The process of conducting research will be discussed in this chapter. As a result, this paper seeks to justify and discuss the decision to employ the survey strategy chosen for this study. Finally, this chapter begins with a philosophical introduction to quantitative research, followed by a brief discussion of research design. Finally, the chapter will also provide information on data analysis while defining the target population, sample size, instruments utilized for data collecting, and research techniques.

The term "research design" applies to the methodology for gathering, analyzing, interpreting, and reporting data (Creswell 2017). It is a comprehensive road map guiding the research investigation and achieving its objectives. Throughout the process of creating the research study, several wise decisions were taken (Petre, M., Minocha, S., & Roberts, D. 2006). First, the research approach is crucial since it determines how data for the research study will be gathered. Before conducting the survey, weighing the benefits and costs is essential because tactical choices must consider time and money limits. Second, a well-planned, controlled, and structured study design is one of the most critical strategies for acquiring relevant data regarding the questionnaire. Third, there are three categories of research designs: exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory.

The questions guiding this research will be answered using an explanatory design in the present study. Surveys will be utilized to discover perceptible changes in consumer and economic behaviour under new standard settings, which a systematic testing approach will help. An explanatory study design would be employed to examine behavioural finance changes further. Therefore, it has been determined that this design is the most suited for this research.

The research philosophy's source, evolution, and information and knowledge development are all aspects. Research philosophy is a methodology for gathering, analyzing, and utilizing primary data. A research philosophy may be recognized using the philosophical systems of positivism and Interpretivism.

Personal judgements are included in interpretative research to describe meanings and comprehend reality. Investigating phenomena in their natural environment while accepting that the scientists or researchers who study them cannot avoid having an impact on the phenomena is known as Interpretivism. The anti-foundational group, Interpretivism, believes there is no perfect, single route to a particular procedure or piece of knowledge. This suggests that meaning is filtered according to the researchers' expectations and depends on the participant's experiences.

Positivism is based on the Realism stance, which holds that the scientific mirror can be utilized to comprehend the real world. According to this method, the fact is unchanging and may be seen and expressed objectively without affecting the researched subject. Since only one independent variable is needed to identify the patterns and linkages among the numerous elements of the social environment, reality regularly changes. Positivism would be the disclosure and presentation of facts supported by actual data (Shiningayamwe, D. N. E., Shalyefu, R. K., & Kanyimba, A. T. 2014). Strategies for data collecting concentrate on gathering accurate numerical data to make it easier to convey the evidence quantitatively (Khanna, P. 2019).

As a result, positivists are considered to place a high value on using trustworthy and legitimate procedures to clarify and characterize events. A positivist philosophy is considered the most appropriate given that this study is about a causality examination of apparent consumer and economic behaviour changes.

The research methodology also covers the design and creation of the procedures needed to conduct a study. Deductive and inductive research methodologies are the two categories. Based on the research variables in this instance and various recent observations and analyses, deductive reasoning is employed to gather the data (Eyisi, D. 2016). A research approach can be considered a method and strategy that includes stages ranging from general hypotheses to a thorough method for gathering, evaluating, and interpreting data. Thus, the nature of the study problem under inquiry would be the focus. A) an inductive method and B) a deductive approach are the two main groups into which the research approach is essentially divided. An inductive analytical method would be required if the data were qualitative. On the other hand, it would often utilize a deductive method when the data is quantitative.

The deductive methodology used in this study is advantageous for evaluating ideas proposed to explain changes in consumer and economic behaviour under new normal circumstances.

This description of qualitative research illustrates in basic terms how it contains all necessary tools that can prompt and aid in recall while also aiding in problem-solving. They consist of open-ended questions, observations, in-depth interviews, and field notes. The employed data-gathering methods provide a thorough overview of the research from the viewpoint of the participating participants. The qualitative research methodology improves our understanding of behaviour through participant observation and evaluation of the traits of the focal group. It provides much knowledge about genuine people and events (Rudolph, J. 2015).

The researcher can use the time and resources saved by using statistical data for study analysis to focus on summarising the results. Calculating data like numbers, quantitative figures, and percentages using SPSS, the social science statistics software. The investigation's justifications, interpretations, and findings are all under the researcher's control (Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., & Griffin, M. 2013).

The mixed-method approach is a research technique that adopts a comprehensive viewpoint and incorporates data collection and analysis with philosophies, practises, and qualitative and quantitative policies. The analytical perspective of this approach helps the researcher use both qualitative and quantitative designs. Additionally, researchers that employ quantitative and qualitative methodologies make a concerted effort to uphold their objectivity or lucidity while describing their procedures to arrive at their findings.

This study uses a quantitative approach since it makes it easier to conduct the examination successfully and makes it possible to analyze and report the findings. Using Google Docs to facilitate the survey was advantageous since it had many tools accessible for structuring and establishing an ideal for different persons. It was relatively simple to carry out.

The main objective of quantitative research is generalization. Any quantitative analysis can show that it is impractical to study every potential participant. Instead, they gather information about their topic of interest from the population subgroup sample and extrapolate generalizations about the population. Considering the study's objectives, the hypotheses, and the nature of the investigation, the researcher can choose the best sampling technique. In addition, the researcher can select an appropriate strategy from a range of available probability and non-probability sampling techniques.

Primary and secondary data are the two different forms of data collected. Because it provides more current and correct data based on the study subject, the immediate data-gathering process will result in exact research findings. Real-time respondents are the primary information sources, and surveys, observations, and interviews are the most often used techniques for acquiring this information. The secondary data collection method, on the other hand, focuses on producing information with already resources, including websites, textbooks, magazines, and conference papers. It assumes that academics investigating the research topic have gathered pertinent data.

This study uses the main data collection method to acquire the required data. It tries to get information from participants actively participating in the research because they know the subject and can offer precise insights. This study used a sample size of 300 people to gather primary data. The participants in this study's random sampling included foreign investors, elevated individuals, money managers, equities investors, mutual funds, and asset management companies.

This investigation collected secondary data from two time periods—April 2020 to March 2021 and April 2021 to March 2022—. The information gathered in this fashion included daily equity markets of businesses traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Since availability for 2021, the daily data for the 12 months of 2020 to 2021 would be obtained from the exchanges. Along with the NSE and NYSE, Bloomberg also provided secondary data for this study, including information on market capitalization and the market-to-book ratio.