Judging research study

Topic: Factors influencing customer acceptance of internet banking among government servant in   Kota Samarahan


Question: Why target of population of this research study is only limited to government servant in kota samarahan?

Answer: because most of government servant use internet banking and most of them don't have time to go to the ATM. I don't have enough time to do study on larger population. 


Topic: Understanding students attitude and norms towards Carbonated drink


Question: Why do you choose the research location within Unimas and using Unimas student? and why don't you choose the research location more broader location like Kuching?

Answer:  because it's easy for me to get the data if my study is Unimas student and I  don't have any transport to go out of Unimas. That's why I choose Unimas as my location to do the research.

The Ethnography Of marketing

According to Smith (2012), ethnography involves the study of human social phenomena and communities which concentrate on human societies. The study usually involves fieldwork where ethnographer has to live with the people they observe and live their life. Normally, ethnographer will work with those who are knowledgeable and can give more information regarding the study. An example given by Smith (2012) shown the study made by Institute of design from Procter & Gamble (P&G) which looked at party planning in American home.

Hoey (2011), indicated that ethnography as a qualitative research process and a method to conduct an ethnography to meet the goal of cultural interpretation.

According to Berner (2006), ethnography of marketing is a way in which companies use in order to know the culture and also behavior of their customers. Berner (2006), also stated that the demand of business and    anthropology that doing field research are not the same.

In the context of marketing research, the advantage of undertaking the ethnography study is most of  the ethnographer will involved directly with their study group where they need to interact and integrate (Anonymous, 2004). Anonymous (2004) also has stated that the most important advantage is the information that they get from the study is truthful and valid because it is the first hand information. Other than that, the ethnographer can learn social processes within the customer’s.

According to Anonymous (2004), the challenges in undertaking the study of ethnography in marketing is regarding the time. Some study is time consuming where it can last about a month or maybe years. This is possible for some ethnographer to involve in the group because they might lose the viewpoint from an outsider. Therefore, the research can be bias.

The differences between fact and theory

According to Cherry (2012), the term theory and word are word with different meaning. Although it used in the same field but it can be distinguish based on it own explanation. Cherry (2012) , also stated that a theory is based upon hypothesis and support by some evidence which can make it more solid. From the viewpoint of wudka (1998), a theory is unclear kind of fact where hypothesis usually used as a presumption. As Aron (2010) pointed out, theory is an explanation to what has been observed or confirmed but on the contrary, fact is something that actually exist and cannot be argue. This is because, it is something that is accurate or supposed to have happened. Aron (2010), also stated that it is an action that is verified. In other word, anything that can be verify or prove can be called as a fact.

Inductive or deductive type of research?

The topic is inductive type of research. This type of research always takes that information and tries to generalize it from there. Using the inductive method, a real world problem can be solved. For instance, arise of the fake branded clothes that affect the original branded clothes can be solved easily if researcher know it solution and what are the motivator that make students buy fake branded clothes. Inductive research is based on the observation where researcher use observes data and facts to reach out at tentative hypothesis and define a theory. It also allow researcher provide subjective reasoning with the help of various life. Inductive research associate with lots of inquiry and description about the phenomena. In inductive research, the method that is suitable for gathering data is quantitative method. The topic of "To investigate students of Unimas purchasing behavior regarding fake branded clothes and Original branded clothes" shows that this research should use quantitative method to collect data. This is because, the researcher should distribute questionnaire which then can be use to develop explanation. Furthermore, the researcher can also observe the participant to seek for the answer. It is easy to use quantitative method to gather information because this method focuses on the numerical data and statistics but qualitative require lots of writing. 

How to narrow down the research topic?

To narrow down the research topic, first the researcher should perform a research. The researcher can use the internet and maybe go to the library to find journals or books for topic area. Find for subtopics that can be use to narrow down the topic. Secondly, brainstorm the topic. Write down the topic on a sheet of paper. Write as down as many related word and ideas as u can. After finish, try to categorize them and collect words and ideas that related. Next, the researcher must focus on aspect of the topic. Emphasize on the implication or effect of the chosen topic. The researcher should also consider the time and place of research. For example, the study will take place at Unimas campus. Finally, the researcher must focus on age, gender and ethnic background of that unit of analysis whether it is individual, household or organization.    

   

What is research?

Different authors give different meaning of research. Some author stated that research is the way to collect data, information and facts about a particular subject and some said that it is the process of finding unknown and putting more light information to what has been know. From other point of view, research is a way to search something in order to have information in a systematic way to increase understanding (Uma Sekaran, 2006). This author stated that research is a systematic inquiry that provides information to guide decision (Donald Cooper D. R., 2001)

Dimension of research

The research design proposed for this study is in the form of  explanatory research because as  in the research there is lots of answer to the WHY and WHAT question. For instance, why do people buy fake brand? The purpose of Explanatory research is to looks for causes and reason. In other word, explanatory research always looks for the causes and reason of why things happen. For instance, why do some Unimas students prefer fake branded clothes instead of original ones? Some may answered that they didn’t care about the brand, but as long as it looks nice, they will buy and  some may answered  because of the price. From the research it shown that that the research  try to find out the real reason why the event happen and it’s not just reporting but explaining thing in detail. In the research, there is also some prediction that is put based on the past experienced. The reason that explanatory was chosen as  dimension of research study  is because,  from the study  there is a lots of explanation but the paper opt to seek the best answer for it. It also provides a picture of the whole situation of purchasing behavior regarding fake and original branded clothes.The issue of fake branded and original branded is an issue that is already known and has description of it which explain the meaning of explanatory research. 

Addressing the problem

Does the large number of counterfeit brands that available in the market deter us from wanting the original ones? This is the question that always comes to the researchers mind. 

Imitation brand has result in the loss of income for the original brands. Sometime customers are not aware of counterfeit brand. They do not know that they have buy and use the fake brand. But there are lots of people outside there who knows the existence of fake brand and still them willing to use and buy that brand. That means they have a low regard for the law. The problem here is mostly genuine brand charged high price compare to fake brand and this make  those who can’t afford to buy the original ones automatically buy the counterfeit ones although it will be lower quality  from the genuine brand. 

As has been pointed out (Gino & Michael I. Norton, 2010), some student who can't afford to buy the original ones feels that the counterfeit brand can give value to them which can make them feel different. For example, if they use the counterfeit brand, they might feel that they are richer but in the reality, they are not. Gino & Michael I. Norton (2010) also stated that for some students who used the counterfeit brand, it will cause them to be something they are not in a way they are not expected. This will lead them behave unethically because counterfeiting is against the law. 

 Some customers are motivated by their curiosity to experience it. Besides that, because of they really don't have much choice, they have to buy the fake brand as that the only possible alternative for them. This is because, as a student they don't have income. They will choose the brands based on the money they received from their parents. The other problem that we all encounter is some people like to show off that they are different and they can use and buy the branded brand but unfortunately they purchase the fake brand. The emergence and the growing of the fake brand purchases have made people could hardly differentiate the original and the fake ones.  For the rich people, there are not bother to buy the genuine brand because the answer is simple, if you`re rich people, they still will assume the brand that you`re use is original even it is fake. And for the poor people, even if they buy the original ones, still people assume that they use the fake ones. So why bother to buy the original ones? 

According to Elfriede Penz (2005), the intention to buy counterfeit brand is from perceived behavioral control which is their perception on the ability to act in a given way. For instance, if he/she think that buying counterfeit brand is good, then he/she will more likely to form an intention to perform the behavior.

Eisend & Schuchert-Guler (2006) have shown that, age is not the factors that affect the tendency to buy counterfeit items but Eisend & Schuchert Guler (2006) suggest that young people are more likely to purchase counterfeit goods.

Why did I choose this topic?

Generally, the study of  `To investigate Unimas students purchasing behavior regarding fake branded clothes versus original branded clothes ' had the prospective to make importance and practical contribution. It helped to bring clarity in understanding the nature of consumer behavior when buying fake brand and original brand by students. This particular study is important to help the society or can be called here as students which hold the most powerful power where they purchase with their own perception. With that, the finding from this research aimed to influence students and serving benefit to a larger scale of group of people. On top of that, this research has involved a broad of understanding of what is mean by fake brand and original brand and to what extend and why student might undertake such behavior. Does the action by student give benefit to business and themselves or not. The finding of this research can be used as the materials to be practice by the student, academician and even public to analyze determinant. For this, I hope that people who visit my Blog can understand well the topic that I highlight for the next blog. My main objective is that I want to share this topic to marketing lecturers and students for the additional information in their lesson, guides and study.