1

Research Methodology

Methodology chapter outlines the rationale for primary research and justifies the
approaches that will be choses in order gauge the insights for conceptual framework and
verify the model for the desired subjects. The chapter outlines research paradigm,
research design, explicit areas, subsequent methodologies and reason for selecting
specific approach and strategy. Finally the discussion will lead to data collection and
analysis. The chapter has followed Saunders et all (2003) guidelines of the Research
Onion to address the research process that has key stages of philosophy, approach,
strategy, method, data collection and analysis.

1.1 Research Objectives

As suggested by Zickmund (2003) the research objectives are essential to plan and
conduct the research, therefore this study has a dual purpose, the aim is to explore the
phenomenon of consumer, company and agency perception towards the effective
components of advertising strategy that taps the consumers Hierarchy of Effects and in
turn creates a customer based brand equity specifically for personal care products, the
data collection from three stakeholders will support in analyzing the gap in the
understanding of the integrated marketing communication cycle. The second stage of the
research will aim to verify the relationship and impact among the extracted dimensions of
each construct with the moderation of socio-economic variables.

1.2 Research Philosophy

The research not only helps in verifying the knowledge it also creates epistemological
instances and generates understanding of different phenomenon by new perspectives.
This research will be adopting two primarily diverse school of inquiry Post positivism/
positivism and Interpretivism (Amaratunga et al, 2002) to conduct the dual stages of the
research. Interpretivism or Phenomenology is created on a subjective stance of
understanding human perception and experiences in milieu of specific settings whereby,
Post Positivism concerns itself with objective view of the world in scientific order.

1.2.1 Post Positivism

Positivism was incorporated in social science researches in nineteenth century; the social
scientists began to adopt this natural science method that was based on the notion of
objectivity. This method supported the development and verification of the frameworks in
social sciences thus explaining the social phenomenon the same was as natural
phenomenon (May, 2001) furthermore, the Positivism philosophy pursuits the objectivity
by the detachment of the researcher from the topic under investigation. Positivist
approach is holistically based on quantitative methods resulting in numerical data and the
researcher bears no influence on the results from which the knowledge is deduced. This
paradigm provided consistent, irrefutable, replicable and transferable results for every
experiment and causal researches that can be declared as truths or covering laws (Tribe,
2001) in addition allowing the results to be more generalizable about the behaviors of the
population as a whole. The idea of Positivism discusses that science is the true source of
knowledge; it can be extended from the study physical object to the investigation of
human matters and affairs using the techniques developed for examining the physical
world. The critique on Positivism is that it only involves with the verification of the
phenomenon however the plausibility of falsifications also exist therefore, the idea of
Post Positivism was the merger of Positivist and Falisfication paradigm that the
phenomenon under investigation can be either verified or falsified in a given context.
Furthermore this method was also criticized due to oversimplification of the results about
the reality and exclusion of the social phenomena (Walle, 1997) the emic methods of Post
Positivism does not allow the in depth understanding of motives, conflicts, interest,
personality and attitude.
1.2.2 Phenomenology
Argument against positivism posits that it deals with physical sciences and objects
whereas social sciences is about behaviors and actions spawned from human mind.
Hence the interrelationship between the researcher and participants is impossible to be
separated (Mangan et al, 2004). The diversity of this paradigm towards interpretivist
stance develops the understanding of social factors that effect the human behavior and
vice versa; producing soft data and defining the social phenomenon subjectively. This
philosophy primarily supports the induction of information rather then scientific

deduction. The key purpose of phenomenology is to gauge the understanding and insights
from socio-psychological elements; although it doesnt provide absolute results but
develops initial exploratory understanding of the topic under investigation (Hudson and
Ozanne, 1988).
The fundamental belief of Phenomenology is subjectivity i.e. multiple realities and
viewpoints about the world exist according to different contexts and subjects in contrast
with positivism that proposes reality in objectivity independent of the researcher. In
addition positivism is relying on hypo-deductive centered upon scientificity as ways to
understand the world whereby, initiated from social sciences Phenomenology is a entirely
distinct approach to management studies and marketing. Mangan et al (2004) posited that
positivism is outside in or top down approach whereas phenomenology is inside out or
bottom up approach; therefore in management decision making positivist paradigm
supports the broad structure decisions and phenomenology finds out the behaviors at a
micro level for the decision making. The table 2.1 summarizes the difference in both the
paradigms.
Table 2.1 Difference of Positivism and Phenomenology

Belief

Researcher

Method

Positivism
The World is external and objective

Phenomenology
The world is socially constructed

Observer is independent

and subjective.

Science is value-free

Observer is part of what is observed

Focus on facts

Science is driven by human interest

Focus on meanings

Look for causality

Try to understand what is happening

Reduce phenomena to simplest events

Look at the totality of each situation

Formulate hypothesis to test

Develop ideas through induction

Operationalising concepts methods so

from data.
Using multiple methods toestablish

they can be measured by taking large

different views of phenomena Small

samples
samples investigated in depth.
This research is aiming to conduct a research the dual stage where certain research
questions will be answered by phenomenology and sequentially the model will be tested

by positivist approach; using two philosophies in one research particularly in case of

management science and marketing is being addressed by Pragmatism paradigm.
1.2.3 Pragmatism
This philosophy focuses on practical outcomes that can be attained by two rival notions
or view implemented under single topic. This paradigm centers that what establishes a
truthful outcome is relative to what can already be stated as a general truism in the
present world Rorty (2003) further elaborates that pragmatists is the pattern of inquiry
where scientific and moral is deliberately merged with the relative requirements of the
research alternatives. The idea of pragmatism is based on the belief that the use of
whichever method or philosophy is necessary if it is contributing to the research,
producing suitable and effective conclusions for the context and required by the stated
research questions; furthermore, it rejects the pressure of choice between positivism and
phenomenology foreseeing the benefits of both the methodologies under one philosophy.
In order to justify and satisfy the research questions posited for this thesis, which are of
prime importance in pragmatism; the combination of positivism and phenomenology is
required to obtain relevant and valid empirical evidence along with the qualitative
insights for the topic under investigation. The author will be adopting combined
philosophies sequentially adopting phenomenology to understand the consumers
experiences with integrated marketing communication, what specific communication
tools created strong influences on awareness, knowledge, preference, liking, conviction
and purchase and the overall brand equity is developed in personal care product category.
The results of phenomenology will identify the dimensions of IMC, HOE and brand
equity, develop the nature of relationships between each construct and conclude the gap
between the understanding of company and agency about the consumer. The conceptual
framework will then be comprehensively developed with complete subjective
understanding of consumer experiences and social phenomenon about advertising and its
affect on their behavior towards the brand. This framework will then be operationalized
through obtained dimensions and codes for positivist paradigm that help generalize the
results through hard data with large sample size. Hence this research will include both

quantitative and qualitative data to provide significant understanding of critical

advertising strategies building HOE and brand equity.

1.3 Research Approaches

The distinction between quantitative and qualitative approaches is noted through
deduction and induction. The deduction refers to scientific hypothesis testing from which
the knowledge and information will be deduced. Saunders et al (2003) stated that
deduction is about development of theory through rigorous testing; quantification is
based on this concept explaining the causal relationships between the concepts.
Deduction further supports the idea of generalization by sufficiently large sample to
predict the future events. In contrast induction related to the qualitative approach and the
theory is induced primarily from the data. It doesnt explain causation but what an object
would do, what it can do what it will do in particular situation (Amaratunga et al, 2002);
furthermore understanding the humans interpretations of the social world and gaining the
insights of human behaviors that proves beneficial for theory generation and refinement.
Thepragmatismphilosophysharestheinductiveanddeductiveapproachesas
complementaryapproachestosupporttheideaoftriangulation;thereforethisresearch
constitutesbothinductiveanddeductiveapproachfortheorygenerationthrough
inductivethenverificationthroughdeductiveapproach.

1.4 Research Strategies

The third stage of the research process is about research strategies since researcher has
taken pragmatism as a philosophy therefore mixed method studies are appropriate and
best suited for conducting this research. Moreover, it can provide multidimensional
perspective about the marketing communication research problems (Mangan et al, 2002).
Adopting qualitative in the first stage and then quantitative in the second stage of the
research will generate theory, verify framework and triangulate the research.
The qualitative research of lived experiences will be carried through in depth interviews
with the:

Consumers: to gauge their perceptions about companies advertising efforts and

what strategy that they find more attractive and convincing or the strategy that can

be annoying this insight will develop the interrelationships with the different
stages of HOE model depicting the final influence on consumer based brand

equity dimensions in personal care category.

Agency: the media agency translates the brand elements to communication for
convincing consumer the agency insight will reveal their understanding of
consumer needs and want how do they think their communication is effecting the

consumer
Company: the company interview is much needed because at time the company is
directing agency to communicate certain information to consumer. This insight
will help identify if the company is in myopia or really understanding their
consumers moreover, what sort of consumer based brand equity they are opting to
develop for long-term sustenance in the market.

The quantification of the extracted model will be based on development of

hypothesis, which will be tested through survey questionnaire developed through the
qualitative data to measure the numerical effectiveness of each constructs towards the
other construct. Statistical evidences yield information about the advertising strategies
of personal care category and how is it shaping consumer behavior. Bryman (2001)
described this sequential research strategy as multi-strategy that is geared to provide a
strategy that is aiding the second research strategy.

1.5 Data Collection and Analysis