Celebrity Endorsement Effect on Consumer Behaviour within the UK Fast Fashion Industry
Celebrity Endorsement Marketing Dissertation. With the growing importance of social media in a shopper’s purchase journey, companies are evolving and stepping up the endorsement game across different channels. This dissertation will explore the relationship between UK celebrity endorsements on a product and their impact on consumer purchase behaviour as a result of their involvement. It will also aim to understand the relation of traditional advertising, social media and fast fashion and what the effects of these three have on UK consumer purchase behaviour. The secondary data was collected as a result of the literature review that was related to the research question.
Primary data was collected from an online questionnaire as well as interviews that involved 10 participants. As a result of this research, a conclusion was made that it is difficult to come up with a comprehensive answer due to the fact that there are so many variables that can occur in today’s society. However, it was found that younger generations are more susceptible to social media influencers and the older generation are more vulnerable to fast fashion celebrity endorsements. There are, like always, limitations to this research – as our society grows and expands, so does our knowledge therefore some of the research that has been previously expanded on is not as valuable to the actual conclusion of the study.
Celebrity Endorsement Marketing Dissertation
Celebrity Endorsement Dissertation Contents
1 – Literature Review Consumer Behaviour Elaboration Likelihood Model Celebrities and the ELM Model Celebrity Endorsement Risks associated with Celebrity Endorsement The Celebrity Endorsement Marketing Strategy Ethical Implications of using Celebrity Endorsers Framework and models Hypodermic Needle Model Celebrity Worship Celebrity Attractiveness versus Celebrity Expertise Celebrity Attractiveness Celebrity Expertise Comparison Digital Influencers The Meaning Transfer Model Culture Endorsement Consumption Criticisms Brand Conceptualisation What is a brand? PCDL model Fast Fashion and Social Media
2 – Methodology Research Philosophy Research Purpose Research Questions and Aims Primary Research Aim Secondary Research Aim Research Design Method Primary Research Questionnaire Survey Interview Interview Design The Participants
3 – Data Analysis and Discussion Thematic Analysis Consumer Understanding & Motivation in regards to Fast Fashion Consumer Understanding and Motivation in regards to Social Media Differences in Attitudes and Behaviours Profile of People That Are Aware of Celebrity Endorsements
4 – Conclusions Research Conclusions Analysis of Research Question One Analysis of Research Question Two Observations Limitations and Ethics of Research Suggestions For Further Research
I hope you enjoyed reading this post on celebrity endorsement and how it effects consumer behaviour. There are many other titles available in the marketing dissertation collection that should be of interest to marketing students and practitioners. There are many dissertation titles that relate to other aspects of marketing such as branding, corporate advertising, marketing strategy and consumerism to name a few. I would be grateful if you could share this post via Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you.
The UK fashion clothing market has been hit by many changes in the last decade. The UK’s plan to exit from the European Union has been one of the main changes that are facing business in the UK. The EU has been regulating trade in its member states and the UK’s exit will present a new environment for fashion retail market in the country (Dhingra, Ottaviano, Sampson, & Reenen, 2016). UK Fashion retailers have been enjoying free trade under the membership of the EU. In the past cloths are presented in shops where buyers could come and buy. Then come e-commerce. Cloths are sold over the websites and marketing is done through social media, a change that many clothing retailers are struggling to come into terms with. The economic recession presents an environment where businesses struggle to grow due to low sales and the high cost of doing business. This report will refer to Zara fashion Company to analyze the key changes in the UK fashion clothing market and suggest strategies to fix the changes.
UK Fashion – An Introduction to Zara Fashion Company
Rosali Mera and Amancio Ortega founded Zara in 1975 in Galicia, Spain, under the name Zorba. They later changed the name to Zara after noticing that there was a bar several meters away which had the same name. The company opened many other outlets in Spain during the 1980s. During the 1980s, Ortega started using a group of designers rather than individual retailers to respond to the new trends in the market in the fastest way possible. He also introduced information technologies to reduce lead times. In 1988, the company started to expand internationally and by 2011, the company had many retailing shops in the UK, China, Estonia, Russia, Philippines, South Korea, India, Australia, and South Africa. The company sells over 480 million clothing items every year in its shops.
In 2010, the company launched an e-commerce site where the cloths can be sold. The site was available in the UK, Germany, France, Portugal, and Italy. After five years, its online services extended to all other countries where it has shops. In 2014, RFID technology was made available in its shops. RFID technology involves fixing RFID chips on clothes before they are sold which notify them when a cloth is sold for an immediate replacement.
Zara retails on both men and women clothes. Children cloths are also sold under the name Zara Kids (Zara.com, n.d.). Zara uses consumer trends in the market to supply the clothes. The company spends less than 15 days before new cloths reach the shops after they have been manufactured.
Changes within the UK Fashion Retail Market
Economic Changes
A report made by the World Bank puts the UK at number fifth in the world of the largest economies. The high population of the UK and enabling infrastructure enables smooth business which makes the country attain the fifth largest GDP in the world after the US, Japan, and Germany. However, the UK was hit by the economic recession in 2008 and the recessionary conditions are just decreasing gradually. Zara has been storing new clothes in its shops twice a week but during the recession period, the target could not be achieved. The recession period presented a high cost of living to citizens making it difficult to buy cloths every time. Zara had to store its clothes in stores for a longer period than expected.
Another economic change that has hit the UK market is increased inflation rates. The inflation rate in the UK reached 3.1% percent in November 2017. This increase in inflation rates translated to increased prices on clothes which make it difficult for consumers to purchase the clothes (Cowling, Liu, Ledger, & Zhang, 2015). Zara stores cloths which have been manufactured in its plant in Spain. The inflation rates in the UK makes the cost of importation to be high which forces the company to sell its cloths at higher prices than before. The consumer confidence in the UK is depreciating due to an unexplained increase in the company’s products. The company is struggling to restore consumer confidence and at the same time sell at prices that can make it make profits.
Corporate taxes has been increasing in the UK. The corporate taxes were 17% at first before they increased to 19% and now the Labour Party promises to increase the corporate taxes from the current 19% to 21%. The corporate taxes are one of the largest expenses of the company as they account for 19% of the profits that are made. Increasing the corporate taxes will lead to a reduction of the amount of money that is shared to the owners of the business (Suárez Serrato, & Zidar, 2016). They increase the cost of doing business which forces retail companies to increase their prices.
Political Changes in UK Fashion
The UK is set to exit from the EU. The company faces uncertainties of whether the importation tariffs will increase and by how much. The company sells which have been manufactured in Spain cloths in its UK shops. The UK and Spain being member states of the EU enjoy free trade. By free trade policies of the EU, the company pays zero importation tariffs to import its goods to the UK. This means that it can sell the sale the cloths at the same prices as those in Spain.
However, the UK’s exit from the EU (Brexit) will come with changes in trade terms which will include the introduction of importation tariffs since the UK will no longer be a member state of the EU. The companies will have to pay importation tariffs for the goods imported from Spain. This will increase its cost and make the company increase the price of clothes. Selling the cloths at high prices than those of the competitors like Arcadia UK fashion group which sell clothes made in the UK will have adverse effects on its business.
The pre-Brexit policies have not been formulated which brings further uncertainties about how the business will be done after the UK withdraws from the EU. The minister of trade in the UK held a meeting with the UK Fashion and Textile Association in December 2018. However, a clear direction was not given to the fashion retailer on how they will do their business after the Brexit.
Technological Changes
The UK provides one of the fasted bandwidths on the continent. The penetration of smartphones in the country has been high in the last decade. This enabling environment has made people within the market to change their shopping preferences to online shopping. People are now preferring to shop over the websites (Peng, An, & Vecchi, 2017). UK Fashion retail companies are facing this challenge by investing in e-commerce and launching shopping websites. Zara has never been left out in this campaign and in 2014, it launched its online boutique in the UK.
Environmental Changes
The recessionary period in the UK presents an environment where business finds it difficult to grow at the expected rate. In as much as Zara Company want to expand by opening more sales in the UK, the environment discourages such a move. The recessionary environment also makes it difficult to make the expected prices and abide to its policy of replacing the stocks twice a week.
Legal Changes
In May 2018, General Data Protection Regulatory (GDPR) came into force. The policy requires every social media firm and e-commerce sites to be transparent on how customers data is used. Zara Fashion Company is affected by the regulation since it owns an online boutique launched in 2014. To avoid litigations, the company should adhere to the General Data Protection Regulatory (GDPR) regulations. In April 2018, the bill passed by the UK parliament came into force. The bill required that all companies whose employee turnover is above 250 to publish the details of the employees including their gender and their salaries. This new rule affects Zara because it has more than 250 employees.
Social Changes
Unlike Spain where the market comprises of one main race with similar culture, the UK market features multi-ethnic cultures. The market has different design needs which should be fulfilled. Different people living in the UK have different design preferences.
Changes within the Micro Environment
Changing trends in the UK Fashion Market
The designs in the clothing market are subject to change within a short period of time. If the clothes are not sold within a short period of time they become useless to the customer and they might never be sold (Grewal, Roggeveen, & Nordfält, 2016). The company uses a group of designers to design every new design that is introduced as a tactic to respond to the changing trends in the market. The company also sells the cloths within a week to avoid cloths saying for long in the shelves which might render them useless. The RFID tag on clothes can monitor the clothes that have spent a long period in the shelves and change them.
Change in Marketing Strategies
Two
decades ago Television sets and the print media were the well-known and
reliable marketing channels. However, the changes in technology have brought
digital marketing where marketing can be done over the internet. Social media
marketing is also a new trend in fashion marketing. Social media sites are
being used to market fashion products. Links are created on social media pages
which lead the user to the website of the retail company (Okonkwo, 2016).
Increased Competition in the Retail UK Fashion Market
The UK market has too many too many fashion companies which bring undue competition in the market. The competition has led to a reduction of prices by some fashion retailers. Large discounts are also being offered to lure customer.
Online shopping
Over the last decade, consumers have a switching motive from shopping in the malls to shopping over the e-commerce sites. Some customers prefer online shopping to shopping in the shops. Retailers in the UK fashion market are exerting pressure by using e-commerce sites to sale their products. The company’s in the market are now required by the standards set by the level of competition to have both selling channels. Zara Company uses its online boutique to respond to such changes in selling strategies. The company has now used its online platform for a period of four years.
UK Fashion Dissertation
Strategies and Tactics to Employ
Open a manufacturing plant in the UK
Zara Company depends on clothes that are made in Spain and transported to the UK. After the UK’s exit from the EU, there will be tariffs imposed on the imports. The tariffs will increase the price of clothes imported by Zara Company. To avoid import tariffs Zara should retail on cloths made in the UK rather than importing its stock from Spain. Zara has four manufacturing plants where its cloths are made. The plants are in Spain, Morocco, Portugal, and Turkey. The cloths made in Spain are freely exported and sold in European Union member states including the UK, Spain being a member of the EU. However, after the Brexit, it will not be easy to transport them under free trade terms to the UK.
Staff Training
One of the challenges in retail fashion market is the ever-changing trends in the market. A new design can register large sales today and become an old fashioned cloth with a year. If such cloth spends a year on the shelves without beings customers will start ignoring it for new fashions. Although Zara has been using trend in the market to sell its clothes, staff training is essential. The staff should be trained on how to respond to ever-changing trends in the fashion market (Dillenburger, 2017). With the incorporation of new technologies in its business process, the company should also train its staff on how to use the new technologies.
The interaction of the staff with customers is also very important in ensuring that the customer buys the product and that the customer is maintained to purchase in the future. The staff should be trained on how to interact well with the customers. Every staff member should be trained in good customer relations.
Using both traditional marketing
strategies and Digital Marketing
Both digital marketing and traditional channels like print media and television sets are useful when making advertisements. The company should employ both channels to boost its sales without ignoring either of them. Many people use the internet on daily basis and targeting those people through digital marketing is a wise idea. However, the two channels are not mutually exclusive and television sets, radios, and the print media can be used to reach people. Many people use these channels and digital marketing should never be used in place of them.
Forecasting
Every part of the world has cloths which are highly preferred to others. The company should be carrying research on which clothes to sell to a particular ethnic group as the market in the United Kingdom comprises of many cultures. This will reduce the risks associated with clothes being on the shelves for many days.
Continuous
innovation
People in business are continuously innovating new strategies to make more sales. Retailers are not an exception and they should be innovative enough to be ahead of their competitors. A big challenge that is facing the retail market in the UK is increased competition from other retailers. Innovation is a tool that can be used to reduce competition. Innovation can involve using a shared economy by using the resources of other firms to boost sales. There are online platforms which sell various products without being fashion retailers or specializing in a particular product. Zara should partner with such firms so that the firms can be selling the products of Zara on top of Zara’s online boutique.
Recommendations
The Zara Company has tried to be innovative by introducing RFID chips to monitor the movement of cloths and introducing Zara online boutique to boost its online sales. The company and other fashion companies in the UK market should use the following challenges to meet the changes in the fashion market.
The company
should open a manufacturing plant to avoid import tariffs after the Brexit. The
UK might impose tariffs on the goods imported from Spain after the UK’s exit
from the EU.
The company
should use a variety of channels to make sales. Online shopping and shopping in
the shops are all important.
Digital
marketing is becoming popular in the retail market. The company should use both
digital marketing and traditional forms of marketing.
Innovation is the
best tool to use to have a competitive advantage over other companies. The
company should be continuously innovating to meet the challenges in the market.
Having
litigations against a company risks its existence and loss of funds through
settling fines. The company should comply with the regulations set by the
relevant authorities. It should be transparent on user data usage and should
publish the details of its employees.
Conclusion
The changes in the fashion market have been a
challenge to Zara and other companies in the market. The Brexit has also
brought confusion about how cross border trade will be after the UK withdraws
from the AU. Zara retails on clothes which have been by its plant in Spain
which puts it under a threat of incurring import tariffs to the UK just after
the Brexit. This threat can be met by setting up a manufacturing plant in the
UK. Considering all channels in selling products and all forms of marketing can
help the company meet the challenges in the market.
Bibliography
Cowling,
M., Liu, W., Ledger, A. and Zhang, N., 2015. What really happens to small and
medium-sized enterprises in a global economic recession? UK evidence on sales
and job dynamics. International Small Business Journal, 33(5),
pp.488-513.
Dhingra, S., Ottaviano, G.I., Sampson, T. and Reenen, J.V., 2016. The consequences of Brexit for UK trade and living standards.
Dillenburger,
K., 2017. Staff training. In Handbook of Treatments for Autism Spectrum
Disorder (pp. 95-107). Springer, Cham.
Grewal,
D., Roggeveen, A.L. and Nordfält, J., 2016. Roles of retailer tactics and
customer-specific factors in shopper marketing: Substantive, methodological,
and conceptual issues. Journal of Business Research, 69(3),
pp.1009-1013.
Peng,
F., An, N. and Vecchi, A., 2017. Cross-Cultural Study of Online User Behavior
in Fashion E-Commerce: A Comparison of Britain and China. In Advanced
Fashion Technology and Operations Management (pp. 277-293). IGI
Global.
Suárez Serrato, J.C. and Zidar, O., 2016. Who benefits from state corporate tax cuts? A local labor markets approach with heterogeneous firms. American Economic Review, 106(9), pp.2582-2624.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post on changes in the UK fashion and how it affects the clothing market. There are many other titles available in the Marketing Dissertation Collection that should be of interest to marketing students and practitioners. There are many dissertation titles that relate to other aspects of marketing such as branding, corporate advertising, marketing strategy and consumerism to name a few. I would be grateful if you could share this post via Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you.
Fashion forecasting is generally a career that involves focusing on upcoming trends in the fashion industry. Fashion and trend forecasting is the future determination of mood, behavior and purchasing habits of consumer at a given time of season. It does not only involve determination of markets, consumers in terms of age, their locations and income but also inquire deeply to get to know what they purchase depending on their culture, beliefs, moods as well as geographical location. Fashion and trend forecasting is more reliant on fashion cycle and plays a significant role in introductory stage of consistent fashion cycles.
Fashion and trend forecasting involves a series of activities in each of the area it is dealing with. For example it looks at the; season, target market, consumer, colors, fabrics, silhouette, texture and usage. Therefore, comprehending fashion and trend forecast is not only crucial in determining the success of the ultimate object of the designer but also enhances the continuous repetition of sales in future seasons as well as promoting the fashion cycles.
Unlike in the past when trend forecasting was done manually, current trend forecasting is done using technological forecasting methods although they have been criticized for reducing creativity by most designers. Most trend forecasting are determined by the forecasting method applied by the ultimate user and it is therefore crucial to determine the most appropriate method of trend forecasting in any individuals business model. Generally, any trend forecasting methods involve the following steps (Hines, 2007);
The first step is Problem definition. Although this is the hardest section of forecasting, it is the most important. This step requires keen analysis of how the forecasts will be used, who needs the forecasts as well as how the forecasting technique suits within the firm needs the forecasts. A forecaster should therefore use enough time to every individual who will take part in data collection, keeping the data as well as applying the forecast for future planning. Then gathering of information follows whereby in most cases, statistical or quantitative data and qualitative data are the ones required. Therefore, the collectors of the data should be expertise who can be able to receive the qualitative information from the respondents who are usually the customers if there is no adequate quantitative information (Wong, 2010).
The third step is preliminary analysis, also called exploratory analysis. In this step, the forecaster should consider whether or not there are consistent pattern that lead to significant trend, whether or not there is evidence of business cycles, the presence of outliers in the information that need explanation as well as the extent of relationship between variables present for analysis.
The fourth step is choosing and fitting models. The best method of trend forecasting should depend on the historical data present, the application of the forecasts as well as the extent relationship between the forecasts available and explanatory variables. Some of the methods that can be arrived at includes; exponential smoothing model, ARIMA model, vector autogression, neural networks among others (Wong, 2010).
The last step involves the use and evaluation of the forecasting model. The success of the model can only be determined after the data for the forecast time has been present after which various methods are applied to assess the success of the model.
Research Methodologies
As earlier stated, the main data required in trend forecasting is qualitative, quantitative and mostly commonly, a combination of the two.
The quantitative research methodology start right from the bottom, where agencies and even the manufacturers either inquires directly from the customers on their purchasing preferences or the organization may record the consumers buying habit in a duration of a given time. The consumer’s response is recorded and used to determine preference for some specific garments, accessories or any other product on research, colors, and sizes among other factors of a product. Surveys through mail, customer response or phones are carried through publication as well as contracting market research organizations for manufacturers and as well as retailers.
The survey questions usually relate to life style, income, shopping habits as well as fashion preference. The customers who participate in these surveys are selected by the research company although they should suit with manufacturers or retailers requirements. Informal discussion with consumer enable researchers get information through asking questions to customers about what they would prefer to purchase, the types they prefer to purchase which is currently present as well as the change in products they require and are not available or they cannot reach. Most researchers use small scale retailers because of their contact and conversation with the customers.
Trend Forecasting Steps
The quantitative methodology entails the use of statistical data or information to determine the trend in customer demands and hence forecast on producing what the consumers purchase the most. Statistical data for fashion sector is easily obtainable without necessarily going to the field because it is available in manufacturers or retailers sales records (Hines, 2007).
From such records, the manufacturers can determine which garments, color of the product, size as well as the fashion preference of the consumer. After that, the manufacturer should be able to determine which fashion product should be produced more depending on sales experienced at each season of the year. It is valuable noting that a well-balanced combination of the qualitative and quantitative research methodologies is bound to boost the success of the model selected for trend forecasting.
Conclusion
This paper has attempted to show that the fashion industry has one main purpose; to offer desirable as well as appealing product to not only satisfy the customer needs, demands and aspire to have them but to also keep the product selling in the subsequent business cycles with a similar season. Every successful trend forecast must commence with the consumer through determination of the consumer’s needs to the market as well as the ability to make the consumer adjust the marketplace to his preferences and lifestyles. The paper has also expounded on the two critical methodologies used in forecast research i.e. the qualitative and quantitative methodologies. It has also emphasized on the need to combine the two methods in order to attain the best results of the model of forecast selected.
Wong, W. K., & Guo, Z. X. (2010). A hybrid intelligent model for medium-term sales forecasting in fashion retail supply chains using extreme learning machine and harmony search algorithm. International Journal of Production Economics, 128(2), 614-624.
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The Contribution Of Art And Fashion Industry To The National (UK) Economy
According to a report released by the British Research Council (2014), the fashion industry in Britain contributes £26 billion to the country’s economy. This is a 22 % increase from the contribution made in 2009 which added up to £21 billion. The report was released by the council during the London Fashion Week. These statistics intrigue various questions relating to the contribution of art and fashion to the economy of the country. Although art and fashion have been part of the UK’s culture for many years, their impact on a country’s economy has not been greatly considered over the years. However, in the recent years, the expansion of the global market has greatly impacted the art arena, which has further impacted the economy either positively or negatively.
Research Question: Is the art and fashion industry influential enough in the economy to attract both local and foreign investments in the long-term?
Purpose and objectives
The aim of the research is to assess the impact of the arts and the fashion industry on the economy in the UK in accordance to information revealed by the Arts Council and the British Fashion Council. The main objectives of the research will be to review and collate existing research relating to the economic impact of the arts and the fashion industry in the country. The other objective is to understand the measures and methodologies put in place for assessing the effect of creative industries, programmes, facilities and projects. Assessing the quality and comprehensiveness of the existing evidence is another objective of the research. The research also aims at informing the future agenda for effective research within the sector. It will also include evidence-founded making of policies by the Arts Council and Fashion Council. Identifying fundamental research needs that will assist in improving the research’s robustness is another scope of the research. The proposal will also include a practical resource to help the parties working in the sector.
Theoretical Framework
The Keynesian theory states that the production of goods and services by the businesses is influenced by consumers’ ability to spend. The twenty first century has experienced changes in issues relating to increase in consumer spending, hence the increase in production of various goods and services. The arts and fashion industry has not been alienated from this impact. The rapid expansion of economies that started taking place in the late twentieth century through to the twenty first century has been of great impact globally. It is believed that one of the most impacted is the arts and fashion industry.
The consumption, investment, government and net exports characterize the Keynesian theory. This research will analyse these concepts in relation to the oil and arts industry, and how they have affected the economy in the UK. The research is also sensitive to the impact of the local fashion industry on its economy. It is relevant to assess whether the most impact is evident from exports or products bought by the local consumers. The household disposable income and the general GDP are of relevance to this research. It is relevant to understand the past scenarios relating to the industry and steps that have been taken to heighten the industry to the current position. As evidently put by Keynes, the increase in consumer spending will increase the production of goods. Consequently, a decrease in consumer spending will also decrease production in the industry. It is relevant to understand the individual contribution of the various sectors in an economy. This will allow the relevant parties to make decisions relating to the present and the future of the industry in question. In this case, it will be identified whether the impact on the economy, if any, is long-term. It is relevant to understand whether it can attract investors.
Empirical / Contextual Literature Review
The Art Council England and British Fashion Council provide various reports that reveal the financial/economic impact of the arts and the fashion industry in the economy. Other economic related sources will be assessed in order to realize the share of the industry on the overall economic figure. Research will be carried out in some areas such as the Research Department of the Arts Council. The research may also include email, telephone or postal inquiries from the Culture, Media and sports Department. Other sources include the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts Council of Wales, the Scottish Arts Council, among others.
Fashion Industry Economy
After the research process, a small number of studies will be gotten, read and evaluated with the use of Draft Standards for Reporting on Statistics (Hutton, 2001). Sharp and Benefield (2001) insist that the NFER (National Foundation for educational Research) guidelines to be incorporated in order to present quality research. The researcher will also scrutinize the references in order to assess whether there are other potential materials that are relevant. The review will mainly cover research that is done in the United Kingdom. This will include England, Wales and Scotland. In order to make the research more comprehensive, statistics relating to other countries such as the USA and Australia will be included.
The research will include literature which has information concentrating on the economic contribution of the fashion and arts sectors. The inclusion of the arts sector will also lead to the inclusion of some aspects of the creative industry and culture in the UK. The research will briefly give the social-economic aspect of the industry, due to issues relating to the employment arena and the general impact of the people’s livelihoods. The materials considered are gauged on various levels. They include a widened geographical spread, diversified study foci, diversified methodologies and approaches, research quality and studies target groups. Other issues relate to issues addressed or policy area, research date in question, impact on the sector and best evidence presentation. Blake (2000) reminds researchers that a review does not have to reproduce in detail the articulated claims relating to the economic impact of the fashion or arts industry. This is because they have been covered adequately in these resources. The researchers only need to find the information relevant to their topic and then integrate it accordingly in order to answer their research question (Jermyn, 2001).
The study design that will be used is the historical approach. Babin et al (2012) states that the historical approach is one in which information is collected by reviewing the historical data presented by older reports or valid sources of information. This empirical report should not be altered. In order to place more emphasis on historical study, Gillham (2008 state that historical method is something that exceeds simple data-gathering. It involves analyzing, and confirming the information retrieved from these sources by engaging other research methods. For example, interviews will be included in this research method. The true meaning of data collected should be reported from the point of view of the objectives and the basic assumption of the project under way. The facts obtained may be accurate expressions of central tendency, deviation or correlation; but the report is not research unless discussion of these data is carried up to the level of adequate interpretation. Data must be subjected to the thinking process in terms of ordering reasoning. The design also saves on time. The researchers are also able to present factual information from the target resources using cheaper means.
Methodology
The main method will include reviewing the past and current statistical information available on the materials. However, interviews will be integrated in the research method. The interviews will be done in order to verify some of the unclear data, or place emphasis on the available information. Such technique will be used for target people who may provide more information other than the information available in the report. Since interviews are one-on-one, the researcher is able to read other forms of communication such as body language, hesitations, amongst others (Creswell, 2003). Interviews also limit the time that the information will reach the researcher.
Additionally, questionnaires will be handed to people who will not find time for interviews. It can be passed through emails or other communication channels agreed upon by the researcher and the target person. As indicated earlier, it is used to verify information that is unclear or that which has not been updated. VanderStoep & Johnston (2009) indicate that the measurement quality is highly dependent on the reliability of the instrument used to collect data. In order to follow this statement, the researcher will pre-test the questionnaires being used. Validity entails, whether the spirit of the questionnaires is in accordance with the purpose of the research. In order to confirm validity, selected questionnaires will be given to respondents in order to pre-test data collection. Once the questionnaires are returned, they will enable the accurate assessment of the validity of research instruments. The questions in the questionnaires will also be used to conduct the oral interviews. The questionnaires will not be included in the final analysis.
References
Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., Griffin, M., & Zikmund, W. G. 2012,. Business research methods (9th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Blake Stevenson Limited, 2000, “The Role of the Arts in Regeneration”, Scottish Executive Central Research Unit, Edinburgh.
Creswell, J. W. 2003, Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Gillham, B. 2008, Small-scale social survey methods: Real world research. London: Continuum International Pub. Group.
Hutton, L, 2001, Draft Standards for Reporting on Statistics, The Arts Council of England. 110
Jermyn, H, 2001, The Arts and Social Exclusion: A review prepared for the Arts Council of England, The Arts Council of England, Londo.
Sharp, C and Benefield, P, 2001, Literature Reviews Course Notes, NFER, unpublished.
VanderStoep, S. W., & Johnston, D. D. 2009, Research methods for everyday life: Blending qualitative and quantitative approaches. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
