Research skill (Essay Sample)

Research Skills
A research proposal submitted by Student nameStudent number: xxxxxxxxTel: xxxxxxxx
Proposed Supervisor: Supervisor Name
UKCBC
Month YEAR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Learners Declaration PAGEREF _Toc394454557 \h iii
INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc394454558 \h 1
Purpose of the study PAGEREF _Toc394454559 \h 2
1.LO1. Understand different research methodologies PAGEREF _Toc394454560 \h 2
1.1Assess different research methodologies. PAGEREF _Toc394454561 \h 2
1.2Justify the use of a research methodology to be used for the research proposal. PAGEREF _Toc394454562 \h 5
1.2.1Problem statement PAGEREF _Toc394454563 \h 5
1.2.2Significance of the study PAGEREF _Toc394454564 \h 5
1.2.3Delimitations of the study PAGEREF _Toc394454565 \h 6
1.3Discuss the importance of both qualitative and quantitative data in research. PAGEREF _Toc394454566 \h 7
1.4Explain the problems that can arise when undertaking research. PAGEREF _Toc394454567 \h 8
2LO2. Know how to conduct a literature review PAGEREF _Toc394454568 \h 9
2.1Justify the use of research sources. PAGEREF _Toc394454569 \h 9
2.2Evaluate the importance of using primary information sources. PAGEREF _Toc394454570 \h 11
3LO3. Be able to present a research proposal PAGEREF _Toc394454571 \h 12
3.1Present a research proposal to a defined audience utilising appropriate survey techniques. PAGEREF _Toc394454572 \h 12
3.2Discuss the role of ethics in research. PAGEREF _Toc394454573 \h 14
4LO4. Be able to contribute to a research seminar PAGEREF _Toc394454574 \h 16
4.1Prepare an extract from the research proposal appropriate to a seminar environment. PAGEREF _Toc394454575 \h 16
4.2Provide constructive feedback on proposals presented within the seminar environment. PAGEREF _Toc394454576 \h 17
Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc394454577 \h 18
References PAGEREF _Toc394454578 \h 19

Learners Declaration
I certify that the work submitted for this unit is my own
Sign _______________ Date _____________
INTRODUCTION
With increase of internet, online shopping has become the way for people to easily get their necessities fulfilled where home delivery is also available to save their time to go to supermarkets personally and buy things. In UK online shopping is at hype. Development of internet, security, improved services and high-speed have made it easier for people of UK to do online shopping without hesitation. Now people are more relied on internet than on the traditional mode of shopping. Whether it is related to electronics, food, grocery, clothes, entertainment or anything else, people are always searching for their desired item on internet first to have an easy access.
It seems that the number of people shopping online in the whole world has increase from 10% to 85% from 2006 to 2008 respectively CITATION Stu08 \l 16393 (Turton, 2008). Records of 2012 show that UK has the highest online buyers CITATION Jam14 \l 16393 (Hall, 2012). In skyNEWS, records in 2013 show that people in UK average expenditure of online shopping has increased to £150 as compared to the last year. Further the annual expenditure seems to increase from £1,017 to £1,175 in 2012. It has been seen that 73% buy goods for delivery through internet once a month. UK spends £615 higher than the average in comparison with other countries. Money saving, security and ease seemed to be the reasons for their online shopping craze CITATION Nia13 \l 16393 (Paterson, 2013).
In the UK, each individuals and families do online shopping from various supermarkets in UK for their every day needs. Consumer’s preference for the supermarkets they shop form are different due to various issues they may have concerning past online shopping did. This research is to understand the buying pattern and preferred supermarkets from individuals and families’ point of view. This is about preparing the process to investigate the factors that determines the preferred supermarkets and buying pattern of these individuals and families. This also shows that people are trusting internet more without even researching or understanding the originality of the product before buying. And certainly the retailing stores and street shops are suffering because of such trend.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this research is to understand the buying pattern and preferred supermarkets from individuals and families’ point of view in UK.
1 LO1. Understand different research methodologies
Assess different research methodologies.
There are various research types and methodologies available to understand and do a deep research on any case study. The various research and methodologies includesexperimental research, survey research, evaluative research, developmental research observational research; applied versus fundamental research. Further data collection is must to conduct a successful research. The various methods for data collection include primary and secondary data collection, observatory, experimental. Further the pitfalls include dependency and access to information sources, time, money, expertise, introduction of bias, the Hawthorne Effect, the Halo Effect and so on. There are various kinds of research like Scientific (or, more broadly), ‘academic’ research Technological research (e.g. the development of technology, medicines), Commercial research (e.g. market research, product development), Political research (e.g. polls). Market research is learning about business markets so that investment or business decisions can be made. Economic Research has its own way of going about things. For example, involvement of specially constructed formulas and equations in such research that facilitate an understanding of the economic environment. To be able to conduct a research that is scientifically accurate, the characteristics should be like systematic (applying consistent methods), empirical (in the sense of ‘drawing conclusions based on the evidence’), rigorous (being thorough and precise), sceptical (being aware of possibility of disconfirmation), ethical. Scientific research may involve a whole range of sophisticated and specialist research instruments, such as chemical formulas and mathematical instruments and very specialized methodologies. Media research will involve looking at issues such as media content and audience. Its own kind of specific instruments – such as ways of measuring audience preferences and its spending power – have been developed for this. Further to conduct research in social sciences, the characteristic must include explaining the behavior of people (not things) and of social systems or groups of people, seeking causal relations between social phenomena, trying to understand the mechanism by which one social phenomenon causes another but seeking also to understand social phenomena (not just what causes what). Social research is quite a broad term and may involve different kinds of research: from gathering information on the population (demographics) to the attitudes and behaviours of people in a community or country. But the focus of any research is mainly to find out the conclusion and a successful end result. The three levels of research include epistemology or methodology (the study of how we know things), research design (e.g. do an experiment or conduct interviews), research procedure or technique (what kind of sample to use in a survey; how to construct an interview, etc.).Types of data are either qualitative or quantitative whereas qualitative is information rich and data poor while quantitative include statistical analysis techniques and ratios. Quantitative research proceeds by counting or measuring; most often expressed in numbers while Qualitative research proceeds by communicating with people (reading what they write, talking to them); most often expressed in words. Quantitative research (the word ‘quantitative’ comes from the word ‘quantity’) involves information or data in the form of numbers. This is what allows us to measure a whole range of things. For example: the number of people who live below the poverty line; the number of children between specific ages who attend school; the average spending power in a community; or the number of adults who have access to computers in a village or town. A common way of conducting quantitative research is using a survey. Surveys are basically created with questionnaires that to be filled. The information that is obtained through survey is standardized because each respondent – the person who fills out the questionnaire – is answering the exact same questions. Once enough responses to the questionnaire are collected then the data is put together and analysed. The aim of qualitative research is to deepen our understanding about something. Thus further helps to go beyond the numbers and the statistics. Qualitative research is often contrasted to quantitative research – and they are very often used together to get the ‘bigger picture’ of what we are trying to find out. Qualitative research helps us ‘flesh out the story’. The most common forms of qualitative research are face-to-face interviews and focus groups. Face-to-face interviews include meeting someone in person and discussing about various issues related to subject. None the less, a good academic research must always be on topic, rigorous, generalisable, valid, testable, reliable, replicable, avoids bias (personal interest), avoids prejudice, avoids muddle-headedness. Further, Data collection and data analysis is done for a better result and conclusion CITATION Ove97 \l 16393 (Overview of Course, 1997).
This paper undertakes the case study of...