RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Introduction:
This chapter describes the methodological approach to this study in detail. For this, a framework called Research Onion is used which is developed by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007). Different aspects of the research is being classified into categories such as Philosophy, Approach, Strategy, Choice, time horizon, sampling techniques and data collection.

Methodological consideration:
Research Philosophy:
Saunders encouraged research et al.s the (2007) research onion model an initially promotes researcher to determine appropriate

philosophy.

The research

philosophy

consideration on how knowledge should be developed in order to answer the research question. For this study, the ideal philosophy is

Interpretivism as it tries to understand the meaning humans attach with any experience. As the study is mainly on the perception of consumers on transparent packaging, which can only be described by experiencing the service, therefore, other philosophies such as realism and idealism are dismissed as they reject the notion of experience. Approaches: The research is based on a deductive approach. Problem statement and research questions were constructed, from which hypothesis was derived. Then a survey was carried out for observation of consumer behaviour. Results of the survey served as confirmation of the problem statement. Strategies: Arlene Fink (2003) recommends survey as an ideal research strategy in a qualitative research. According to him an open ended survey can be used in qualitative research to collect primary data. It

is noted that qualitative survey can provide depth and individual meaning to the questions of interests. (Gratton and Jones 2004). Another reason of choosing the open ended survey is because of its cost and time effectiveness also it will also reduce the biasness as the same set of questions would be asked from everyone. Other qualitative methods could also have been used such as Grounded theory or Ethnography but rejected because of its time consuming nature. Research Choices: The other layer in the Saunders Onion model is that of the choice of research, either Mono method, Multi method or mixed method should be used. For this particular survey a mono method research is adopted. According to Maxwell (2005), this method is particularly useful when the research subject is complex and cannot be answered by simple yes or no hypothesis. He also noted that mono method is much easier to plan and carry out. Mono method is not dependent on sample size with meaningful results can be generated from very small sample groups. There are other research choices as well such as multi method and mixed method which can also be used in a survey. Multi method is used when a researcher uses more then one data collection method whereas, mixed method make use of multiple collection methods, regardless of it being qualitative and quantitative method. For this survey multi method and mixed method are not chosen mainly due to time and budget constraints. Time Horizons: Next layer in the Saunders onion model is that of time horizons with two categories; Cross-sectional and Longitudinal. For this study a cross-sectional study is chosen over longitudinal. Saunders et al

(2007) finds that most of the academic studies will be using a cross sectional technique due to the time constraints involved. Longitudinal studies are helpful for observing subjects over a time frame, which are more suitable if studying change and long term development.

Techniques and Procedures

Data Collection and Analysis: Questionnaires: The research is mainly exploratory so a lot of surfing has been done on the minds of people by circulating questionnaires among them to get the right answers. A detailed questionnaire was prepared covering different psychological aspects of the buyers, mind. This way of carrying out a survey is the most commonly used method in order to know the cause of something. The questionnaires were distributed among the maximum number of people that were reached within the vicinity of West Malaysia, i.e Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. A sample was selected from the population based on varying demographics, so that results of the survey should be made the most representative of the entire population. These results were then collected and changed into tabulated form to make a right judgment and analysis. The questionnaires were well structured and designed keeping in view the factors like age, occupation, income and residential location. They were very precisely made so as to scratch in the just rationale of the buyers for choosing transparent packaged goods. Sampling:

Sampling was done keeping in account the bias factor so that the data collected is not biased. The results are expected to be accurate and practically implementable. Therefore the sampling was randomly done irrespective of age, gender, income, occupation, and educational level.

Internet and Journals:

Internet was used mainly for secondary data which was collected for background study. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo were used to gather basic information. For reviewing literature on relevant research done in the past, online published journals were browsed and studied in detail. Some of the websites used for viewing these journals include emeraldinsight and conference board. Apart from this thesis done in the past by Masters and PHD students, and print media was also used as a source to gather secondary information. Afterwards, the software SPSS was adopted to produce more quality results. SPSS helps in the tabulation and graphical representation of the data collected during research. All the trends were acquired by using this software. Sampling Technique and Sample The Population of my study was people from everyday life regardless of gender, age, income and education in which the sample size of 150 people was taken for conducting the study by using simple random sampling in order to generalize the findings in the particular sector. Measures: There were at least 20-25 questions in the survey obtaining data for one variable and some questions were directly obtaining data with no complications. Measure for each variable is defined below:

Dependent Variable
Consumer Buying Behavior

Independent Variable
Packaging color

Price Brand Packaging Material Quality Hygiene

Each of above mentioned variables were measured by asking the questions by using the 5-points itemized rating type scale ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree