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Chapter: III Research Methodology
Methodology:
A step-by-step approach has been followed to meet the aims and the objectives outlined in this research. This methodology will reflect within the research design, research philosophy, and data sampling.
This study utilised qualitative data collection, a non-statistical technique of understanding the research topic which allows for better interpretation and in-depth understanding of the research (Oun & Bach, 2014). It does not involve any quantitative interpretation and is subjected to the content and the descriptive analysis of the gathered data. Qualitative research analysis will also assist in examining the research topic on the impact of cosmetic surgery advertising via social media on African American women. First-hand data collection was undertaken based upon the sampling strategy and the target population of the study. According to Benoot et al. (2016), the characteristics of qualitative research are considered practical in relation to design as it involves using the data from multiple sources and aids in inductive analysis. The qualitative approach has a relatively strong position in the research study as it will aid in the depiction and in-depth understanding of participants’ experiences, related phenomena, and overall context in relation to the research topic (Harper, 2011). With the utilisation of the qualitative approach, social issues which arise in this study can be analysed, and provides the opportunity to address participants’ experiences by initiating various questions. Overall, qualitative research will be used as an explanatory model (Campbell, 2014). It will assist in enabling the sense of social reality and depicting various social aspects (Jamshed, 2014).
The type of qualitative data collection used in the current research will be structured interviews. An interview will be designed to meet the aim and objectives of the research, and this interview will include various questions that are formulated to gain the research results (Khan, 2014). This interview will uphold various ethical considerations in order to improve the validity of the research. Each participant was also provided with informed consent prior to partaking in the research study. The rationale of choosing informed consent is that it will help maintain the confidentiality and anonymity of the research.
Research philosophy:
An interpretivist approach to research was adopted within this study. Potrac et al. (2014) defines interpretivism as the strategy required to gain knowledge and better interpret and highlight a research study’s subjective meanings. According to Bevir and Rhodes (2012), selecting this approach assists in the interpretation of different aspects of research. Utilising a subjective approach is essential for this study as it explains the subjective element of the research. The subjective element of this research will further aid in the fulfilment of the research aim and objectives (Ryan, 2018). The research study aim is to analyse the impact of social media advertising on the target population of focus. The research objectives will be achieved by highlighting the experiences and the behaviours of the individuals who took part in the research study. Chowdhury (2014) states that the interpretivist approach helps to uncover the hidden factors within a study and to further discover the underlying reasons for specific behaviour. The current research study analyses both the self-experience (i.e. self-perception in relation to body image) and the purchase intent amongst a select sample of African American millennial women within the US. The interpretivist approach will help in uncovering the impact of social media advertising on the research target population in a subjective way.
Data sampling method:
The data sampling method finds its importance in managing the samples and addressing the population involved in the research. The research will follow a purposeful sampling method. Purposeful sampling is not limited to a single strategy, but rather, utilises four different strategies (Emmel, 2013). The most befitting strategy for this research study is the homogeneity strategy. This strategy is used in qualitative research, as it allows for detailed description of a particular sub-group to reduce variations, simplify the analysis, and facilitate the findings (Suri, 2011). The sampling strategy also associates with the aims and the objectives of the research, a necessary requirement of the selected homogeneity strategy (Qu & Dumay, 2011).
Inclusion criteria:
After selecting the sampling strategy, the next step in the research methodology is to select the samples to be utilised within the research. The following is the selection criteria developed to meet the objectives of this research:
The participants must be African American millennial women aged 24-35 years of age residing in the United States
The literature review and the associated gaps have uncovered that the effects of social media advertising on African American women is an under-developed area of research, despite the encounters that this particular demographic has had in relation to the cosmetic surgery industry and its associated advertising via social media channels. 92.9% of US cosmetic surgery patients in 2018 were female, and 98% of 21-35 yr olds in the US plan to have cosmetic surgery (ASAPS, 2018), making millennial females the most engaged demographic within the US in relation to seeking cosmetic surgery procedures. These findings further propelled this study to focus on and explore the selected sample.
The participants must be users of the Instagram social media application
Alghonaim et al. (2019) suggests that Instagram is the most influential platform in cosmetic surgery desire in young women, making it a relevant social platform to focus the research study upon. A report published by Statista (2019) reveals that over half of all instagram users (approximately fifty-eight percent) are millennials, and amongst this demographic over half are female. This further justifies the selected sample criteria of both point A and point B.
The research participants must have had any form of cosmetic surgery within the last five years
It was imperative that participants involved in the study had a prior history of cosmetic surgery in order to ascertain how the advertising via social media aided in their thought process and eventual purchase intent in relation to undergoing cosmetic surgery. This criteria allowed for rich data to be collected in order to further meet the research aim and objectives.
Research Procedure:
First of all, the research study will set the aims and objectives of the research to find out a dimension of the research, as it will help better understand the research topic. After deciding the samples and the targeted population, the next step is to use different strategies for reaching the population. Before interviewing the participants, they are provided with the consent form to deal with their confidentiality and anonymity issues. Debriefing will also be provided to the participants to let them know about the research study. After taking their consent, the next step will be interviewing those participants (Ratislavová & Ratislav, 2014). The participants will ask the interview questions to get a more in-depth understanding and deeper analysis of the research topic. The interview participants will be asked questions one by one after getting to know about their demographics. After taking interviews from the focus group of the target example, the next step will be to analyze the data gathered. The data analysis in the qualitative research study involves identifying the themes, experiences, and opinions in between the participants’ responses. This will be done by using qualitative software as that of NVIVO. This software will help in identifying the common themes for reporting the results. After obtaining the results, these findings will be compared with empirical research to see the current research’s validity and consistency.
Ethical considerations:
The current research will be ethically considerate, and it will consider all the ethical measures to improve the validity and consistency of the research. The ethical considerations that will be considered in the current research include confidentiality, anonymity, informed consent, integrity, and honesty in the research (Connelly, 2014). All the principles are followed in the current research, and the participants are also provided with informed consent to deal with their ethical concerns. Voluntary participation of the participants is vital to provide respect to the rights of each participant, as per Recker (2012). Also, the participants will be made aware of the detailed description of the data collection and analysis. The identity and the confidential information of the participants will be kept anonymous in the entire study. And the data of the study will be kept confidential and saved in a computer system that is encrypted by using a password to get access. All the findings of the research will be widely reported, and the authors will be honestly acknowledged.
Limitations:
Although the research study is reliable and valid, it still has certain limitations that cannot be ignored. One of the research limitations is that it is subjective, which means that the researcher’s personal experiences and viewpoints can influence the research findings. The findings of the research cannot be generalized because of the limited sample. Moreover, COVID-19 has caused a significant number of challenges to conduct the research. The data collection cannot be possible face to face due to COVID-19 restrictions, but in the current case, zoom meetings will be held to achieve the aims of the research. The current research is qualitative rather than quantitative research, which is another limitation of the research. These limitations can be addressed in the future for the improvement of the current research study.
To summarize, the research methodology followed in the research is qualitative, and it will follow the interpretivism approach. The primary data collection will be held by the participants directly by taking their interviews via online platforms. A step-by-step approach will be used in the research to meet the aims and objectives of the research. The research will be ethically considerate, and all the ethical principles will be kept in mind. However, the study has limitations due to the lack of generality and restrictions to do face-to-face interviews.
References
Bevir, M. and Rhodes, R.A., 2012. Interpretivism and the analysis of traditions and practices. Critical policy studies, 6(2), pp.201-208.
Benoot, C., Hannes, K. and Bilsen, J., 2016. Purposeful, sampling in a qualitative evidence synthesis: A worked example on sexual adjustment to a cancer trajectory. BMC medical research methodology, 16(1), pp.1-12.
Connelly, L.M., 2014. Ethical considerations in research studies. Medsurg Nursing, 23(1), pp.54-56.
Campbell, S., 2014. What is qualitative research?. Clinical Laboratory Science, 27(1), p.3.
Chowdhury, M.F., 2014. Interpretivism in aiding our understanding of the contemporary social world. Open Journal of Philosophy, 2014.
Emmel, N., 2013. Purposeful sampling. Sampling and choosing cases in qualitative research: A realist approach, pp.33-45.
Harper, D., 2011. Choosing a qualitative research method. Wiley Blackwell.
Jamshed, S., 2014. Qualitative research method-interviewing and observation. Journal of basic and clinical pharmacy, 5(4), p.87.
Khan, S.N., 2014. Qualitative research method-phenomenology. Asian Social Science, 10(21), p.298.
Oun, M.A. and Bach, C., 2014. Qualitative research method summary. Qualitative research, 1(5), pp.252-258.
Potrac, P., Jones, R.L. and Nelson, L., 2014. Interpretivism. In Research methods in sports coaching (pp. 31-41). Routledge.
Qu, S.Q. and Dumay, J., 2011. The qualitative research interview. Qualitative research in accounting & management.
Ratislavová, K. and Ratislav, J., 2014. Asynchronous email interview as a qualitative research method in the humanities. Human Affairs, 24(4), pp.452-460.
Recker, J., 2012. Ethical considerations in research. In Scientific Research in Information Systems (pp. 141-147). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Ryan, G., 2018. Introduction to positivism, interpretivism and critical theory. Nurse researcher, 25(4), pp.41-49.
Suri, H., 2011. Purposeful sampling in qualitative research synthesis. Qualitative research journal.
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