This part of the study discusses the research methodology that was used in this research. It includes the definition of terms related to research methodology. It also includes the method of data collection and the sampling procedure used by the researcher.
Research methodology is defined as a procedural, theoretical analysis of methods of conducting research or a study. Research methodology allows the researcher to theoretically analyze methods and principle related to a given field of study. According to Howel (2013), research methodology is a strategic guide in a research process. Research methodology assists researchers to identify the methods to be used in a study. According to Herrman (2009), research methodology is different from research methods in that, research methodology dos not provide any solution to a study but offers a theoretical understanding of the methods which helps the researcher to determine which research method in suitable for a given study and the best way in which the study can be carried out. On the other hand, research method is used to describe the means and modes of collecting data. Research methodology cannot be used to refer to a specific method, but it provides procedures that need to follow to achieve the objectives of the research (Bruce, 2009). Katsicas &Sokratis (2009) noted that an effective research methodology includes a constructive framework which is divided into sub-processes or can be combined or even the sequence changed.
In this research study, survey methodology was used. According to Quarter (2014) survey can be defined as a systematic approach that is used in gathering information by selecting samples from a given population that the researcher in interested in studying. Samples in a survey are used to provide information about the whole population. According Beam (2012) as a methodology survey used sample units from the study population and involved various techniques of data collection such as questionnaires and also methods that ensure the accuracy of the information provided. Instruments or procedure used in survey method contains questions may or may not be answered. The survey is dependent on sample units in a population, and thus the effectiveness of the study relies mostly on the selected samples from the target population (Ader, 2008) the sample or the people selected to reply to a survey are known as respondents. Respondents can be categorized into various groups depending on the social attributes that they have. For instance gender, age, marital status, race and religion among other categories. The survey can either be qualitative or quantitative depending on the type of information that the researcher is interested in.
This study focused on leisure shopping, and thus it required information from people to understand various aspects of leisure shopping. The researcher used the questionnaire as the method of collecting data. According to Shaughnessy et al. (2011) questionnaire is the most common method of collecting data in surveys. According to Lesley (2012), Surveys usually assesses attitudes that people have and judgment about a number of items. However, for a questionnaire to be effective is should be structured and written well to meet the objective of the study. Shaughnessy et al. further notes that questionnaires can be used to gather reliable and valid demographic information. Questionnaires are used to study given demographic variables that portray certain characteristics of the study population. The questionnaire can either be structured or non-structured. The non-structured questionnaire allows the respondent to express their view while in close ended or structured questionnaire the respondent is limited to give specific answers provided by the researcher. In this particular study, the researcher used the structured questionnaire to collect information on leisure shopping. The objective of the survey was to improve the experience of shopping in small towns in Australia. To ensure that the questionnaire used is effective it is important to measure it is important to tests its reliability and validity. The researcher carried a pilot study to ensure that the questionnaire was valid and suitable for this study.
A sample is a selected unit used as a representative of the whole population, and it is used to give information which is assumed to hold the truth about the larger population since the aim of the survey is to describe the whole population and not just the sample (Groves et al. 2009). Selected samples are referred to as elements. While choosing samples researchers are often faced with difficult in identifying the suitable samples for the study. In some cases, researchers may end up making an error of selection bias which leads to inaccurate results. In this study, the researcher used random selection to avoid bias while considering gender.
This section of the research discusses the findings of the research. It will focus on the responses that were provided by the respondents on the leisure shopping. The study analyzes the various aspects of interest on leisure shopping which will be based on the responses given. The researcher uses a structured questionnaire to collect data which was then coded and recorded. The aspects tested in this research include the features that attracted the respondent to make a visit to a given place, the performance of the place in regard to the features, the appealing themes in those place which included local history and heritage building, parts, music among others. It also focused on the importance of the shopping experiences on the respondents. These among other aspects of leisure shopping were included in the study.
According to Backstrom (2011) shopping for pleasure or leisure shopping can be examined using economic or psychological approaches. There are different categories of people who take part in leisure shopping thus drawing a social-cultural approach to this study. This objective of this study was to bring a better understanding on leisure shopping by studying the experiences of those who shop for leisure. The study outlines the various aspects of leisure shopping and the different experiences that customers by taking part in this activity. The study with also show the interrelationships between various shopping orientations.
Shopping for leisure has been there for a long time and has been recognized in the society. According to Howard (2007), the concept of leisure shopping is now being studied under various academic disciplines. Researchers have been using economic and psychological approaches to understanding activities such as leisure shopping. This study also has used both psychological and economical approaches to understanding leisure shopping. The study investigated the factors that attract the respondents to take part in leisure shopping some of the factors can are psychological such as the experiences, appeals for different themes, performance, service delivery all these aspects of leisure shopping have an emotional influence on the respondent. While other aspects such as the cost of items that may have attracted the respondent to visit a place for leisure shopping, the most expensive items bought and others are economic aspects that motivate leisure shopping. This study has also included the social factors that may be having an influence on people’s choice to participate in leisure shopping. For instance, below is an analysis of how different features attracted the respondents’ decision to visit a place for leisure shopping. Most of these features are economic and social features.
Figure 1: Table Features important in decision making
|
Variables |
Mean |
|
Atmpher |
4.16 |
|
quietdy |
3.74 |
|
Friends |
3.56 |
|
prices |
3.13 |
|
Localpr1 |
4.03 |
|
show |
3.13 |
|
escape |
4.06 |
|
relax |
4.14 |
|
event |
3.11 |
|
learn |
3.39 |
|
locals |
3.34 |
|
uniqpr |
3.74 |
|
attract |
3,31 |
|
vfr |
3.99 |
|
madepr |
3.79 |
Figure 2: Chart of features important in decision making.
The above table and chart show how various features influenced the respondents to visit place for leisure shopping. The respondent was supposed to rate each feature against a scale rating from 1 -5. The rating shows the significance of specific features in influencing the respondent’s decision. If a feature was rated 1, then it means that the feature had no significant influence on the respondent to make a choice while a rating of five showed that the feature was very significant in the respondent’s choice to visit the place. Comparing the averages of the features likely to influence the decision of a person to go out for leisure shopping we can observe that while making decisions most people consider the following features, village atmosphere, local products to buy, escaping the city and somewhere to relax. These features have an average rate of above 4.0. We can, therefore, conclude that these are the main factors that influence the decision of leisure shopping. Other features such as low price, a good place to be with family and friends, to with friends and special events among other have an average of 3.11, and above thus it can be concluded that they have a moderate influence on decision making regarding leisure shopping.
Analysis of psychologically connected features that attract people to leisure shopping.
Figure 3: Table showing the appeal for different themes.
|
Variables |
Localhis |
ethnchis |
scenery |
parks |
music |
fooddrin |
craft |
Antiques |
|
Mean |
4.01 |
3.97 |
4.2 |
3.71 |
3.37 |
3.94 |
3.98 |
3.3 |
Figure 4: Chart showing the distribution of different appeal themes.
From the above analysis, it can be seen that most of the people are attracted visit a specific place for leisure shopping by the local history and heritage buildings and special sceneries or environment. These factors are related to the psychological pleasure that one acquires by being in such places.
Figure 5: Chart showing age distribution of the respondents
The average age of the most of the respondents who took part in the research is 43.03 this indicates that most of the people taking part in the leisure shopping are 43 years and above thus the youths aged 35 years and below are less likely to go out for leisure shopping.
Figure 6: Table showing Expenditure trends
|
Item |
getting |
Parking |
bookbroc |
Foodri2 |
Itemshop |
Accommodation |
|
Expenditure in $ |
25.4 |
0.37 |
0.14 |
29.6 |
31.7 |
25.4 |
Figure 7: Chart showing the distribution of expenditure trends
The above chart shows the expenditure trends of the people in leisure in Dollars shopping on different items. Most people spend much on Food and drinks, accommodation, and items from the shop while less money is spent on parking and buying books and brochure. This analysis shows the spending habits in leisure shopping.
Table showing Experiences of shopping in different place
|
Shopping place |
Duty free |
Shops near attractions |
urban |
malls |
Market towns outlets |
|
Average preference |
2.32 |
2.9 |
2.35 |
3.68 |
3.76 |
From this analysis is evident most people preferred malls and market town outlets for leisure shopping. This is because they provide better shopping experiences to leisure shoppers than other areas. According to Wirtz et al. (2007), the arousal expectations and the pleasantness of the environment attract customers. Rajagopal (2007) the pleasant feeling inside shopping malls stimulates pleasure in the customers thus attracting more customers especially leisure shoppers.
From the analysis of the results, it can be concluded that people are influenced to take part in leisure shopping mostly by social factors and psychological factors. Most of the people will go out because they want to change or experience a new environment. Other factors that most people consider while going out for leisure shopping is the convenience of getting to the place, safety, attractions and places that they can rest.
Age and gender are other factors that influence leisure shopping most of the people taking part in leisure shopping are above 40yrs while most participants were women.
During the research, the researcher encountered some challenges that limited the study. The following are the challenges faced by the researcher.
Conclusions
The result from this study shows different kinds of motives that consumers have are reflected in their shopping habits. It also shows how consumers experience and practice leisure shopping and the experiences that they look for. The study has also shown some of the traits that most leisure shoppers exhibit which can easily be predicted. Leisure shoppers are mostly attracted by situations that tend to bring social and psychological personal satisfaction. From the analysis of the features that influence consumer decisions, it can be noted that prices, local products to buy meet local people and be with friends have less influence on a person’s decision to out for leisure shopping compared to need to experience the village atmosphere, quiet day out when an individual does not want to be involved in many social issues and for the purpose of relaxing.
Researching on shopping as leisure also helps in improving an insight which can help a business in improving or making variations in accordance with the consumer ways of experiencing shopping (Maronick,2007). The study analysis shows the items that leisure shopper highly spends on. For instance, most of the leisure shoppers spend much on foods and drinks. This is an important thing to if the business is targeting leisure shoppers. While most of the marketing researches focus on the psychological and economic factors that influence consumer’s choice, this study has provided another alternative that helps understand behaviors and needs of a specific category of consumers such as the leisure shoppers (Gomez, et al. 2007). This research focuses more on the consumer to identify the needs and preferences and also to understand their experiences and motives. This study has brought a clearer understanding of the consumer’s experiences. According to Bardhi &Arnold, (2005) such research is mainly aimed at identifying shopping consumption habits and activities as experience by different consumers.
The study has applied a social -cultural approach to understanding the characteristics and the consumption patterns of leisure shoppers. According to Gounaris (2007), social, cultural approaches to studying consumers provides insight on how consumers such as leisure shoppers experience and practice their activities. This approach is essential to business as it can help them understand their customers better and therefore focus on how they can satisfy their need. Understanding different categories of consumers are also important in designing a business so that it can provide the desired experiences to the consumers. For instance, it is worth to note the items that leisure shoppers tend to spend much on and the ones that they do not spend on. By understanding the spending traits, the business can, therefore, understand what to invest on most when targeting a given category of consumers.
The level of performance of business also acts as an attraction for most leisure shoppers. It is noted that that most of them prefer to visit areas where they will satisfy their personal of social needs. For instance, if a person wants to a have a quiet day then the appropriate place to visit is not in the middle of the city which is noisy but an area away from the city that provides a quiet atmosphere.
From the research results, it is also evident that consumers’ choice of the shopping place is influenced by a number of factors such as convenience with many people especially leisure shoppers preferring visit malls for shopping instead of visiting local shops or retail outlets in the city (El-Adly, 2007). According to Rajagopal (2008), shopping malls have been contributing to the market more than the traditional market. This is because shopping malls are more convenient and they provide the consumers with a wide variety of product to choose from. They also provide an environment where the customers can spend much time this makes shopping more enjoyable a factor that attracts many leisure shoppers to the malls. Mall are also less congested, and leisure shopper find them being the most convenient places to go for shopping which also satisfies their desire of enjoying shopping
References
Adèr, H., Mellenbergh, J., and Hand, J. 2008. Advising on research methods: A consultant’s companion. Huizen, The Netherlands: Johannes van Kessel Publishing.
Backstrom, K. 2011. Shopping as leisure: An exploration of manifoldness and dynamics in consumers shopping experiences. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. Vol 18. Pp 200-2009.
Beam, G. 2012. The Problem with Survey Research. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, p. xv.
Bruce L., 2009, Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Seventh Edition. Boston MA: Pearson Education Inc.
El-Adly, M 2007. Shopping malls attractiveness: A segmentation approach. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. Vol 35 no.11: 936–950.
Groves, R., Fowler, F., Couper, M., Lepkowski, J., Singer, E., Tourangeau, R. 2009. Survey Methodology. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-21134-2
Gómez, M., Maratou, L., & Just, D., 2007. Factors affecting the allocation of trade promotions in the US food distribution system. Review of Agricultural Economics 29 (1):119–140
Gounaris, S., Panigyrakis, G. & Chatzipanagiotou, K. 2007. Measuring the effectiveness of marketing information systems: An empirically validated instrument. Marketing Intelligence and Planning. Vol 25. No.6. pp 612
Herrman, C. 2009. Fundamentals of Methodology: a series of papers On the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN), online
Howell, K. 2013. Introduction to the Philosophy of Methodology. London: Sage Publications
Katsicas & Sokratis K. 2009. Computer and Information Security Handbook. Morgan Kaufmann Publications. Elsevier Inc. p. 605.
Lesley, A. 2012. Designing and Doing Survey Research. London: Sage
Lynn, P. 2008. The problem of non-response. International Handbook of Survey Methodology (ed.s Edith de Leeuw, Joop Hox & Don A. Dillman). Erlbaum. ISBN 0-8058-5753-2
Maronick, T.J. (2007) Specialty retail center’s impact on downtown shopping, dining, and entertainment. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. Vol 35. No.7: 556 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quarter, W, 2014. Principles of research methodology. Applied Methods in LA Labour community. Chicago.
Rajagopal 2007. Stimulating retail sales and upholding customer value. Journal of Retail and Leisure Property. Vol. 6 no.2. 117–135.
Rajagopal 2008. Time-sharing at leisure facility centers: Analysis of sales performance indicators. Journal of Retail and Leisure Property. Vol 7 no.3: 248–262.
Shaughnessy, J., Zechmeister, E., Jeanne, Z. 2011. Research methods in psychology (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. pp. 161–175.
Wirtz, J., Mattila, S., and Tan, R. 2007. The role of arousal congruency in influencing consumers’ satisfaction evaluations and in-store behaviors. International Journal of Service Industry Management. Vol 18 No.1): 6–24
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download