Introduction
The idea is to plan the development of a park for the general public. People usually do not want to visit parks unless they have something exceptional to visit. This park is going to offer people an option of skateboarding/roller skating and a usual jogging track for the people to walk or jog (as a part of their exercise). Research could be the first step to find out if people really want what is going to be offered to them or would they still not prefer to avail themselves of the park services. The development of such services within the park is dependent on identifying the need in the market without which it could be a loss and expense to the government.
Main text
Management Decision Problem: To develop a park for general public with special services (skateboarding/roller skating and jogging track).
Marketing Research Problem: To find out if people really want to avail such services in the park (skateboarding/roller skating and jogging track).
The research would be exploratory as according to Sekaran (2003), ‘exploratory studies are also necessary when some facts are known, but more information is needed for developing a viable theoretical framework’ (p.120). The sampling design for research could be a bit complicated as the sample size could consist of people of all ages and the sample size should also be large enough to represent the whole population. The research would consist of 500 respondents and the research would be quantitative as it is wise to note the responses of the individuals and then analyze the data to come up with valid action plans.
The sampling would be probability as it is well known for its generalizability (represents the whole of the population rather than a segment). The more specific type of sampling could be the simple random sampling method as every respondent has a known chance of being selected, according to Sekaran (2003), simple random sampling has the least bias but drawbacks are that it is time-consuming and at times expensive. The research can be divided into different areas to identify the interests of residents of different areas. The sample would consist of 250 young boys including teenagers (to find out if they like skateboarding or roller skating) and 250 adults (including old-age people who may like to walk).
The research instrument used for data collection is questionnaire as the research is quantitative but there are numerous issues of concern while conducting research via questionnaires. The first issue is that people from different age groups may find it hard to answer a few of the questions in the questionnaire. Careful analysis of such issues could reduce the chances of error. It is suggested that the questionnaire should consist of the close-ended questions in the first place, should not have double-barrelled questions and that proper scaling technique are used to judge the respondents’ views on the proposed plan.
Summary
Data analysis could consist of analyzing it via SPSS software, hypothesis needs to be developed for this particular research, one of the null hypotheses could be (Ho) ‘people like entertainment for both young and adults in the same park’ while alternative hypothesis could be (HA) ‘people do not like the entertainment for both young and adults in the same park’. The other null hypothesis could be (Ho) ‘Youngsters like to skateboard in parks while adults like to walk’ and the alternative hypothesis could be (HA) ‘Youngsters do not like skateboarding in parks and so not the adults like walking’. Variables could be assigned to the collected data and information can be processed to form some meaningful information which would tell us if these two features would be liked by the general public.
References
Sekaran, U. (2003). Research methods for business. (4th Edition). New York: John Willey & sons.