To carry out the attitude survey, I chose an area of interest that is related to examining attitudes of consumers towards social media marketing through Facebook by different fashion brands. In recent years, many fashion brands started using Facebook as a marketing tool for their products (Indvik, 2011). These fashion brands are investing heavily on social media to create awareness amongst consumers and promote their products/designs.
The first step, which was followed for designing the attitude survey, involved setting up research questions. The survey was designed keeping in view two research questions that would help in understanding the attitudes of consumers towards marketing on social networking websites.
These research questions were formulated based on the understanding that consumers are influenced by the information they receive and the way this information is presented to them (Bughin, Doogan, & Vetvik, 2010). The research questions set out for the survey are provided in the following.
- Does marketing on Facebook provides better coverage and information about fashion brands?
- Does marketing on social networking websites by fashion brands affect consumers’ attitudes towards them?
These research questions were taken into consideration when designing the survey questionnaire for data collection. These research questions helped me to decide the scope of the survey and questions to be included in the questionnaire.
I faced several issues when designing the survey questionnaire. Firstly, I had to develop an understanding of the ethical issues related to the informed consent of participants for taking part in the attitude survey. I prepared a consent letter, which had details of the survey, and it clearly stated the purpose of the survey, for participants. Moreover, I had to ensure that no private information was sought from participants that could lead to their hesitance to participate.
Secondly, I faced issues when deciding on the type of questions to be asked and the language to be used when asking these questions to survey participants. To achieve greater consistency and reliability in results, I included closed-ended statements based on the Likert Scale (Saunders, 2003). In addition to demographic questions, these statements were primarily aimed at addressing the research questions. I chose the Likert Scale as it allowed me to provide limited response options to participants.
The participants are allowed to choose their responses from a ranking 1 to 5 where 1 stand for ‘Strongly Disagree,’ 2 stands for ‘Somewhat Disagree,’ 3 stands for ‘Neither Agree nor Disagree,’ 4 stands for ‘Somewhat Agree,’ and 5 stands for ‘Strongly Agree.’
This would assist in the coding of responses and later analyzing them to derive useful conclusions from the attitude survey. I also understood that for the successful completion of the survey, it was important to use the language that was clear to participants. For this purpose, I used long sentences with clarity of language.
To carry out the prescribed attitude survey, I recommend random sampling technique for the selection of participants. The random sampling technique reduces the element of bias in responses (Saunders, 2003). Moreover, the survey does not need to be administered in a controlled environment. The participants should be allowed to complete the questionnaire in their own convenient time. This would increase the response rate. As already mentioned, the scoring of responses is based on the ranking of responses provided to participants.
The responses of participants can be numerically presented as per the Likert scale, and then different statistical methods can be applied to analyze the data. I recommend the use of Cronbach’s Alpha, descriptive statistics, and independent samples t-test to explore differences in views amongst different demographic groups. The reliability of responses can be determined by using Cronbach’s Alpha.
The descriptives methods such as calculation of mean and standard deviation can help to determine averages and dispersion of responses, respectively. In addition to these, independent samples t-test can help to identify differences in the mean values of responses provided by individuals belonging to different demographic groups. Moreover, it can assist in determining whether these differences are significant or not.
Attitude Survey
References
Bughin, J., Doogan, J., & Vetvik, O. J. (2010). A new way to measure word-of-mouth marketing. Web.
Indvik, L. (2011). 5 Best Practices for Fashion Retailers on Facebook. Web.
Saunders, M. (2003). Research Methods for Business Students. New Delhi: Pearson Education India.