The effect of Levis online community

The effect of Levis online communityMethodologyThis section of the dissertation ordain focus on the area of the investigate design, the methodology exculpateed and it will also relate to the sample utilize, methods choice and the methodology criticism. The interrogation which focuses on an online Levis community will use qualitative work to examine how Levis brand personalizedities influence young Chinese consumers, how this online Levis community affects people who communicated with each other and may strengthen their brand loyalty.Research determinationFor this dissertation, there are increasingly young Chinese consumers wearing Levis jeans on whom I might fetch and searching study to generate possible explanations. Because this look for is an exploratory research, the major emphasis is on the discovery of the ideas and insights of consumers. Churchill and Iacobucci (2005 p77) described the answers of exploratory research and suggested it should include, formulating a business for much precise investigation or for underdeveloped hypotheses and gating schooling ab kayoed the practical problems of carrying out relevant research.It is widely acknowledged that while quantitative approach emphasize on theory testing which means using existing theory tested and measured a specific research linguistic context (Carson et al. 2001) in long-standing tradition, qualitative research are considered to be exploratory in nature because studies are characterized by flexibility with respect to the research used (Churchill and Iacobucci, 2005). Gordon and Langmaid (1988) demonstrated the differences between qualitative research and quantitative research. Qualitative research concerned with understanding things rather than with measuring them using quantitative research and qualitative research emphasis is on in-depth understanding of how, why and in what context certain phenomena occur and what impacts upon or influences such phenomena.conversely, quantitativ e research is more relevant where the research emphasis is on comparison. (Carson et al. 2001 p66) According to the differences, by using a qualitative approach, more in-depth study in the research process could provide information and insights with much more detailed and thorough level than quantitative synopsis approach (Weischedel et al. 2005). For this dissertation, the intention of the research is to strain human views at the root of empirical experience on Levis jeans. So the qualitative research approach is more suitable for this dissertation. Because qualitative research approach focus on things really happen as researchers and people experience them.Besides, some characteristics of qualitative research were menti nonpareild by Gordon and Langmaid (1988) which includes small samples of consumers which may non represent large peoples a wide contrastive of techniques to collect data, non just a structured question-and-answer format and entranceway to the ways in which consumers express themselves. For this dissertation, the samples will be chosen from the online Levis community and a semi-structured call into question questionnaire will be conducted during the research. Meanwhile, qualitative research is often carried out to examine consumers attitudes and behaviour in relation with a product category, usually with the specific aim of understanding consumers relationships with a specific brand (Proctor 2005, Gordon and Langmaid 1988). Kozinets (2002) also believed qualitative methods are mostly useful for illustrating the rich symbolic world that cause peoples needs, desires, meanings, and choices. Due to the research objectives of this dissertation are exploring the attitudes of Chinese consumers who like to wear Levis jeans and memorialize loyalty to this brand as well as perspectives towards one Levis online community, While quantitative research might be used to find differences between Levis formula consumers and Levis fans, qualitative research could be used to examine the attitudes, feeling and motivations of the Levis fans. Although, qualitative research has some limitations and disadvantages, such as small sample size (Gordon and Langmaid, 1988) and free-flowing sermon can result qualitative research projects with many different thought (McDaniel and Gates 2006). in that location are still some main advantages for qualitative research first, it is usually much cheaper than quantitative research second, there is no better way to understand the in-depth motivations and feelings of consumers (Proctor, 2005). According to these main advantages, the qualitative research will be developed during the research process.Secondary DataIt is very important to understand market and brand background before doing research. So secondary data plays a crucial role in understanding this such as the market assessment of Levis in China as well as supports the research analysis. There are two types of secondary data. The first one is called internal database which means the company itself (Levis Company) and the second one is called international database which means other organizations or persons (McDaniel and Gates, 2006). In the dissertation, secondary data such as Levis annual report and GMID will be used to study the situation of Levis in China. Because Levis Company has a world-shaking business performance in the world, some public media such as website, newspaper even textbook will be consulted to gain contextual information on this brand. The second data information we are looking for in this topic will also be conducted in the dissertation to strengthen the public and accuracy of the market orientation.SamplingSampling means using information which was reigned from a subset (a sample) to estimate active various characteristics of the total population (McDaniel and Gates, 2006). This research aims to seek the reason of young Chinese people like to wearing Levis jeans therefore non-probability is appropriate to represent this purpose in small sample units. Because the respondence in non-probability samples is more rational representative if collected in a careful process. (McDaniel and Gates, 2006 Proctor, 2005) But the main problem of non-probability is the accuracy and the range of sample units (Forrest, 2003). Meanwhile, the results of using non-probability samples may non be projected to the total population (Proctor, 2005).Meanwhile the samples of this dissertation will be chosen from an online Levis community. McDaniel and Gates (2006) demonstrated the advantages of the Internet Sampling which included bottom respondents can complete the survey at their convenience the interview can be administered under software control data collection is inexpensive. (p315) However subgenus Chen and Hinton (1999) argued, online interviewing may include some sampling biases that should be thought by researchers considering the method research methods are limited in their ability to survey members of the researchers post population because the motivation of potential interviewees to agree to being studied using the proposed method and the ability of the method to include selected interviewees. In this project, interviewees will be obtained from their different levels in the online Levis community. The level in this Levis online community means the favorite level they like Levis jeans through their contributions such as Levis jeans photos they uploaded in this online community Levis products introduction they wrote in this community, their own feelings about Levis products shared in this online community. The higher level they obtained means the more experience they had on Levis. The reason for choosing different level people is exhausting to investigate different voices and feedbacks as well as support the research objective to give further suggestions.In-depth Online InterviewQualitative researchers who use interviews as data collection tools believe that th ey can, investigate elements of the social by asking people to talk and to gather or construct knowledge by listening to and interlingual rendition what they say and to how they say it (Mason, 2002 225). For this project, by using interview method, it could examine interviewees feeling about Levis brand. Several researchers have found the usefulness of the internet to design and conduct qualitative research projects and online data collection methods are increasingly used (Gruber et. al. 2008). In this dissertation, I will focus on an online Levis Community and the netnography method which is used will be text-based online individual depth interviews with loose ended questions.Interviewing is an important qualitative approach, because it is a highly personal process which means creating through personal communication. In-depth interviewing is defined by Neuman (1994 p246) as a social relationship a short-term, secondary social interaction between two strangers with the explicit p urpose of one person obtaining specific information from the other. The use of in-depth interviews was seen as a suitable methodology which could obtain rich data through a detailed and open discussion with consumers and decision makers (OConnor and Madge, 2004). In many fields, online in-depth interview and face-to-face in-depth interview are similar processes for the researcher and both can be considered conversations with a purpose (Burgess, 1984 p102). However, there are still some differences between online interview and face-to-face interview. OConnor and Madge (2003) stated, comparing with face-to-face interview which would be impractical, costly and time consuming online interview is conducted on the Internet, so that it has lower cost and is a convenient way to carry out. For this dissertation, because all the interviewees are young Chinese people, they are well-known(prenominal) with online surround they are good at using blurtting software such as MSN Messenger and QQ. Meanwhile, online interview method could avoid geographical problems. Gruber et al. (2008 p257) also mentioned, Online interviews are cheaper to conduct than traditional interviews as there are no travel, venue renting and accommodation expenses. Researchers do not have to tape and transcribe online interviews as the online chat programmes that are used to conduct interviews automatically generate interview transcripts, which allow a quicker analysis of data further, the whole interviewing process may be less stressful and more convenient for respondents as they can be interviewed at home or at work in a familiar and non-threatening environment. Another advantage by conducting online interview for this project is the interviewees are the members of Levis online community. Qualitative on-line research, such as on-line in-depth interview, is particularly useful when the target population is small, very specialized in its skills, and difficult to find and recruit (Miller Dickson, 200 1).On the other side, online interview also exist in some limitations and disadvantages. OConnor and Madge (2002) argued, although online interview could obtain rich and valuable to the researchers, there are many problems of online research so that online research should not be exaggerated and researchers should be aware of these problems. Firstly, Chen and Hinton (1999) concerned about limited samples and limited data during the online research process. They believed this sample limited problems could lead to non-specialized interviewing, such as the general assessment of a group which did not be defined because their access to the Internet. For this dissertation, the sample will be chosen in one online Levis community and the interviewees are members of this community. The second disadvantage is that online interview may receive less attention of interviewees and may not make interviewers to create rapport which is important to create a relationship with interviewees who are then will to share information. (Chen and Hinton 1999 Gruber et al. 2008 OConnor and Madge 2003). The online interview is difference between face-to-face interview because online interview happened when both interviewer and interviewee fact to computer screen. It may be that distractions result in respondents not being affluenty engaged with the interview whilst dealing with interruptions of which the interviewer may not be aware. In the face-to-face setting the interviewer can respond immediately to external factors, perhaps by suspending the interview, whereas the virtual interviewer, unable to see what is happening, may carry on regardless, not aware that s/he does not have the full attention of the respondent (OConnor and Madge, 2003 p137) Gruber et al. (2008) demonstrated, during the online interview, because both of interviewer and interviewee face to computer screen, they cannot receive each others respondence such as body language, head nodding and facial expressions, as a res ult, researchers developing online interviewers can not able to observe if interviewees are losing interest in the chat or if they are annoyed or unclear about a particular question. As a result, there is no rapport was created. For this project, because the MSN messenger softer ware will be used as interview tool, this problem will also happen during this online interview process.SummaryBy summary, this research will focus on solely qualitative methodology. Secondary data will be used for an early stage of understood of the background of Levis in China. Online in-depth interview will be conducted in the exploration the reason of different consumers in one online Levis community like wearing Levis jeans. The limitations and disadvantages of online interview and sampling were also discussed in this chapter.