Diferencia y Repetición en una filosofía de la Diferencia.

Pilot phase's necessity is mostly based on the sample size that is intended to use, which is expected to be hundreds -it will be calculated to make it definitive-, in other words quite large and therefore demanding in terms budget. It is expected that pilot can detect some unwanted roadblocks and allow taking necessary actions prior to pursue the complete final run.

Due to the necessities of data sampling calculations, pilot data number will be discussed on further sections. Although it will be a small number and although technically the time to analyse of a small and larger sample is not significantly different, it will not be partially, but fully analysed. The reason is to be able to decide the format of the data reports earlier and mitigate the possibility of focusing on trivial matters, like format.

Within this approach, it is also intended to improve SPSS skills and prevent the possible user mistakes in the final phase.

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This phase will include the complete survey run and data analysis, afterwards, the validation of results and impact analysis will be conducted.

Ideally, it is expected that the complete survey replicates the pilot phase, where the only difference would be conducting this with larger numbers. Its results will be analysed in the same way, but the body of SPSS will be placed into the main text, rather than appendixes, where the reason is its importance and the necessity of showing more direct support to more definitive findings, which is a contextualised framework.

Although validation is not considered as a necessity after a quantitative study, there are examples that aim to promote an increase with the confidence level. To double check the understanding level of the survey questions, especially with the results that their impact will be analysed with many extents through calculated figures, this becomes more meaningful. The factors that can affect the conduction of a validation phase are its determinants, like technique, number of sample, number of iteration and most importantly the subject for validation. This study‘s subject is the contextual framework which was yielded from the questionnaire. However, in terms of budget management and low possibility of misunderstanding with the descriptive part of the questionnaire (e.g. age, education etc.), this will not be included again.

Depending to the distribution nature of data, impact analysis will be based on its probability and cumulative density functions. The calculated figures will be discussed in the light of different stakeholders and yield the final framework.

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The survey method has been selected, and a questionnaire will be used, rather than interviews. The questionnaire will not only include closed-ended questions, but also some open-ended questions, wherein the expectation would be to have a more complementary outcome.

The core of the survey is the product section, which consists of Wilson‘s (2000) two and Kotler‘s five questions, asked for 12 different products, from tangibles to intangibles.

The set of seven questions has been asked in relation to both economic crisis and non- economic crisis environments, based on the perceptions of the audience.

A six-step Likert scale will be used, and will consist of a ‗buying attitude‘ index that goes from red to green. This red to green code will be placed on a two-axis linear model. The code will be generalised with a set of five basic questions on the six-step scale. All is expected to help to find out whether the code is where on red to green colour. For instance, all left answers would supposedly show full red as ‗Buying Attitude‘ index. In other words, ‗green‘ would be the code for ‗enjoyment‘, whereas ‗red‘ would point to ‗aversion‘ (Figure 3.4).

Needs assessment questions (Wilson, 2000)

1) Is this product subject to routine procurement in the company (exceptional-routine)?

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Buying attitude questions (Kotler, 1967)

3) What is the communication tone noticed (rational-emotional)?

4) What this the preferred brand (no name-famous)?

5) What financial model do you use (low-high liquidity)?

6) What is the sales point (high-low relationship)?

7) What is the response time (not sure-ASAP)?

The pre-product section of the survey contains descriptive questions relating to aspects such as company size in terms of employee numbers, and sector. Based on statistics - covered in section 4.2.1-, manufacturing, construction and general trade sectors dominate SMEs in terms of number of companies and employee size. Although only three sectors are targeted in this comparative study, all nine possibilities exist – based on KOSGEB definition – in order to be able to check the entry correctness. The pre-product section also includes year of establishment, location of headquarters, place of birth, position in the company, age bracket, education, current technology set-up and marital status, which are all potential variables.

A unique open-ended question relates to the media they follow. The other open-ended question, ‗What is the best campaign you remember running?‘, has been converted to ‗Although the answer will vary from product to product, please name the top three messages that you consider most attractive to you as a buyer?‘; this revision permits the

answers to be quantified, and they can then be used out-of-category for further academic research. It is possible to conclude the open-ended question(s) in an empirical manner,

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in line with Ellegaard (2006), rather than via qualitative analysis. A question on purchase frequency in the questionnaire serves as a transitional question to the product section. The post-product section only includes questions on email and name.

3.6 Chapter Summary

This chapter started with a detailed philosophical background of the research problem. It was more extensive when compared to the 'Introduction' chapter, because it included ontology and epistemology discussions that led the study into the objective zone. Although hypothesis testing was tied with quantitative methods, both quantitative and qualitative methods were scrutinized. Research questions were extended based on Wilson's Cube and they were also tied to relevant analysis proposals that fell into the next chapter's domain. Likert-scale usage was introduced with the cube's axes, where questionnaire design and pilot necessities were also resolved in this chapter. The questionnaire included 3 phases. The pre-product section consisted of non-product attributes, while the product section had nothing but products and the post-product section only required email information, as well as name and surname information which were optional. The core of the survey was the product section with 2 Wilson and 5 Kotler questions which were asked for 12 different products, from tangibles to intangibles. The set of 7 questions were asked for both economic crisis and non- economic crisis environments based on the perception of the audience. The 6-step Likert scale consisting of a ‗Buying Attitude‘ index from a red (conservative) to green (impulsive) colour code was expected to be shown.

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND CONTEXTUALISED FRAMEWORK FOR BUYING