Different research methods should be adopted based on the nature of research. This dissertation aims at finding out consumer purchasing behaviour on clothing in which their beliefs, opinions and attitudes towards brand image are investigated. Hence, qualitative research is more suitable in terms of soliciting the consumers’ in-depth responses.
As mentioned by Tesch (1990), there are as much as forty types of qualitative research in three main orientations, namely language-orientated approach,
descriptive/ interpretative approach, as well as theory-building approach. Language-oriented approach concerns the use of language and meaning of words. In descriptive/ interpretative approach, the thorough description and interpretation of social phenomena are the central focus. Finally, theory-building approach tries to examine the connections between social phenomena. Based on the descriptive and interpretive nature in this research, interviews are chosen as the data collection methods. Qualitative interviews refer to the interaction between an interviewer and interviewee on a topic which needs not to follow particular order and words in questioning and answering (Babbie, 2004). During the course of interviews, interviewers may need to probe each answer and make use of the replies for further questioning (Proctor, 2000).
One may argue why interviews but not the other types of qualitative research methods are chosen in this research. For instance, focus group can also be a useful kind of research method that brings together some interviewees, say 12-15 people, in a room to engage in a guided discussion on a common topic (Babbie, 2004). Although focus groups are much more effective and cheaper than interviews as one may see, researchers may find it difficult to assemble a large group of people and the control over the interviewees is minimal (Gamson, 1992). Thus, interviews are more controllable than focus groups in this regard. Added to this, Breakwell (2006) points out that interviews are flexible in that they can be used at any stage in the research process, ranging from the initial stage for identifying areas to more detailed exploration. However, Proctor (2000) notes that the usefulness of qualitative research depends heavily on the researchers’ skills. In case of interviews, researchers should show their ability to ask further in-depth questions based on the answers obtained.
The structure of interviews lies in a continuum in which fully-structured and unstructured interviews are the two extreme poles (Breakwell, 2006).
Structured interviews are characterized by their fixed nature and sequence of questions or the fixed nature of answers allowed. Interviewees may find these kind of interviews constrained as they are not free to provide information which is important in their mind. Unlike structured interviews, unstructured interviews do not have specific formats, leaving more room for the interviewees to respond. Among different structures of interviews, semi-structured interviews are chosen in this research. As pointed out by Smith and Osborn (2003), with the use of a semi-structured format, researchers tend to regard people as experiential experts on a specific topic under investigation. Such format can enhance the sensitive and empathic facets of the findings, underlying the importance human-to-human relationship of interviews (Fontana and Fry, 2000). Moreover, researchers can follow up some unexpected, interesting responses emerged during the interviews. This can enrich the data collected from the interviewing process (Smith and Eatough, 2006).
When it comes to the process of data collection, like other self-report methods, interviews depend on respondents’ accurate and complete responses. This gives rise to the possibility of unreliable and invalid data. In accordance with Breakwell (2006), it is important to develop a systematic set of questions and help the interviewees to understand the questions. These can help solicit consistent responses and hence the reliability of data can be much enhanced. Being reliable does not necessarily attribute to validity but it is found that inconsistent responses may lead to certain inaccuracy (Davis and Bremner, 2006). It is suggested that interviews could be complemented with other types of data such as observation and diary techniques so that the data obtained can be more valid. In addition, it is suggested that interviewers be trained for a specific study if necessary since their manner in questioning could impose an effect on how reliable and valid the data will be (Proctor, 2000).
3.4 Sampling
as the tool for this research. Unlike probability sampling which select samples randomly in a pool of population, non-probability sampling looks for participants on purpose (Babbie, 2004). In this research, as comparisons of British and Chinese buying behaviour for clothes are investigated, 10 Nottingham University students were chosen to have face-to-face interviews. This is a combination of quota sampling and convenience sampling under the non-probability sampling classifications. As mentioned by Proctor (2000), in quota sampling method, researchers deliberately look for participants so that they are of equal distribution for comparison whereas in convenience sampling, researchers tend to choose interviewees which are easier to be looked for.
Among the 10 samples, equal proportions of British and Chinese were interviewed. All of them are students aged between 22 and 28. The male to female ratio of Chinese and British samples is 1 to 1 (see Table 1 for details). 9 of them are master students and the remaining one is a PhD student. The criteria for judging whether they are Chinese or British customers are based on the passports they are holding together with the number of years they have lived in their home country. They should have lived in China or the UK for long enough time than in other places that they are regarded as Chinese or British.
Student samples are used in this research because they can enhance homogeneity and it is much easier to control error during theory testing (Goldsmith, 2002; Malhotra and King, 2003). Moreover, findings reveal that homogeneous respondents can help reduce the possibility of measurement model error (Assael and Keon, 1982). Hence, though a homogeneous sample has lesser degree of external validity, this can be sacrificed for a greater degree of internal validity (Carpenter and Fairhurst, 2005).
Table 1: Distribution of samples in terms of gender and nationality Nationality
Sample particulars Chinese British
Gender Male Female Male Female
Number of respondents 2 3 3 2