Chapter 3 turtin check

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Northcentral University *

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Marketing

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Jan 9, 2024

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Chapter 3: Research Method The problem to be addressed by this study is the barriers that small business owners face while utilizing social media for marketing, resulting in a loss of revenue. According to Ndiege (2019), many larger businesses can have ample resources to use different technological opportunities, whereas smaller companies' resources are much more insufficient. Therefore, the target population will consist of the owners of 5-15 other small businesses or until saturation is reached in Tennessee, who have successfully embraced social media marketing strategies to increase their sales. The findings from this study could contribute to a positive change by offering a boost in local employment possibilities, helping to lower unemployment rates and improve regional economic growth. Throughout this section, the researcher will discover the role of the researcher and the importance of gathering relevant information for this study. The researcher will explain why choosing to conduct a multiple case study design and why the design was the best decision for the following research. The researcher will explain the population and sampling, the ethical research, information gathered, the organization techniques utilized, and the information analysis and reliability and validity. The researcher will explain the eligibility criteria for each participant and justify the selected research method and design while describing the procedures taken to ensure adherence to ethical research standards. In Chapter 3, there will be an explanation of data collection instruments, data organization methods, and information analysis methods. Finally, Chapter 3 will discuss the dependability, creditability, and confirmability findings.

Research Methodology and Design (Nature of the Study) For this study, the methodology approach will be qualitative as the objective will be the various social media marketing strategies utilized by small businesses to boost sales. According to Yin (2018), a qualitative researcher will discover a phenomenon or reality through the knowledge, experience, and expertise of participants who have provided the researcher with value and insight into the wonder that is not fully understood. Researchers who utilize the qualitative method can focus on exploring and understanding the phenomenon, the process, or the perspectives of the involved individuals. The researcher chose a qualitative approach to explore an in-depth meaning of a phenomenon. Through an open dialog with choosing 5-15 participants or until saturation is reached. To gain a better understanding and insight of knowledge of experience from each participant and collect rich information for the analysis. The researcher conducting a quantitative study aims to answer the phenomenon (Marshall and Rossman, 2022). According to Bryman (2022), researchers will utilize quantitative studies to measure, generalize, replicate, and connect the information. Mixed methods are another method that could use to collect data if the study was a meta-analysis. The research questions gathered and organized are by methodology. Researchers utilize mixed methods to use qualitative and quantitative elements (Yin, 2018). Researchers will utilize the mixed-methods approach to combine the qualitative and quantitative methods and gather information utilizing open dialog with participants and numeric information for statistical testing of hypotheses (Bryman, 2022). According to Bryman (2022), quantitative researchers use generalizations and measurements. The researcher did not utilize a combination of the qualitative and quantitative methods to gain

insight answers to the research questions for the following study; therefore, the researcher rejected the mix-method approach. Research Design The research design refers to a research of viable techniques for a particular analysis. It is a framework of approaches and techniques that the researcher judiciously selects to conglomerate various research elements in a purposeful, sensible way to handle the research problem capably. The research design is formulated based on the type of investigation that the research intends to carry out (Mohanty, 2017). According to Mccombes (2019), an exploratory study will accurately and systematically explain the population, circumstance, and incidence. It is proficient in answering what, how, when, and where questions. However, it does little to expound on the why queries. The researcher considered three different research designs throughout this research: (1) phenomenology, (2) ethnography, and, lastly, case study. Case studies are helpful when the researcher is in the exploratory domain of the study (Yin, 2018). The researcher will choose to conduct a case study design because the researcher wants to seek and discover a real-world phenomenon that is determined and in a contextual setting. The researcher will gather information by conducting semistructured interviews and then taking the data to document the reviews, which will engage in a methodological triangulation. Researchers for case studies help boost the credibility and reliability of the information and the results by gathering miscellaneous information from various references (Yin, 2018). The researcher will execute multiple case studies to gather miscellaneous details and boost the credibility and trustworthiness of the results. The researcher will also employ semistructured interviews, asking the individuals open-ended questions to better understand the phenomenon.

Therefore, it was not appropriate to use the phenomenological design for this research since the researcher will not be gathering information on the lived incidents of small business owners. Ethnography can be utilized by researchers who want to discover the culture of a particular group of individuals or an organization (Yin, 2018). Since the researcher will not be learning the culture of a group of owners of small businesses, the ethnographic design will not be suitable throughout this research. Many researchers will employ member checking to allow the individual to validate an interpreted summary of their reactions to the questions on the interview (Yin, 2018). Once the researcher has reached the information saturation after the semistructured interviews have been conducted, the researcher will ask searching questions throughout the discussions to gain further transparency and engage the individuals in member checking. During this process, the researcher will gather information from various sources of evidence to be able to use methodological triangulation. The researcher will continue to collect data until no new patterns or themes have emerged. Scherer et al. (2019) noted that a quantitative research method is an excellent approach for obtaining a complete understanding of a subject utilizing correlation research. Additionally, for scholars within the specialization of business, the following research method will play an essential part in constructing research results or observing additional significance and experience for their context. According to Filimban and Aljahdali (2009), investigators within the specialization of business who incorporate and synthesize practical results and results in quantitative terms could help enhance the knowledge of customers and users to adopt the techniques and strategies to use the technology.

Similar to the focus of quantitative studies that may have been narrowed and over covered a few casual factors. When performing business research, quantitative researchers seek to discover the factors that have not been examined. Population The population for this study will consist of 5-15 or until saturation is reached of small business owners located in Tennessee who have successfully utilized social media marketing strategies to boost their sales. The researcher will use purposefully sampling to choose 5-15 different participants or until saturation is reached. Purposeful sampling is a tool that researchers use to contribute to the credibility of their research (Valerio et al, 2016). Each participant will have to be a majority owner of a small business located in Tennessee. Each of the 5-15 participants, or until the saturation is reached, will possess a record of utilizing social media marketing strategies to boost sales. The researcher will review business documents regarding social media marketing strategies and year-over-year sales reports to validate the descriptions of each of the participants. Then, the researcher will conduct a semistructured interview to gain rich information from each participant. The researcher must choose an appropriate interview setting to ensure that the participant is comfortable and hide their confidentiality during the process (Ecker, 2017). The researcher will conduct each interview in an agreed-upon location convenient for both the researcher and participant, yet it will be in a private setting like a conference room located within a small business. Gordon (2017) conducted a qualitative case study using five participants to discover business leaders' social media strategies to boost sustainability. Ezeife (2017) purposefully chose five participants to utilize a qualitative case study to research business leaders' social media

strategies to increase their sales. Finally, Lupo (2018) discovered the social media strategies that owners of small businesses utilized to boost business survivability utilizing four participants. The researcher justified using 5 participants in the following study from prior research studies by Gordon, Ezeife, and Lupo due to similarities in the method, design, scope, and topic. Researchers utilize member-checking to allow the participants to validate an interpreted summary of their responses to the interview questions (Yin, 2018). For example, the researcher reached a data saturation when conducting a semistructured interview when asking participants probing questions to gain additional clarity throughout the interview and engage with the participants in member checking. The researcher gathered information from various sources of evidence to utilize methodological triangulation. The researcher then continued information gathering until no other new themes or patterns emerged. Materials Those researchers who decide to utilize a qualitative method to conduct their research will be the primary data collection instrument (Cypress, 2017). During this qualitative study, the researcher was the primary data collection instrument, gathering information through semistructured interviews and reviewing business documents for relevance. Therefore, researchers who conduct qualitative research will often utilize a semistructured discussion to capture better the insight, knowledge, and expertise of the participants regarding the phenomenon (Kallio et al, 2016). To be able to conduct a semistructured interview, the researcher followed a strict interview protocol to ensure a creditable and consistent interview process. According to Amankwaa (2016), researchers utilize interview protocols to help boost the interview process's consistency and embrace the gathered data's credibility.

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