Mba8000 Applied Business Research And Assessment Answers

Another study is on the emotional contagion between the strangers in the social media using instrumental variable regression. For the experiment, data were acquired for 1180 days from Facebook from January 2009 to March 2012 (Coviello et al. 2014). The study was carried out based on the guidelines set down by Institutional Review Board at the University of California. Confidentiality of the users is maintained and the consent of the users was taken. The experiment relied on the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) and used two different metrics for quantifying the emotional state of the users. The result of the experiment showed large-scale spill over in online networks. The feelings of the people regarding any post in one of the world are quickly shared to the other parts of the world.         

Impact of Digital Scent technology on users

The digital scent technology allows digital sensing, transmitting, reproducing and recapturing smells and fragrances through the internet with the help of the USB powered devices. The technology focuses on creating characters and provides emotional intelligence of reality. To transmit the smell would be used which is a software device which would be connected to the computer. The smell would create an impact on the users and it is based on their perception that they would design their page. The virtual experience of the online users would be improved. The digital scent technology can direct the emotions of the consumers towards any post or newsfeed on Facebook or Twitter (Jain et al. 2015). The business organization can direct the emotion of the customers towards the brand. It is evident that this technology can improve the health as well as the emotional wellbeing of the users.

In order to carry out the literature review researcher has faced ample of the ethical issues while browsing different journals and articles from websites. The researcher mainly encountered accessibility issues to the e books and journals from the online browsing. While researching various articles and books through the websites the researcher encounters language problem which implies many articles as well as books which were found significant might have been in some other foreign languages which were not legible by the researcher (Noble & Smith 2015). Even in order to find out various articles online they require to get signed up before getting accessed and therefore it had become much difficult for the researcher to face such issue. Many online articles did not reveal proper content and the researcher had wasted enough time in searching for the proper content as many websites disclose improper contents which are not suitable for the results.

Statement of Research Question and Objectives

The current research aims to evaluate the impact of XYZ Social network on the emotional state of the users.

The objectives of the research are:

• To identify the impact of positive and negative comment on the users
• To critically evaluate the ways in which users update their own page based on emotional state
• To assess the impact of different smells on the ways in which users update their page
• To provide recommendations to XYZ for positively stimulating the emotional state of the users 

The above research questions would guide the researcher in carrying out the entire research and provide a suitable conclusion on the impact of social media on the emotional state of the users. In order to frame research objectives and questions researcher had to go through the entire topic and terminologies related to it in order to find out the exact motive and intention of the topic.

Research Methodology and Methods

Research methodology is the systematic and theoretical analysis of the process and the methods that can be used for collecting data based on the farmed aims and the objectives.  The research methodology for the current research would be planned based on the Research Onion.

The research onion includes the different layers and steps which a research need to follow to carry out the market research systematically. For analyzing the impact of the social network in altering the emotional state of the users, the selected steps are:

Research philosophy

Research philosophy is about the way of gathering data about a particular topic. The two commonly used research philosophies are positivism and interpretivism (Saunders 2011).   Positivism philosophy is based on the fact that reality is stable and can be described from the viewpoint of an objective. Positivism philosophy requires variables, which can be obtained from the research topics and formation of aims and objectives based, on which the research would be carried out. Interpretivism philosophy takes account of subjective interpretation of an intervention in reality, which can be fully understood (Crossan 2003). It focuses on the opinion and the perception of the participants to interpret the facts and the figures for the research.

In the present research, positivism philosophy has been adopted as the research pre-defined aims and objectives. Moreover, in this reality would be observed instead of interpreting the perceptions of the participants. The present research would gather the data on experience for the purpose of analyzing the impact of social media on the emotional state of the users. 

The researcher encountered kind of dilemma in selecting correct and appropriate research philosophy, Research Design and Research approach. This is because the entire research is based upon these three sections of the methodology of research.

Research Approaches

The two basic types of research approaches, which are used by the researcher, are inductive and deductive. The inductive research approach is used in qualitative research when the research needs to develop a new theory based on the collected data. This is a bottom-up approach. A deductive approach is a top-down approach in which research is carried out based on the existing theories that tend to move from general to specific (Saunders 2011). For the current research, development of new theory is not possible. Moreover, the research requires the collection of quantitative data. The research has pre-determined aims and research question. So, the present research can adopt a deductive approach to acquiring data.

The ethical issue that has been faced by the researcher regarding the research methodology includes selecting of the correct methodology to carry out with the research.

Types of Research

Quantitative and qualitative are the two types of research that can be carried out by the research (Gioia, Corley & Hamilton 2013). Qualitative research helps in gaining insight into the underlying reasons opinions and facts while quantitative research helps in quantifying the problem by creating numerical data (Johnson & Christensen 2000).

For the current research quantitative data would be obtained.  The quantitative research has been selected, as the data collected is more reliable as well as objective. The data collected can be generalized with the help of statistics. Moreover, the quantitative research would help in the process of reducing the complex problem of the impact of XYZ social media on the emotional state of the users can be segregated into different valuables. The research can be carried out on the existing theories to reach an apt conclusion (Savin-Baden & Major 2013).

Time Horizon

Time Horizons are needed for the research design, which is independent of the research methodology. The two basic types of time horizons in the research are longitudinal and cross-sectional time horizons. The longitudinal design takes place over a longer period with two or more data collections. The cross-sectional design, on the other hand, collects data only for one time (Saunders et al. 2009).

For the current research, cross-sectional design is followed to acquire information about the different variables of the research. In this case, information about the impact of social media on the emotional state of the users would be acquired. This design is selected as there is time constraint but it takes a snapshot of the current situation.

In completing the entire research with an appropriate time Horizon also included many issues that were encountered by the researcher as he/she had to dedicate each section of the research to a particular time limit within which he/she has to complete. However, it had not been always possible to complete each and every section within the definite time limit and therefore the researcher had text into the overall time Horizon which has given rise to some ethical issues (Ott & Longnecker 2015). Thus, ethical issues included excluding the budget limit and increasing costs for which his research could get affected.       

Context

For analyzing the impact of the social media on the emotional state of users for XYZ Company, case study approach would be used.  Case study approach is the process of recording of research into the development of the particular person, group or situation over a period (Baxter & Jack 2008). Using case study approach, in this case, would help to create an in-depth understanding of the different layers and the aspect of the topic. The present topic is a real life issue as information in the new feed can completely change the perception of the users to create a page. For this reason, case study approach would help to address the problems. In this case, intrinsic case study approach would be adopted as it helps in the process of learning of a unique phenomenon (Crowe et al. 2011).   

Case study approach is selected for this research as it offers multiple advantages. It helps to carry out an intensive study for a unit. It also aids in analyzing the life of a social unit for digging out facts. It enables to increase the knowledge regarding any particular issue through the in-depth analysis of the topic. Case study approach is a comprehensive method of data collected in which the sample is observed rather than interfering with them (Saunders 2011). Moreover, it also helps to main the ethical stands such as consent, privacy, and confidentiality which were completely ignored by Kramer and his group while carrying out their experiment on the Facebook users. However, case study approach can result in errors, which can be avoided through the formulation of effective plans and standards so that the research can be carried ineffective direction and the address the aims and the objectives of the research.

Sample Unit and Sampling Methodology

The selection of unit from a population, which is interesting to the present study, is called sample population (Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault 2015). Sampling should be done in such a way such that result obtained from the sample population can be generalized for the entire population so that an effective conclusion can be made for the research (Trochim 2006). While defining the population, it is essential to evaluate the concept of population. Population implies the group of the people that the researchers want to make assumptions. Sampling frame includes the group of people from which all sorts of information regarding the research would be obtained for reaching the conclusion (Flick 2015).

Probability and non-probability are the two methods of sampling. Probability includes random selection of the population while non-probability implies careful selection of the participants (Cooper, Schindler & Sun 2006). For the current research, in which the impact of social media on the emotional state of the employees is evaluated, case study approach has been selected. For this non-probability, the sampling method is selected as non-probability sampling would select the participants for acquiring the data in an effective manner and the purposive technique would be followed for selecting the sample frame for the research.  The sample population selected for the current research are 350 people using social media in North Sydney.  

In order to decide for the sampling technique the researcher had to choose appropriate sample size and population for which he/she had to develop some inclusion and exclusion criteria of including and excluding the respondents for collecting primary data (Flick 2015). Out of the entire population chosen by the researcher to be appropriate for attending the survey, many of the respondents did not want to attend it as they felt hesitated and reluctant in answering to the questions asked by the researcher.

Discussion about Data

Data Collection

For analyzing the impact of the XYZ social media on the emotional state of the users, data would be acquired through case study approach. Quantitative data would be acquired with the help of a questionnaire. The questionnaire would include 10 questions that would help to assess the perspectives about any particular posts on the Facebook and how it would help to set up the page.     

For the current research, ordinal data would be acquired which is a form qualitative data. For this data, groups would be ranked and information about the satisfied and unsatisfied data would be acquired for addressing the objectives of the research. The ordinal data highlight the sense of agreement on the part of the participants. The responses collected in this process possess natural form and order. The data would be acquired with the help of the questionnaire because the process is easier and it helps to acquire all sorts of information easily and within a short span of time.   

Again while collecting data the researcher encountered some ethical issues such as here to prepare the questionnaire with respect to the fact that the respondents do not get annoyed or upset at the time of the survey. Further, there must not be any kind of question which could hurt the dignity of the respondents.

Data Analysis

For the present research, the collected data needs to analyse the extent to which the posts of the social media affect the emotional state of the users and influence them to set up their pages. Moreover, the research would also analyze the impact of Smell Technology on the mood of the worker. To analyze the data accurately and to reach an effective conclusion, correlation and regression methods would be used. Correlation is the process of assessing the mutual relationship between two or more things to reach an apt conclusion. Correlation identifies variables and looks for a relationship between them. This method helps to observe the effect on the dependent variable and regulate the environment for the extraneous variable (Agresti & Kateri 2011).

Regression is a statistical measure that would help in determining the strength of the relationship between one dependent variable and a series of changing variable (Ott & Longnecker 2015). Both correlation and regression methods would be used to analyze the data as it would help to assess the difference between the variables of the research topic. In this case, the research would help to assess the extent to which the impact of social media influences the emotional state of the users and the ways they would make their page based on their perspective on a certain post in the social media.  

In order to analyse the data that has been collected it was quite difficult for the researcher to match up the data with the statistical methods of descriptive and inferential statistics as the researcher had spent a lot of time in framing the overall data collected and prepare it for conducting correlation and regression analysis.

Data Validation

Data validation is the procedure of ensuring that a program works in a clean, correct as well as useful data. Data validation is carried out on the set of validation rules. The data that would be collected and analyzed needs to be correct and accurate so that the research becomes valid. 

Validity, Reliability, Limitations

Validity is necessary for testing the reliability of the collected data. To ensure the data are valid, the research should ensure that the goals and the objectives of the research are clearly defined (Noble & Smith 2015). Furthermore, the data collected would be reviewed to the previous researchers and the data collection. 

Reliability refers to the usage of an assessment tool that produces a stable and consistent result. To ensure the reliability of the data, the sample population needs to be selected accurately so that they represent the entire population and provide appropriate information about the impact of social media on the emotional state of the individual (Saunders 2011).  

The limitations of the current research are listed below:

• The researcher has limited time for which larger population cannot be selected for the research. Only a small population in North Sydney has been selected
• To prevent any issues related to ethical considerations, the researcher has undertaken the consent of the participants for which many participants have refused to participate in the research.

In order of keeping the data valid, the researcher has browsed proper content over the Internet sources and has gathered authentic data and information about the concerned topic. However, due to the non availability of authentic data freely over the internet, the researcher might need to make some adjustment in the data collection (Baxter & Jack 2008). 

Recommendations

The recommendations are developed to carry out the research ethically as well as to address the framed aims and objectives in the research. 

• The data would be acquired with the help of the questionnaire from the selected sample population, for this reason, it is essential to obtain the consent of the participants
• Furthermore, the researcher needs to maintain privacy and confidentiality of the data. The collected information would not be used for any commercial purpose but only for academic and research purposes.
• It is also recommended to offer accurate feedback to the participants
• Dignity and integrity of the participants would be maintained
• The collected data should not tamper for the convenience of the researcher. 

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