Facebook and Events Management - Essay Example

?RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: There are various methods to conduct this research but it is important to select the method which is best for the finding answers to the research questions. The basic research question of our research is “How will event management evolve in the future with the advancement of facebook”. To answer the above question, the researcher can go to either quantitative research, qualitative or the mixture of both researches. The patterns of these methodologies are quite different from each other (Creswell, 2003). Quantitative Approach: One of the possible methods for the researcher to conduct this research is Quantitative research approach. Quantitative research focuses on the numerical data or the data which can be converted into numeric form (Sekaran, 2006). Using this technique, primary and secondary data could be collected through various sources (Stewart, 1993). Here secondary data would include the past facts and figures regarding the uses of facebook by marketers for promoting their events. For that purpose, the researcher can collect the data through past researches available in local and online libraries. The data might also be taken directly by the Data collection organizations such as Gallup and AC Nielsen. The researcher can collect the relevant data by these organizations at a minimal cost. In addition to that, various other authentic websites are available which can provide the relevant figures for our research. Moreover, the researcher can also collect secondary data using Newspaper, magazines and other similar periodicals. The primary data can be collected with the help of different data collection tools like questionnaires or surveys. This method would project the number of marketers who will be promoting their events using facebook. However the method is totally based on the past growth rates and does not account the current attitudes and behaviors of marketers towards facebook. For instance, the marketers want new features in the facebook which further help them to promote upcoming events quickly to a large number of people. The method is unable to consider other factors which could impact event managers in using facebook in future. Moreover, the researcher would be objectively separated by the research using this method (Saunders, Thornhill, and Lewis, 2009). Qualitative Approach: Another method to conduct this research is Qualitative method. The Qualitative method is closer with the subject matter of the research. This method is used to find people’s experience, belief, behaviors, and attitudes (Patton, 2002). In qualitative approach, again, the data can be gathered either through the primary sources of secondary sources. The qualitative approach is appropriate to get more insights and detailed findings about the research topic being investigated. The qualitative method is related with all the qualitative aspects of research. It does not focus on the actual past data about the use of facebook by marketers. The method is useful in determining the past attitude, experience, behavior and future expectation of the marketers towards facebook. The researcher, using this method, could find out the future aspect of the facebook but would be unable to accurately predict the accumulative trend of marketers for promoting events using facebook. Mixed Approach: The mixed approach is the combination of both qualitative as well as quantitative research. This method is useful when researcher wants to cover all aspects of the research (Maylor and Blackman, 2005). The method using quantitative technique will predict the future growth of the facebook by marketers who will be interested in promoting events using facebook. On the other hand, the qualitative technique will help to the attitudes, experience and behavior of the marketers towards face. It further explores the future need of the marketers to promote their events through facebook. Selected Approach: The researcher is interested to conduct its research through Mixed Approach. This approach will cover all the aspects of the research and help to answer the research question accurately. The mixed approach will help researcher to know the past and current features of facebook and its using trend by marketers for their event. Along with that, it will also help to highlight the new features and techniques which marketers want in order to promote their events. Combining both the result, the researcher will be able to evaluate the accurate growth of facebook in future. The researcher will use the similar method for conducting both quantitative and qualitative research as mentioned above. In reference to this research study, the researcher will focus on collecting secondary data related to how event managers use facebook for marketing the events, the growth rate of event management for the past 5 years, and the growth rate of users for promoting events using facebook for the past 5 years. The collected data will then be analyzed using statistical software such as MS Excel and Eviews. Using the past 5 years, the result will reveal the projected number of marketers who would use facebook for promoting their events. The growth rate or projected users will be estimated for the next 5 years. The researcher will conduct primary research to collect the qualitative data. The convenience method of non-probability sampling would be used to collect primary data. The researcher has limited time and cost to use other sampling techniques therefore this sampling method would be used. The sample size will consist of 300 different marketers who are using some kinds of social media including facebook to promote their events. The researcher will use the following primary data collection tools which will help in analyzing and generate useful information. Interviews First and foremost, interviews will be conducted by the researcher. For that purpose, the structured qualitative open and close ended questions will be prepared for the sample. However, interview with the total sample size is not possible for the researcher due to the lack of time and other resources. Therefore, 150 marketers would be selected who can be reached conveniently. Interview will be taken face to face however, due to any uncertainties, telephonic or online interview could be taken. Questionnaires The Questionnaires will also be sent to marketers in order to have clear insight of their attitude and behavior towards facebook. The questionnaires will consist of both open and close ended questions. Close ended questions will help in determining the certain answers from the given choices while the open ended questions will help in knowing the different perspective of marketers about facebook as a medium of promotion. The researcher will try to cover all the aspects in the questionnaires so that research question can be answered easily. The Questionnaires will be sent and collected to marketers online due to the limitation of time and cost. ETHICAL ISSUES: Ethics is an important aspect which needs to be considered while conducting research. There are various ethical issues which can be faced by the researcher while conducting the research (Jankowicz, 2005). The name of the researcher is written in the report therefore the researcher will be responsible for the information collected, written, and presented. The first issue that researcher might face is the improper collection of literature. In order to avoid the issues of plagiarism and copyrights, the researcher will properly cite and refer the source that will be taken from books, journals, magazine, websites, and Newspapers etc. In addition to that data fabrication and falsification is also one of the ethical issues in research. The researcher will ensure to get proper data from authentic sources so that accurate result could be produced. Another ethical issue, which might be faced by researcher while conducting this research, is unveiling the company’s secret information provided by the marketers. Today marketers are very conscious regarding their marketing strategy and techniques whereas the researcher needs the relevant information regarding their event management techniques through social media. Therefore, marketers might resist in providing the data and can provide the biased information to researcher. However, researcher will ensure marketers not to disclose any information which directly or indirectly hurt them. TIME AND BUDGET: The researcher has three months to carry out the research. The cost and timeline of each activity is given in the following table. Activity Cost Time Data Collection Secondary Research Gallup Report (Quantitative data) $50 2 days Past research, journals, papers, Newspapers, magazines - 15 days Primary Research Interview Preparation $20 3 days Interviews (150 respondents) $150 25 days Questionnaires Preparation $50 5 days Distribution & Collection(Online) - 7 days Data Analysis Data Sorting - 10 days Data Analysis - 14 days Conclusion - 2 days Finalization Final Review - 2 days Pages/Printing/binding $30 2 days Total cost/time $300 87 days The first part of the research would be data collection. The data collection will start from secondary research. The Gallup report will be bought online which contain past figures and trends for facebook users who are promoting their events through facebook. Along with that, literature will be done by going through journals, Newspapers, Magazines. The secondary research will provide an insight to prepare primary instruments. Therefore, after conducting secondary research, primary research will be conducted through interviews and questionnaires. The data collection will take almost 2 months and cost $270. After collecting both primary and secondary data, it will be sorted first in order to put them in statistical software correctly. Then the data will be analyzed by the researcher using analytical skills. At the end, the best possible conclusion will be drawn based on the analysis. The Data Analysis portion will cost nothing but will take 26 days. Finally, the research will be reviewed to find out any mistakes present in the researched data. Correction will be made if the researcher finds any mistake in the research. The research will then be finalized in the form of hard copy which would cost $30. RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUMMARY: Facebook is one of the fastest growing social websites now a day which connect millions of users together. The marketers have never missed this media to promote their products and events. They are constantly seeking new ways and techniques to promote their events using social media such as facebook. Today majority of the world’s population have computer and internet and most of them use any kind of social media to connect with their friends and family and to enjoy the other applications available in these websites. Therefore marketers have recognized the social media as a major medium to promote their company’s events quickly and inexpensively. Therefore, the research seeks to answer “How event management will grow in the future with the advancement of facebook?” The researcher is also interested to know the benefits that marketers can have in promoting events through facebook. The purpose of the research is to find out the trend between event management and facebook. The result of this research will assist marketers in developing effective marketing campaigns for promoting events using facebook so that more consumers can be targeted. There are various methods such as quantitative and qualitative approach which can be used to conduct this research. However, the researcher selected mixed approach for this research. The mixed approach will cover all the aspects of the research and help to answer the research question accurately. The mixed approach will help researcher to know the past and current features of facebook and its using trend by marketers for promoting their event. It will also help to highlight the new features and techniques which marketers can undertake in order to promote their events. There are some ethical considerations which need to be taken into account while conducting the research. The researcher might face plagiarism and data fabrication issues which can only be resolved if resources are properly cited and referred. Moreover, the issue to unveil sensitive information provided by the marketers is also an important aspect which could be resolved if researcher ensure marketers no to disclose their provided information. The researcher has three months to carry out the research. However all the research activities would take 87 days and cost $300. References Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. California: Sage Publications, Inc., Thousand Oak. Jankowicz, A. (2005). Business Research Projects. London: Thomson Learning. Maylor, H., and Blackman, K. (2005). Research Business & Management. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Patton, M. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications Inc. Saunders, M., Thornhill, A., and Lewis, P. (2009). Research Method for Business Students. London: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Sekaran, U. (2006). Research Methods for Business. NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Read More