Identification of Key Factors That Influences Different Participating Groups - Assignment Example

Proposal for Research On Identification of key factors that influences different participating groups at Annual Surrey's Environmental Extravaganza Submitted by Working title Identification of key factors that influences different participating groups at Annual Surrey's Environmental Extravaganza Brief Introduction Surrey Annual Environment Extravaganza is an unique opportunity that is provided to general public to enjoy the nature at the City of Surrey. The 13th edition of this annual event extends from the Earth day on 17th April to the world ocean day celebrated on 6th of June. The event have in its store to entertain and educate every one in the society - from the young kiddies to the grown up. This also gives a chance to establish the environmental consciousness and also motivates the families to initiate the action strategies towards conserving the nature. The exposure to environmental crafts, extensive displays to create the awareness, to learn the vital lessons of gardening with the help of Surrey urban farmer's market and also to plant some of the native trees in the park are the prime attractions at the venue. Another major aspect being highlighted is the opportunity for the community groups to become an active participant in this programme with out any financial commitment. The environmental leadership programmes invites the interested community groups, organizations and even volunteers to join together to conduct inspirational and educational events with focus as the nature. Even the school groups have exclusive sessions where certain key programmes like fishing, understanding wildlife habits and habitats, and marine exploration are separately provided. Certainly this event would deliver much beyond the entertainment and enjoyment it ensures to all it visitors. This event would also help to create a small interest on environmental protection in the minds of every one especially the young ones who are considered as the drivers of tomorrow. Academic context and background Extensive research has been undertaken to assess the effect of trade fairs and also various trade initiatives to create a consciousness among consumers. The studies have also tried to evaluate the customer satisfaction levels and the utility of becoming more aware during the purchasing process. Though the literature available on the impact of environmental trade fairs might be very limited the experience gained from the research undertaken on the other sectors could be utilized to evaluate the Annual Surrey Environmental Extravaganza. One of the major issues that need to be understood is the consumer satisfaction of such international events. These type of events are arranged as a regular annual event and the proper response from the customers or visits to the trade shows cannot be ignored. Large number of studies have already been undertaken to evaluate the consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction from such staging of services. It is said that the consumer satisfaction is a relative judgment that gives the consideration of quality and benefit through the process of purchase and the cost that customers have to bear in acquiring the benefit (Howard and Sheth, 1969). This could also give vital idea on the level of services being offered , quality and price of product. The consumer satisfaction is said to have different dimensions like common characteristics as well as factors of differences. The differences in the dimensions refers to an affective component in a transaction that the customer experiences only after any product or services have been purchased. The analysis of market scenario in United Kingdom show that significant rise is observed in the sale of fair trade products. The effort is also continuous being taken to understand the prime drivers in this initiative which strongly advocates the concept of ethical consumerism (Nicolls, 2002). Thus it has become necessary to evolve an ethical mix strategy to keep the market growth as well as the ethical component in the consumerist behavior at an optimum level. The researchers also emphasize that the paying necessary attention to the fair trade practices in United Kingdom would not only give them a clear advantage in the market but also the added equity due to the better exhibition of social responsibility. But the fair trade practices by organizations are not without criticisms. Based on the comparative cost based as well as economies of scale model it is established that the effectiveness of fair trade depends on the characteristics of the product subjected to fair trade as well as the region where such type of practices are applied (Maseland and De Vaal, 2002). The fair trade product consumption is reported to be on rise as a result of increased sensitivity of the consumers. The research undertaken using the information collected from 54 french fair trade coffee purchasers clearly highlighted the need for ethical characteristics of product to understand the acceptability in a better manner (deFerran and Gruner, 2007). It is also reported that both the individually and socially driven factors are involved in determining the purchase choice. The trade show survey activities to explore the details of the customer satisfaction requires very friendly and helpful attitude of the researchers. An effective research could easily unearth lot of information that would prove very vital for the improving the effectiveness of the trade shows. As the visitors would be under severe constrain on the time that they could afford to spend a pragmatic selection of questions that would create an interest to maintain a conversation is necessary. This could be explained with a simple introductory question on the factor that influenced to visit the trade show. Rather than reading out an exhaustive list of choices it would be wise to write down the answers given by the participant in the survey programme (Workman, 2010). The impact of generating environmental consciousness among the consumers has been extensively studied in the case of coffee. The research undertaken based on the classifying the coffee into different type of classes like fair trade, shade grown and organic coffee were very convinced on the higher premiums they had to pay for the different types of coffees. The awareness among the consumers were generated based on the extensive trade shows undertaken exclusively for coffee with the objective of creating more knowledge driven trading practices (Loureiro and Lotade, 2005). Research objectives * Identification of the proportion of participation by different groups and programmes that attracted them in the fair on each day. The event offers to provide programmes that are aimed to attract individuals, families, community groups, school student group etc. The research need to bring to light the whether the programmes that were tailored for each particular category where successful as expected. Hence, an evaluation of how much of the members entering on a particular day for the fair would shall be grouped under different affiliations. Thus, the strategy adopted at the Surrey Annual Environmental Extravaganza could be evaluated for its planning efficiency. * Explore the reasons behind the interest of the visitors under different groups and explore whether any difference in expectation existed among the different groups of visitors. The different programmes are launched at the event with different set of customers in the mind of the programme planners. Hence, it need to be understood whether such a delineation of programmes was necessary to generate a common interest among the diverse interest groups of customers. Or the study need to answer that whether the visits made were exclusively due to the existing reputation or with the prior information about the programme and expecting the show to give some thing very vital for them for future use. * To investigate whether the any difference in experience were observed by the different type of visitors. The study also expect to understand whether the visitors had undergone different type of experience than expected by them before visiting the event. The extend of awareness created and the learning opportunity that the event have delivered need to be compared with their earlier experience with similar programme objectives like environmental management. Also, it shall highlight the need for environmental sensitization workshops which would prove to be very effective for the similar type of programmes. * To propose the strategic input that need would help to further improve the consumer purchase decision at surrey's environmental extravaganza. The results obtained from the earlier steps would help to identify the key factors that need to be emphasized for making an event on the topic related to nature and environment highly important among the organizations. Methods (including access) The technique adopted in the research to collect the necessary information is the questionnaire survey. A standard questionnaire is prepared in consultation with the organizing committee of the Surrey's Annual Environmental Extravaganza. Though the standard method of data collection might not be possible, it become necessary on the part of the researcher to understand how the most vital information could be collected. Thus, the event ground is used as a meeting place where they could meet some specific interested groups. And based on the interest generated, each of them would be asked to give some time that they would be able to spare for some detailed discussion. This would give an opportunity for the researcher to probe the necessary details and hence help the research to identify the useful facts. The questions like overall impression, the learning component, the presentation style and organization of the programmes are some of the aspects that need to be explored to gain a overall perception about the programme. In addition, specific enquiry to any purchases, expected visits in future could also be added to understand the degree of affinity they were able to establish with the event. In case the event did not meet their expectation, efforts would be made to investigate the possible reasons for such an opinion and hence to work out alternate plans in future. The utility of such events in future could also be found out as part of the improvement measures that need to be incorporated in the future efforts. As the exercise highly rigorous it is necessary to understand the important steps that need to follow to make the date collection exercise very effective. Also, the technique and the methods adopted would depend on the type of the data, the nature of participants and the environment under which data collection is undertaken. The important theoretical aspects of the different set of practices are given in the subsequent sections. The two important philosophies being considered for this research are Positive Research and Phenomenological research (Gill and Johnson, 1991). In the positive research the objective would be to generate statistical information from the quantitative data. On the other hand, phenomenological approach would emphasize on the subjective aspects or the qualitative details of the target information. Thus, the phenomenological information would rest more on the opinions while the positive approach would require more facts. Based on these details the data types collected here shall be classified into two classes qualitative information and qualitative information. Quantitative data are collected for establishing precise answers to the observed behaviour of the sample. The age of the employee, the income level, the gender type, type of the education qualification attained are some of the aspects collected under the quantitative information. This could be expressed as numbers, percentages, mean value etc. The qualitative information would be of much help to understand the situations, thoughts, opinions or circumstances (Remenyi et al, 1998). The opinion on the factors influencing the motivation has been collected on their personal perception presented on a qualitative scale that varied from highly motivated to highly non-motivated (Silverman, 1998). The questionnaire prepared for the data collection exercise also contained two different types of questions - open and closed. The type of the questions chosen depends on the characteristics of the information required and also the method of analysis desired in the research. In the case of open type questionnaires, the respondent has the flexibility and freedom for elaborate answering, both in content and form. This was the case when the visitors were asked to give their opinions or suggestions to improve the level of pay structure in their organization. These type of questions are easy to frame but difficult to analyze. The closed form questionnaires are well tailored for precise response and the specificity of the answers would be given the priority. Thus this type of method is suitable for quantitative studies. As the researcher would have more control on the nature of responses in the case of closed type questionnaire care must be given for the ensuring unbiased answers and also to express alternate options (Buckley et al, 1975). Majority of the questions used for this exercises was of this type. It is always wise to keep the questionnaire short, precise and accurate to the objectives of the research work. Questions that would have no utility on the research, like name and address, age of the respondent has been eliminated. Also, in the case of more delicate issues the respondent was made to feel the confidentiality of data collection without referring any personal information in the data collection sheet. This was essential to obtain more genuine answers in the survey exercise. The different steps involved in the analysis of data are the proper tabulation of the collected information, analysis of data using appropriate statistical tools, proper interpretation of qualitative information and also the presentation of the results in the form of charts or graphs. The questionnaire used contained questions, which required significant level interpretation. Also, the responses on the factors that is considered to influence the motivational levels of visitors which has to be correlated with different set of affiliations. The visitors are expected to be either as individual, family groups, community groups or school students. Also, the different type of techniques about the event management strategies followed at the Surrey Annual Environmental Extravaganza is another area that demanded significant attention. Research ethics Every research initiative must have a sound ethical component built into the process. The research being undertaken here involved the collection of large volume of information about the event management practices followed in a large scale annual event that have both business and social objectives incorporated. For the success of research, collection of frank and genuine opinion from every visitor contacted for data collection exercise is also necessary. This would be possible only if all the participating members are taken into confidence regarding the confidentiality of information. Also, at the same time the management too needed to be taken into confidence on the potential benefit from this research initiative. Thus an open communication on the purpose and interest behind the research was established prior to research (Zikmund, 2002). Besides these, the research too explicitly stated that no personal identification was required in the data collection process. The questionnaire used for the data collection needed only the core information to meet the objective of research highlighting the ethical concerns addressed in the research exercise. Also, the researcher would ensure that the entire information collected would be used only for the intended purpose and not to use for any other activity directly or indirectly affecting this event or others. Time scale and resources. The time scale for undertaking the research and the resources required for the completion of activities hence planned are explicitly stated in the table below. Time scale Activity description Resources required and steps taken to ensure their availability. Monday, 26 April Submission of dissertation proposal The brief review of the literature has been conducted along with the discussions with the Annual Surrey Environmental Extravaganza organizing committee in order to ensure their support in study.. May, 14- 21 April Finalization of the research topic based on the detailed literature review. The major support materials required are the published literature resources to prepare the research objectives and this is necessary to finalize the topic that could clearly communicate the purpose of the initiative. 25 June Submission of the detailed literature review. The literature review need to be conducted using the available materials collected from the library resources. Also various online resources shall also be used to gather the relevant information for this research exercise. 10 July Preparation of the questionnaire for the survey process. Also the description of the interview along with the chapter on the methodology. And the follow up with the Surrey Environment extravaganza committee units on the research initiative and the questionnaire operation. Identification of the sample population and transfer of the questionnaire for administering the survey. Sample data collection exercise The questionnaire would be designed to collect the responses from the visitors without causing much trouble to them. As the responses need to be prejudice free the visitors would be requested for an appointment and then a detailed data collection exercise would be undertaken. 11, July to 2, August. Completion of data collection, analysis of data and submission of findings and analysis chapter. The documentation exercise shall be undertaken by self on the personal computer. As the task involved is simple word processing, the task could be undertaken by the researcher itself. The prepared document as per the specifications in the guideline shall be printed in the dissertation handbook and bound in the form that could be presented for evaluation. 18, August Completion of the draft report for feedback. The inputs from the previous exercises are incorporated to arrive at the final report. The report would also gave a conclusion along with recommendations for future work. 10, September Submission of final report References Buckley, J.W, Buckley, M.H, Ching, H.F (1975), Research Methodology and Business Decisions, National Association of Accountants and the Society of Industrial Accountants of Canada, pp.26. deFerran, Florance and Gruner, K. G, (2007), French fair trade coffee buyers' purchasing motives: An exploratory study using means-end chains analysis, Food Quality and Preference, 18(2), pp 218-229 Gill, J., Johnson, P (1991), Research Methods for Managers, Paul Chapman Publishers Ltd, London. Howard, J., Sheth, J. (1969), The Theory of Buyer Behavior, Wiley, New York, NY, . Loureiro ,M. L. and Lotade, J., (2005), Do fair trade and eco-labels in coffee wake up the consumer conscience , Ecological Economics, 53(1), pp 129-138 Maseland, Robert and De Vaal , Albert (2002), How fair is fair trade , De Economist, 150 (3), pp 251 - 272 Nicholls, A. J. , (2002), Strategic options in fair trade retailing, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 30 (1), pp 6 - 17. Ostrom, A. and Iacobucci , D. (1995) Consumer Trade-Offs and the Evaluation of Services, The Journal of Marketing, 59(1), pp. 17-28 Remenyi , D., Willliams, B., Money, A., Swartz, E., (1998), Doing research in business and management, Sage publications, London. Silverman, D. (1998), "Qualitative research: meanings or practices", Information Systems Journal, 8 (3), pp. 3-20. Workman, Daniel (2010) Sample survey questions for tradeshow displays, [Online] Available from [Accessed on 21 April 2010 ]. Zikmund, W.G.(2002) Business Research Methods, 7th Edition, ISBN: 0030350840 Read More