Nike Research Plan - Essay Example

Introduction

This research plan seeks to establish the appropriate research plan that can be adopted in exploring how Nike’s diminishing returns and popularity can be revived through low-cost apparel to be sold at Target stores all over the USA.  

• Population

The population of this research project is the entire USA apparel consumers. Nevertheless, this study will narrow down to the research population that purchases apparel products at Target stores in the whole of the USA.  This is simply because the study seeks to analyze how Nike can improve its financial performance and popularity, through introducing low-cost apparel to be sold at Target stores. However, the USA population that purchases apparel at Target stores might be too big to be recruited for the research study. Therefore, a sample population that is largely representative of the entire USA population purchasing apparel at Targets will be adopted. Nike suffered a great deal in sales and popularity decline after the Tiger Woods personal scandal that saw the whole of the golf industry lose in sales and profits. There is no doubt, therefore, that a need to improve both the image and financial performance of Nike's golf apparel exists. Thus, the research project has defined the research question as; “Could Nike’s diminished popularity within the golf community increase by introducing an exclusive line of low-cost apparel to be sold at Targets all over the United States?”   

• Sampling Method

The sampling method to be applied in this research study is the cluster sampling technique. The cluster sampling technique is the most appropriate for this research study. This is because; the study seeks to establish the population of customers who purchase apparel at Target stores in the USA, Thus making the group of customers at each Target store an already clustered population. The choice of cluster sampling as the method sampling technique is informed by the fact that the entire population that purchases apparel at Target is unknown, while its characteristics are also unclear. Further, the suitability of the cluster sampling technique for this study is also informed by the fact that the sample clusters targeted by this study are geographically convenient (Ahmed, 2009). This research study targets to collect data from the population that purchases apparel at Target, which then means that such clusters are conveniently clustered at the different geographical Target store locations. Additionally, the selection of the cluster sampling technique is justified by the fact that this research study targets a single cluster within a natural customer population of Target stores shoppers.  

• Data Collection method

Cluster sampling will be applied to target the largest Target stores in each of the U.S.A States. Therefore, the narrowed-down population will consist of apparel customers from 50 large Target stores, one from each State in the USA.   

Purposive sampling strategy will be applied within the cluster sampling technique, to identify the exact study participants from each of the different Target stores from each State, through the use of observation data collection technique, since the study purposely and specifically seeks to study apparel customers within the Target stores, and not any other kind of shoppers. The purposive sampling strategy allows the researcher to identify the participants of a study by purposely focusing on the desired characteristic of the target population (Cooper & Schindler, 2011). The desired characteristic of the target population is that the population must be shoppers of apparel at Target stores.  Therefore, observation will serve as the appropriate data collection technique under the purposive sampling strategy, since it will focus on observing the characteristics and behaviors of the apparel shoppers within the different Targets.

Once purposive sampling has been applied to identify the qualifying participants for the research study, the research study will narrow down to applying a simple random sampling technique, to select the final smaller sample to be subjected to an in-person interview data collection technique with the participants, in order to obtain in-depth information from the apparel shoppers at different Targets. Simple random sampling will target to recruit 10 participants from each of the 50 Target stores, each from one USA State, for the in-depth in-person interviewing. Therefore in total, a sample of 500 participants will be recruited for in-person interviewing data collection technique. Additionally, the research will also apply simple random sampling to identify an additional sample of 100 golfers at a local golf resort to be interviewed, in order to determine if those customers who participate in the sport of golf on a consistent basis would consider purchasing their golf apparel from Targets.

• Data Validity and Reliability

The validity and reliability of the data will be guaranteed by the fact that all participants recruited for this study will be true shoppers of apparel at different Target stores in all of the USA 50 States. Therefore, the data and information given by the participants will be sufficient, representative, reliable, and credible. The collected data will then be entered into personal computers and protected under passwords, awaiting analysis.