Chapter $2$ Choosing a research topic and developing your research proposal

perspective on consumer behavior. Within this perspective, marketing is seen as the means for transmitting value, which shapes culture, but at the same time is shaped by it $($Kotler et alia $2009),$ hence marketing can further be taken as "a channel through which cultural meanings are transferred to consumer goods" $($Kotler et alia, $2009$: $245).$ Thus, culture serves as a kind of prism through which products are viewed. This further leads to the assumption, that a product should not merely be viewed as such, but also as a symbol, representing beliefs, norms and values $($Kotler et alia, $2009).$ The purpose here will be to examine how culture in the new national target market may affect consumer purchasing behavior of dietary supplements and how this may be related to the elements of the marketing mix.

Drawing on this and other literature a research model will be established, establishing the dependent, independent and moderating variables for the research.

Research question and research objectives

The research question is:

How can 'HealthyFoodCo' market 'DietSupp' in 'OverSeasCountry' with regard to price, place and promotion and why?

The research objectives are:

$1$ To understand consumers' dietary supplements purchasing behaviour in 'OverSeasCountry'.

$2$ To examine the relationships between 'DietSupp' and the marketing mix elements of price, promotion and place in the context of 'OverSeasCountry'.

$3$ To develop a marketing strategy to 'HealthyFoodCo' for the promotion of 'DietSupp' in 'OverSeasCountry'.

Method

Research design

The research design is based on a mono$-$method, quantitative methodology that uses a survey strategy to collect data through an Internet questionnaire. This purpose of the research is to conduct an explanatory study that will to an action$-$oriented solution for the case study organisation. This will result in the collection of standardized data. The time horizon will be cross$-$sectional, as the primary data collection occurs at a single point of time $($Saunders et alia, $2016$; Malhotra et alia, $2012).$

Design of the questionnaire

The primary data collection will take form in a structured self$-$completion questionnaire, which is in line with the research approach $($Saunders et alia $2019),$ making use of fixed$-$response alternative questions $($Malhotra et alia, $2012).$ This technique allows for standardized questions to be collected from a large number of respondents, which can be analysed statistically $($Saunders et alia, $2019).$ This technique aids simplicity in regards to administration and it offers consistent data, hence reducing variability in the results $($Malhotra et alia, $2012).$ The questions incorporated will be a mixture of open and closed questions, while focusing upon closed questions to ease the analysis of the data, $($Saunders et alia, $2019),$ utilizing existing measurement scales. Further advantages of closed questions are, that they are easy to compare, less$-$time consuming to answer for the respondent and they possess a higher enforcement$-$ and evaluation objectivity.

The choice of this method is further substantiated in that it is the most common method used in marketing research, accounting for about $72\%$ of all spending for marketing research $($Malhotra et alia, $2012).$

$66$