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Research Method
Student Name:
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Research Method
Question 1
During this small research project, I came up with three brands of plain potato chips, namely
Brand A, Brand B, and Brand C. All these brands that I came up with were from the same flavor,
either plain/salted, and the same type of food, though from different manufacturers. I analyzed
both their dependent and independent variables. Independent variables were factors like types of
ingredients, cooking time, and dietary intake. The ingredients dictated varying sugar amounts in
the food, fats, or flour amounts. Independent variables, according to the potato chips analysis,
generally involved four primary characteristics that dictated how consumers perceived the food
snack. They included: crunchiness, saltiness, freshness, and their overall flavor (Lawless &
Heymann, 2010). The dependent variable, on the other hand, was the food's measure of impact
after consumption. This included their nutritional value, taste, and the weight change. Their
nutritional value, for instance, was linked to vitamin content, the amount of calories present in
the food, or the fat percentage that the food had. Its various outcomes were sometimes linked to
weight loss or gain, blood sugar levels, or even nutritional absorption. For my case, therefore,
changing the amount of salt directly affected the taste of plain potato chips. They were
consequently used to evaluate how consumers' preferences towards the food, and how they
measured their quality.
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Question 2
In order to come up with clear and relevant questions for my respondent, this study involved
three participants, namely: Myself, a teenager, and a middle-aged adult. I ensured there were
gender differences and a background check. The aim of carrying out this questionnaire, part of
this assignment, was to come up with a proper research design and observation, instead of
developing statistically generalized results. Additionally, to ensure that I obtained free variations
regarding different perceptions and to capture more details on judgements, I preferred engaging
my response on scaled questions instead of having simple yes or no responses. This helped have
a more sensitized standard approach in this sensory consumer research. After tasting each brand,
therefore, participants, including myself and two other people. I then decided to ask them the
following questions;
1. To evaluate crunchiness, I asked how they would rate the level of crunchiness of these
chips. Scale 1: not crunchy at all, scale 2: Slightly crunchy, scale 3: average, scale 4:
Very crunchy, scale 5: too crunchy, scale 6: don't know.
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2. To evaluate for saltiness: How would you rate the saltiness of these chips? Scale 1: not
salty, scale 2: slightly salty, scale 3: just right, scale 4: too salty, scale 5: too salty, scale
6: don’t know.
3. To evaluate freshness: How fresh do these chips taste? Scale 1: not fresh, scale 2: slightly
fresh, scale 3: moderately fresh, scale 4: fresh, scale 5: very fresh, scale 6: don't know.
4. To evaluate overall flavor: How would you rate the overall flavor of these chips? Scale 1:
very bad, scale 2: bad, scale 3: average, scale 4: good, scale 5: very good, scale 6: don’t
know.
Question 3
After thoroughly conducting the research, I realized that across the participants who were
involved, each and every person had different perceptions regarding the quality of the chip
brands. I noticed that teenagers mostly valued Brand B since it was saltier and had more flavor.
The older or parent participant valued Brand A because it appeared less salty and was somehow
balanced. I myself preferred Brand C because it was highly crunchy and had a lower flavor. This
difference in perception, therefore, was key in consumer research since it showed that food
quality is not preferred because of its objective properties but also due to personal preferences
like age and habits (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Teenagers may embrace brands with intense flavors,
while adults may prefer less salty brands.
Question 4
I used several research skills to conduct this analysis in studying human behavior. Some of the
skills were the ability to gather and come up with proper variables. I transformed abstract ideas
such as quality into characteristics that were measurable, like saltiness, flavor, freshness, and
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crunchiness. Additionally, the ability to effectively manipulate variables enabled me to reduce
cases of bias since I ensured all chips had the same flavor or type. I also employed a proper data
collection mode. This helped me gather effective responses in a way that was very consistent
from my respondents (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). These skills directly resonated with studying
human behavior since attributes like opinions and experience were effectively transferred to
measurable variables.
Question 5
Analyzing human behavior differs from studying an object or food item for several reasons.
Human beings sometimes tend to shift in their mood and experience, while an object or food
item doesn't necessarily change its characteristics based on mood or experience. Additionally,
human beings' responses are determined by emotions, social backgrounds, expectations, and
even the environment they stay in, unlike objects or food items (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
According to this research, some respondents had brand preferences that showed that bias and
context are primary factors that researchers must possess. Object instead does not rely on bias
but can just be directly evaluated based on physical and chemical properties. Therefore, a human
study involves a lot of details for reliability and validity purposes.
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References
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed
methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management (15th ed.). Pearson Education.
Lawless, H. T., & Heymann, H. (2010). Sensory evaluation of food: Principles and practices
(2nd ed.). Springer.