Business Research Assignment: Impact of COVID-19 on Publishing Industry in Vietnam

Question

Task:
Business Research Assignment Instructions:

Read the case study, Nguyen, H.V., Tran, H.X., Nguyen, X.N., Do, M. T., and Nguyen, N. (2020) ‘Online Book Shopping in Vietnam: The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic Situation’.

1. Explain the nature (exploratory, explanatory or descriptive), and aims of the research.
2. Critically analyse the purpose of the literature review.
3. Evaluate the sampling technique, and provide one alternative technique that could be used, giving reasons for your choice.
4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the methods used to collect and measure the primary data.
5. Critically reflect on the article you have just read, and make a judgement on the relevancy and contribution this research has made to theoretical thinking and academic debate.

Explain and illustrate your answer in no more than 2,500 words.

Answer

The nature and objective of the research on business research assignment:

The researchers had followed a descriptive nature in their research as they attempted to collect information and statistically analyse them regarding their research topic which was online book shopping in Vietnam: the impact of COVID-19 situation (Nguyen et al. 2020). There are three very common types of exploratory, explanatory and descriptive nature of research. Exploratory researches in general works with qualitative data. Then again with a large amount of data, the research could produce quantitative data through using survey methods. In explanatory research, the research collected quantitative data and conclude research by comparing the relationship between two variables of the research. here, the researcher could use scientific analysis with some statistical research tools to complete the research. With descriptive research methods, researchers could interpret the demographics of the collected quantitative data by statistical analysis that making this method a powerful research tool. Thes nature also attracted researchers of the discussed research while also analysing the exploratory factors in the current research.

The major objective of the current research was to understand the situation of the publishing industry in Vietnam as well as comprehend the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on this industry. Also, the effects of hedonic and utilitarian motivations on the book purchasing intentions of the customers from online stores had been researched in this study by the researchers. During the ongoing pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, the bookstores were required to be closed for safety reasons. The researchers had conceptualised the ongoing pandemic condition as a situational influence on the purchase intentions of the customers of the publishing industry of Vietnam. During the pandemic, there were health risks associated while customers would visit the book store physically for conducting any kind of purchase. During this time, online shopping trends had been instigated among the customers of different industries as well as in the publishing industry of the country. The publishing industry also tried different types of attractive online marketing strategies to attract more customers and to retain their overall sales in this tough situation. The researcher tried to comprehend the impact of the pandemic on the overall publishing industry and they had suggested some strategies to improve the overall sales of the online bookstores during this pandemic situation. 

Critical analysis of the purpose of the literature:

The literature review is the section of any research paper where the researcher tries to understand the research topic with more precision. Here, the researcher tries to find the works of other researchers who have worked on a similar topic previously. The researcher interprets their findings and formulated hypothesises on the current research topic. From the literature review section, the researcher gets to know the theories developed by their fellow researchers during their work on the same concept (Papavlasopoulou et al., 2017). Thus, the literature review section establishes a familiarity of the current research with previous research works within a definite area as well as tries to investigate new aspects from the existing research works in the present research (Torraco, 2016). The researcher could understand the areas that had been studied on the research topic as well as the areas which needed to be discovered in future. 

Through literature review, the researchers could get the primary knowledge regarding their research topic. As previous researches had been searched, the researcher could seek a new topic that would not be a part of previous researches and recognised as a copied or duplicated work that would give credit to other researchers (Snyder, 2019). The researcher could also find the research gaps from interpreting the literature review section. The previous controversies, open questions that were left unanswered or the research gaps could be understood while composing this section of any research. also, the requirements of conducting further research on the topic could be recognised from analysing the literature review section. The literature review presents a critically written account of the selected research topic regarding present research conditions. The arguments of the previous researchers were interpreted to understand the particular issues along with the gaps in the current research. The importance of different factors concerning the research topic could be comprehended with the literature review section as it describes the roles of different factors in understanding the research concept (Xiao and Watson, 2019). The literature review identifies the different variables on the current research topic from different previous research works of various researchers. After detecting the variables, the researcher could establish a relationship among the variables and develop a conceptual framework. This would assist the researcher in their further research by proving a clear path ofselecting the research methodology to conduct the research. 

Here the researcher tried to find out the impacts io COVID-19 pandemics on the publishing industry in a specific country, Vietnam. Through the previous literature, the researchers have collected the information that the market of the online publishing industry in the selected country is growing. The sellers could get a huge range of customers. The research has suggested that the online bookseller, as well as the publishers, are required to improvise their marketing strategies to capture the emerging publishing market of the selected country, Vietnam. Through the research, the researcher has concluded that the customers are getting more interested in online purchasing to risk their health. 

Evaluating the sampling technique of the research:

The researcher selects the sampling methods according to the research question, existing resources and their desired level of accuracy for their research work. Here in this discussed research, the researchers have collected data from the respondents who were more than 18 years old and also were interested in purchasing required books through online modes after conducting surveys. For sampling techniques, the researchers were required to select the group of respondents who could act as representatives of the groups that the researcher was targeting to investigate for their research work (Mujere, 2016). Samples of the researcher work would be more accurate when the collected data expressed the existing diversity and variations among the targeted population that had been researched by the researchers. Samples were collected as general data that could be applied to a bigger population with similar attitudes (Etikan and Bala, 2017). To select the most suitable sampling techniques for the research, the researchers needed to evaluate all the options very carefully, then select the one that was compatible with the research design, purposes and existing resources (Sharma, 2017). Here the researchers had applied snowball non-probability sampling techniques. This technique is also called the chain-referral sampling technique. Here the all respondents would have some common rare traits that represented them as samples of the research (Ghaljaie et al., 2017). The selected respondents would refer to other respondents from their acquaintances who could act as future respondents for the research in the non-probability snowball sampling technique. 

Here the researchers had used snowball non-probability sampling techniques on 275 respondents by conducting a survey through email to understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the purchase intentions of the customers of the publishing industry in Vietnam as well as probabilities of online bookstores in the country. Demographically the group of respondents had variations. The researcher has selected their respondents carefully among them 38.2% were male and 61.8% were female respondents. According to their ages, the respondents could be divided into four groups which were from 18 to more than 45. Also, the respondents were divided as per their academic qualifications and overall household incomes. Thus, with all these classifications, it could be said that the researchers had selected the respondents for their research very carefully after judging all the aspects of the chosen samples they included them in their research work. Therefore, this group of respondents were very much capable of completing the research method and helped the researchers to get to the desired outcomes from the investigation. 

Another suitable alternative sampling technique:

Here researchers had selected snowball non-probability techniques to conduct their research. They could also select the random sampling technique to complete their research on the selected topic. This is a probability sampling technique that is used by researchers very frequently to get the desired outcomes from research works. In this sampling technique, the researchers collect information by selecting respondents randomly (Tang et al., 2019). Thus the respondents are unbiased for any kind of research and provide the market data to researchers. This is the most prompt as well as economical sampling technique that is used by the researcher most of the time to get an accurate outcome. 

Reasons behind selecting this technique:

In this sampling process, the researchers can use data that is already present. There are some advantages of selecting this sampling process which has been described below-

Quicker process:

This sampling process takes less time than any other sampling process. Whenever the res4archers need to collect data promptly and complete the overall research quickly, they use this non-probability process (Bailey, 2019). The simplicity of the process makes it faster than other sampling processes.

Economical sampling method:

This sampling process can be called a cost-effecting sampling research tool. This process saves money for the researchers. Through this process, the researchers can select respondents who are in close proximity to one another. Thus, researchers can collect data with a lower investment.

Simple to use:

The respondents of this sampling techniques are easily available. Generally, they belong to similar groups or reside in close proximity. The researcher can collect data from family members, groups of students, members of some groups, a crowd from a busy street or people who works at the same office. This way, the researchers do not have to invest much time or money to collect data as they are getting all the information from a single place (Marcus et al., 2017). This makes the non-probability sampling process simpler than the other sampling processes. 

Provide qualitative data:

While conducting the survey, in this non-probability process, respondents can provide their comments, reviews and opinions.

Discussion regarding the methods used to collect and measure the primary data of the research:

The researchers had selected the measuring variable from the previous literature that had been adopted and translated into the required language by using the techniques of back-translation. Researchers had analysed the utilitarian and operationalising hedonic motivation of the respondents to conduct their research and reach the desired outcomes of their research work. they developed five items to measure the situational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the purchase intentions of the customers of the publishing industry in Vietnam. They measured these five items with the seven-point Likert scale while 1 displayed strong disagreement and 7 displayed strong agreement. The researchers had also conducted a pilot testing to ensure the meanings and clarity of their developed items with twenty customers of the publishing industry. For sampling techniques, the researchers had selected the snowball non-probability sampling technique with 275 respondents who belonged to different demographic environments. By applying the chosen data collection method and measures, the researchers had tried to complete their research with accuracy and promptness by fulfilling the aim of their research. Here some of the advantages and disadvantages are being interpreted regarding the applied data collection techniques and measure in the discussed research work.

Advantages of the selected method of the research:

The researcher had selected their research measure and data sampling technique carefully to get to the answers to their research questions while reaching the aim of the research. the researchers had used easier processes to conduct their research. Thus, using the seven-point Likert scale was understandable as this research measure counted as one of the easiest research measures. Also, this measure provides accuracy to the research outcomes. The seven-point Likert scale could reflect a better evaluation of the respondent regarding the research topic than other methods (Taherdoost, 2019).  Strength is one of the most prominent points of using the Likert scale as in this process the respondents can not answer the question with a simple yes or no, they have to choose an elaborate answer for selecting their response on the survey questionnaires. With this method, the researcher collected quantitative data that could be analysed with relative methods easily. While using the non-probability sampling method the researcher had selected respondents with similar traits to understand their response better. In this sampling technique, the respondents would suggest future respondents from their known groups which make the research process less time consuming and more productive (Audemard, 2020). Through the pilot survey, the researcher had made sure that the research tools they would be using were effective in the research. This way the researchers could conduct their research with more accuracy and efficiency.  

Disadvantages of the selected method of the discussed research:

Though there are many advantages of the selected data sampling method and research measure, still there are some disadvantages that can be mentioned. The seven-point Likert scale prevents the respondents to answer the survey question in simple yes or no but sometimes the respondents could answer the questions with bias or less truthfully. Thus, the researchers require to conduct face-to-face interviews to get an elaborate and accurate answer without bias from their respondents (Rahi, 2017). The snowball non-probability sampling techniques also have a similar disadvantage as the researchers have less control over the selection of their respondents in this technique. While preparing the questionnaire the researchers need to be more precise and brief regarding the question and their answers. In the case of the pilot survey, it can be a lengthy process and sometimes not so open-minded with new ideas. 

A critical reflection along with relevance and contribution of the research:

The current research has a fine chance of being bias regarding its findings as the researchers had used the snowball sampling techniques to collect data. Thus, it was also conducted with medium-sized respondents rather than collecting information from a larger group. The research had been conducted to understand the situation influences of the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus on the publishing industry in Vietnam as well as searching for the chances of increasing sales in the online bookstores. The topic is very relevant in the current situation as people are still coping with the situation and adopting the ‘new normal’ attitudes in every sector. Every industry got affected due to the pandemic and worldwide lockdown to prevent the spreading of the virus. 

The researcher had selected the publishing market of Vietnam which is one of the most growing markets. Therefore, this market has many possibilities as well as a promising future. The current research had conducted a survey to understand the opinions of the customers and to find ways to improve the current situation. But the applied research methods could be biased as the researchers had little control over the data collection methods or selecting each respondent. Thus the chances of the accuracy of the finding would be better if the researchers had used any probability methods like the random sampling method. Still, the research is showing a way to enhance the customer base of the publishing industry in Vietnam.

References:

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Mujere, N., 2016. Sampling in research. In Mixed methods research for improved scientific study (pp. 107-121). IGI Global.

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Nguyen, H.V., Tran, H.X., Le Van Huy, X.N.N., Do, M.T. and Nguyen, N., 2020. Online book shopping in Vietnam: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Publishing Research Quarterly, p.1.