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Research Methodology Approach
The purpose of this study was to understand the importance of women-owned small business branding on social media. Qualitative interviews allowed research participants to share their branding on social media and how that has impacted their business because it gives the interviewee time to think about how they brand themselves as a business. Open-ended interviews are important because they help draw connections to what other interviewees have said to help answer the research questions. A semi-structured interview approach allowed for a more free-flowing conversation with interviewees and asked unscripted follow-up questions if needed. Probing questions were also used to help the interview not only flow better but to get more information regarding the research questions.
According to Drever (1995), semi-structured interviews provide a very flexible technique for small scale research. Since we are interviewing 10 small women owned businesses, semi-structured interviews worked best for the research. This also allowed for a better analysis of the data. Since the topic is surrounding personal experiences and business branding plans, people may have different opinions, techniques and experiences that makes qualitative semi-structured interviews the best approach for the study.
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Participants and Procedures
Participants were recruited through the use of google maps and the researcher’s personal network. Small women owned businesses from throughout the northeast, particularly in the North Shore of Massachusetts were asked to participate in the interview process. This decision was made as the study looks into the importance of branding for small women owned businesses and the findings will benefit these small women owned businesses. The findings of this study can help small businesses owners brand themselves better to create brand awareness and trust between consumers. This is why women small business owners were the preferred group to study and they might see this as a large part of their business plan. These women will discuss what they currently do to brand their business on social media and their thought process behind posting and branding themselves.
Instrument
The instrument used in the study was an interview guide. This guide was the key instrument to conducting the study and making sure all questions were connected to the research questions, followed by probes to help the interviewee answer the questions. The overall structure of the interview guide, questions were not asked in any particular order in relation to the research question. Not organizing the questions helped the overall flow by categorizing based on topic then research questions, this also allowed so that the conversation would feel more natural.
The interview guide had 8 key questions, followed by 1-2 probe questions. This allowed room for natural flow of conversation. Each of the key questions asked related to the one for the research question. Some example questions asked during the interview include:
What did you know about social media marketing prior to creating your business?
What do you currently think about using social media to help spread the word about your business?
From a consumer perspective, when buying a product from another small business, how do you feel their in feed posts and stories help you get an idea of the brand?
For transcribing the audio-recorded interviews, the researcher used a program called Descript. This platform allowed the researchers to upload the transcript to the program, where from there it was transcribed. Due to it being computer generated, there were spelling mistakes which later were corrected when in the process of coding. For steps regarding the data analysis process, grounding theory helps utilize the importance of looking at data or emergent categories over pre-existing assumptions and preconceived ideas about the topic. This approach to documenting the data is in the field of ethnographic communication, which was devolved in the 60s by John Gumperz and Dell Hymes to “study speech events in the context of community” (Davis, 2017, p. 348) By evaluating the participant's interviews with the hypothesis and research question, the researchers can narrow down and focus on “social rules, norms, skills and structures that a communicator needs to be able to follow to communicate appropriately in a specific speech community” (Davis, 2017, p. 348).
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Analysis Approach
Once the interviews were transcribed, the researcher went through the interviews and started highlighting based on the categories they created. These categories fit under the researchers four main research questions. The recording of the interviews allowed the researcher to be able to transcribe the interview. This allowed for data to be highlighted and categorized into different categories for a visual analysis. Once all data was gathered, the researcher carefully looked to see which were the most mentioned themes throughout the 10 interviews. Coding methods used were open and axial coding. This allowed the research to see these common themes mentioned above and make conclusions around the research questions.
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