Research Methods

The methods used to gather the data has consisted of primary research, Questionnaires were created which held 20 questions, around 149 questionnaires were handed out to the public of ages 16-25. A range of open and closed questions where used within the questionnaire to gain qualitative and quantitative information from the users. The open questions provide a deeper understanding of what the user wants and how they want it; this is more relevant to the interviews which have been done on different people, “To the qualitative researcher it is the nature and content of what is said- its meaning – rather than the number of people who say saying it” (Jankowicz, 2005, p.123) qualitative information is a very powerful form of getting into the users mind, it identifies how users think and why they think which is a big part of identifying what influences people between 16-25 to buy a mobile phone. Closed questions provide statistical data, which helps source a correlation of data; this identifies trends and other factors that help analyse the data which has been gathered. Secondary research has been gathered to provide a comparison of data and an understanding of what other users have found out about purchases of mobile phones from users of 16-25 and what influences them to make certain purchases. “Quantitative methods allow us to accept or reject these hypotheses in a logical and consistent matter” (Ghauri, Gronhaug, 2002, p.86) this helps identify what data should be accepted and whether the data is significantly different when compared to any original data. It helps identify any links between data which will further develop the answer of what influences 18-25 year olds to purchase a mobile phone.
Introduction/Literature review
The research which has been done is to find out how 16-25 year olds are influenced on their purchase of a mobile phone. It explains how young adults are affected by the social, economical trends of this world and why this may have an effect on