ABSTRACT
In this final chapter, we will turn our attention to research planning, research design and the writing up of a research project. More specifically, we consider one of the perennial issues with any type of complex applied research; that of how to co-ordinate and integrate multiple research procedures within a single research study, where this issue is addressed at the stages of research design, research project management and establishing coherence in a research project write-up. In an attempt to achieve these ends we will present facet theory and its major tool the mapping sentence as being appropriate for achieving the aforementioned aims. Several forms of the mapping sentence will be offered including, the research design mapping sentence, the project planning mapping sentence and the declarative mapping sentence as being appropriate in the management and design of complex quantitative consumer psychological research. Moreover, in this final chapter we will attempt to both unite and conclude the writing in the previous chapters and to provide a framework for researchers to use to bring together their quantitative research projects in a coherent manner that does not impose an artificial structure upon their research design, writing and conclusions. We suggest that in order to provide such a framework or template for integrating research findings, the mapping sentence is an especially appropriate template for facilitating coherence within quantitative consumer psychological research as it offers structure to the research in a flexible manner that does not impose a pre-supposed format on research findings. We commence our writing by noting how there are many quantitative research approaches that may be used in a consumer psychology research project, the contents of this book being an excellent example of these. There is also a vast amount of quantitative data (or data that can be analysed quantitatively) extant on the Internet and in other repositories. Whether a particular research project has employed a single research method or has brought multiple methods together to answer a research question, a framework is needed to design, integrate and interpret the findings from these studies. This is obviously more of an issue when multiple research approaches or tools (such as online data and a primary data experiment) are used in a single research study. Therefore, in this final chapter we conclude by offering a framework for co-coordinating and unifying research projects. At the end of the chapter, we include exercises, the completion of which is aimed to consolidate learning of the chapter’s content.
