Posted: May 7th, 2015

Consumer research on food consumption

Write a 3000-words essay in response to the following question:

-Imagine that you are a consumer researcher, beginning a new research project.
-Choose a consumer behaviour phenomenon that interests you, and conduct a literature review of past academic work on the subject.
-When concluding your literature review, briefly explain which consumer research perspectives (psychological, cultural, or political/systemic) have been used in the past. If a perspective has not been used at all, say so, and identify a few key concepts from that perspective which may be useful in future research.
-Then provide a critical assessment of the existing literature, making an argument about what conversation you think is most interesting or in need of further research.
-Finally, present a very short sketch of a potential research study that could be done to address this gap in the literature.

The following is a list of consumer research domains which you might want to study. Each is sufficiently broad that there should be plenty of existing literature on the subject.

That said, you are free to pursue other broad topics. If you are interested in studying a subject which is not on the list, you may want to consult with the lecturer or your seminar leader for advice on how to proceed.
1) Food
2) Media (television, film)
3) Fashion
4) Art
5) Sport
6) Advertising (from consumer perspective)
7) Home Decor

Your essay should be structured using 5 interrelated sections below:
1) Brief Introduction: (1 paragraph/100-200 words)
2) Review of the Literature on the Topic: This will take up the majority of the paper. (about 1700 words)
3) Critical Evaluation: Critically assess the existing literature. Organize the section by stating which consumer research perspectives have been most important in the past literature, and an argument for why you think that is the case. Speculate on why any missing perspectives may have been skipped, and what benefit could come from using them. Conclude by identify one conversation which you think is particularly interesting and deserving of further research.
(600 words)
4) Proposal for Study: Identify a more specific topic within the general domain discussed (e.g. art, fashion, sport) that you would be interested in studying. The focus here should primarily be conceptual (what concepts should be studied further; a new context which might enhance our understanding of existing concepts and theories, etc.). That said, you should provide at least a very brief (1-2 sentence) explanation of the methods used (e.g. ‘I would survey university students in four countries’, ‘I would observe people using the skateboard brand in parks’, etc.). This section serves as a conclusion to the paper, as you are making an argument for what you think is most interesting to study, based on the literature review presented in other sections. (500 words)