Deadline: Friday 6th November
Emotion: SCARED!!!
Right, So it is week 6 and the Packaging and Perception assignment is due in. All my usual thoughts are running through my head.... How am I going to finish this? Where am I going to get all my references from? What research will I need? After my breakdown (nearly) My next thought was calm down, just follow the assignment brief and it will be fine, and that's exactly what I did.
Research was definitely the main thing that helped me complete this assignment It was also necessary to complete, to be able to aim for a higher grade, without this, my assignment would have been just a blank page. Research is used to gather knowledge from books, journals, reports, Internet etc that has not been taught and has been found by an individual. It usually is facts and theories that relate to a certain topic. In my case this was perception and packaging.
The first research I carried out was by using both books and journals. The library helped me search for books and journals that related to perception and packaging. Some of these books included;
- Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective. 4th Ed. By Michael R. Solomon, Gary Bamossy, Soren Askegaard and Margaret K. Hogg.
- Consumer Behaviour. 3rd Ed. By P, M Chisnall.
- Consumer Behaviour. 3rd Ed. By J Hofmeyr and B Rice.
I used these books to help me understand what perception was and also gave me a basic idea of the perceptual process. I included these within my assignment and referenced them. Without these I would have found it harder to define perception. The book by P. M Chisnall also explained both the Howard-Sheth model and the Engel, Kollat and Blackwell model. I was able to understand what they were 
and how they related to the perception subject. The book by Michael R. Soloman gave an in depth description of the perceptual process. This meant I could use it without my assignment fully referenced ofcorse. Journals were also included in my research these were useful for giving facts on packaging. Through these I discovered research that has been conducted such as; the methods that Ampeuero and Vilo used to conduct research on packaging. Using the journals also allowed me to discover what different theories there were on package design by a variety of people.
and how they related to the perception subject. The book by Michael R. Soloman gave an in depth description of the perceptual process. This meant I could use it without my assignment fully referenced ofcorse. Journals were also included in my research these were useful for giving facts on packaging. Through these I discovered research that has been conducted such as; the methods that Ampeuero and Vilo used to conduct research on packaging. Using the journals also allowed me to discover what different theories there were on package design by a variety of people. I think that book and journal research is very good due to the fact it usually shows a variety of different theories. Book research also helps makes topics easier for individuals to understand, it usually includes all relevant information and is concise. The disadvantages of using book and journal research is that it is harder to find the certain books that are needed, it can be expensive and finally a good and helpful book may be passed by unintentionally either by being unnoticed or unavailable.
I used the Internet significantly during this assignment and gathered a huge amount of research using it. Some of the websites which I used are listed below:
- http://www.ehow.com/about_6561090_consumer-perception-theory.html
- http://www.pepsico.co.uk/walkers-crisps
- http://www.tnsglobal.com/_assets/files/The_power_of_packaging.pdf
I used these website to discover addition information on consumer perception and packaging. I also gathered Walkers research using the PepsiCo website. This gave me facts and figures that were useful to use. The tnsglobal website was very good as it gave information on packaging factors, what makes a good packet and how it applies to different brands, I used this to analysis the packaging I chose and how good it was compared to different factors that this website stated. Other websites I used gave information on different theories and models, it explained what they were and how they applied to perception. Also websites gave information on consumer behaviour, why they bought things, how to grab attention etc. A website that should definitely not be used for assignments and gather information, is wikipedia due to it being very unreliable. Therefore I made sure not to look or research using this website. Internet research is good because it is easy accessible, there are many different articles, reports and websites with a variety of information. It contains a huge range of facts, and also opinions of things can be found. The Internet is aimed for everyone therefore if information is hard to understand it is very easy to find a simpler version. It also includes many different images and pictures to illustrate theories and information. However using the Internet for research also has disadvantages which include; some information is not accurate, correct or reliable, there may be too many varied results. The certain information may not be easily found and many searches may be necessary. It can be time consuming searching through all the results and finally websites may disappear or change therefore some information may not be accessed.
I think that research is necessary to passing a university course. Hard work, reading and research is essential for university and it is a fact not to leave everything to the last minute!
Research Is Key!
