2. Conceptual framework
3.2. Data collection methods and instruments
In order to answer the research question, both, primary and secondary data collection has been used. Primary data is defined as data that is derived based on an own empirical research, whereas secondary data is derived from already existing sources310. Secondary data has been derived from the literature, whereas primary data was explored through the empirical study in form of a qualitative approach (focus groups) and a quantitative approach (online survey).
3.2.1. Focus groups
The qualitative approach of the study was conducted in the form of focus groups. Focus groups are a form of group interviews that help to generate qualitative data. The goal is to encourage participants to open a dialogue in order to find out about motives and perceptions311. Within a focus group interview, a moderator is used who is responsible for guiding the participants through the interview and to encourage the participants to state their opinion312. The number of participants should be between six to ten people, paying attention to avoid extreme inhomogeneity or on the contrary, extreme homogeneity. In the case of
309 Döring/Bortz (2016), p. 184
310 Homburg (2017), p. 263
311 Kitzinger (1995), p. 299
312 cf. Homburg (2017), p. 267
44 these focus groups, participants had to have a fitness related knowledge in order
to be able to talk about the topic of social media influencers in the fitness industry. However, participants were not too similar with regard to their fitness interests and people they followed. On the one hand the size of the group should be big enough in order to generate sufficient and a variety of data, on the other hand it should be small enough in order for the discussion to be performed in an organized way313. Focus groups help to generate an idea about the feelings and opinions of participants on a certain issue. They can also be used in order to generate data for a quantitative survey and to derive hypotheses from the data.
Therefore, the approach of focus groups was chosen in order to get insights into the topic of social media influencers and to derive conclusions from it regarding the quantitative survey.
The goals of the focus groups were to generate an idea of what defines a social media influencer, why people believe in him or her, if the credibility construct of source credibility (generated from theory) applied to the credibility of social media influencers and which factors have an influence on source credibility, when consumers are faced with sponsorships and cooperations with social media influencers.
Two focus groups were conducted. The first group discussion took place on the 8th of December at the JKU in Linz. The second focus group took place on the 29th of December at a local gym in Amstetten. The discussion was recorded via audio in order to be able to transcribe the data in a further step. Both interviews lasted about 1 to 1.5 hours.
The focus group consisted of four steps: Planning the focus group discussion, execution of the focus group discussion, the documentation of the focus group discussion and the analysis of the focus group discussion314. In order to make discussion run like a thread, it was necessary to plan and guide the relevant questions. Therefore, an interview guide was created, which is presented in the Appendix. Before the interview started, participants had to sign a privacy policy which declared that the data is only going to be used for scientific purposes within the thesis, that the discussion is going to be audiotaped and that data is treated anonymously. Furthermore, a short information regarding sociodemographic factors was given by the participants.
The discussion itself started with an introduction to the topic, followed by a starting question which encouraged the group to share their opinion. Since the main discussion should be part of the participants, the moderator should be in a neutral position and only participate in the discussion if participants are drifting away from the main topic or when there is the need for
313 cf. Rabiee (2004), p. 656
314 cf. Döring/Bortz (2016), p. 380
45 further, more detailed discussion of the topic315.Furthermore, a moderator is
allowed to ask further questions about issues that have not been mentioned and is able to clarify issues at the end of the discussion. As mentioned before, data was audiotaped and written down in a second step in a form of a transcript. Data has been analyzed according to the issues discussed in the focus group. Statements made in the group were assigned to a single factor that had to be explored.
The results of the focus groups are going to be discussed in the chapter 4.1.
3.2.2. Standardized questionnaire
After analyzing the qualitative data, a quantitative survey was executed via an online questionnaire. A standardized questionnaire mainly consists of closed questions with provided answers, where participants have to choose between different alternatives316. The quantitative approach via a standardized questionnaire was chosen due to the fact that it provides the possibility to derive a significant amount of data, which can be directly compared 317. Furthermore, the approach of an online questionnaire was chosen. An online questionnaire provides the possibility to derive a larger amount of data in a shorter period of time, due to the possibility of high reach via the internet 318. Also the target group of the desired sample (young, social media affine people interested in fitness) is more likely to be found via social media channels like Instagram or Facebook. Therefore, the link of the survey was distributed via several fitness channels on Instagram and Facebook and shared by the community.
Before the survey was made public for participants, a pre-test was conducted in order to make sure that the questions and items of the survey were understandable and that the procedure of the survey was smooth and clear. The pre-test survey was sent to 11 participants in a time span from 11th to 12th of April 2017. The pre-test was accessible for two days. Since only minor problems or misunderstandings occurred, which could be solved immediately, the actual survey was done between the 12th and the 23nd of April 2017. Hence, the survey was available for 11 days.
Within the survey, hypotheses that were derived from the quantitative survey and literature were tested. The goal of the quantitative survey was to find out if and how sponsorships have
315 cf. Döring/Bortz (2016), p. 380
316 cf. Döring/Bortz (2016), p. 405
317 cf. Homburg (2017), p. 269
318 cf. Homburg (2017), p. 271
46 an effect on source credibility of social media influencers in the fitness industry.
In order to generate the data, the study consisted of an introduction and two elimination questions. Since it was necessary that participants are familiar with social media and fitness influencers, the requirement to participate in the study was that the participants had a social media account and that they followed some fitness influencers on social media. The main part of each of the eight group questionnaires consisted of a picture derived from the social media platform Instagram of a famous fitness influencer called Amanda Bucci. Before creating the survey, the influencer was contacted in order to receive permission for using the pictures.
Participants had to review one of the eight pictures and read the text that was attached to it.
The full questionnaire is stated in the Appendix.
Every text was changed by the author of the thesis according to the different independent variables. In order to compare the eight situations, only the necessary changes regarding the variables were made. After reviewing the picture and the text attached to it, participants had to rate the influencer´s expertise and trustworthiness according to a multi item scale. The scale was derived from Ohanian´s dimensions of source credibility and dimensions that have been added from the focus group data. According to the study of Ohanian, expertise consists of five measurable dimensions: “expert”, “experienced”, “knowledgeable”, “qualified” and
“skilled”319. Trust also consists of five dimensions: “dependable”, “honest”, “reliable”, “sincere”
and “trustworthy”. The full dimensions of source credibility are going to be presented in chapter 4.1.2.
In the end, participants had to name their age and sex in order to enable the author to describe the sample according to sociademographics. Sex was asked in the form of a nominal scale (female/male) and age in the form of an open question.
The questionnaire was created via the software “EFS Survey” from Questback through the academic program “Unipark”, due to the fact that the software is available for students at JKU and one is able to export the data to various programs for analysis.
319 cf. Ohanian (1990), p. 46
47