Strategic Issues in the United Kingdom

1-From the information collected on the brewing industry, suggest at least two possible research questions. The first possible research question is: What is the relationship between acquisitions and mergers among the companies in the United Kingdom (UK) brewing industry and the profit margins of the companies? The second possible research question is:

What is the impact of the growth of popularity of dining out among the people on the capacity of the brewing industry in the UK?
2-What criteria would you use to assess whether or not these research questions form the basis of a good research topic? A good research question should conform to certain criteria. I would use the following criteria to judge the quality of the research questions:
•The question should address an important problem to the researcher or the one asking for the research.
•The research question should add value to the topic.
•The question should be one that is possible to be researched cost effectively with reasonable resources.
•The question should not be too general or too specific, but limited to a topic.

3-Should there be a requirement for collecting at least some primary data? Using primary data provides the researcher with the advantage of collecting the right information which is directly related to the objectives and purposes of the research. The researcher can collect the primary data using surveys, interviews, or observations. The answers to the surveys and the data gathered through observations are considered to be primary data. In the case of the brewing industry in the UK and the problems it is facing, it would be very important to collect primary data. Information collected from surveys targeting people should provide information on the dining out experience and its impact on the capacity of the industry, and this would also provide some input on the profits of the industry.

4-Outline the structure that the methodology should take, indicating: a.Those areas where more work is needed
b.How the content will be formulated to address one of the research questions you have chosen in question 1? The structure of the methodology should have the following elements:
•An introduction part, where the problem statement and the research questions would be presented.
•A research methodology identification. For the research questions, the methodology should be mixed, both qualitative and quantitative because the case is complex (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010, p. 95).
•Description of the research design. The research would be exploratory.
•Population and sample collection. We should select few companies from the brewing industry, and target to survey people who dine out at certain identified locations.
•Data collection instruments. We should decide on the instruments and discuss the validity of the instruments and the reliability.
•Data collection procedures and analysis. This area requires extensive work in collecting the data and analyzing it. •Ethical considerations and limitations of the research.

5-Outline a possible research timelines for the project, taking into account your answers to question 4. Developing a timeline for the project is important because it would indicate whether the project is feasible or not. It would help the researcher to understand how much time is involved and accordingly one can plan to execute the research properly. The proposed research timeline is shown in the table below.

Time before submissionGoal
2 WeeksDefining and refining the research questions
1 MonthCompleting the literature review
2 WeeksDeciding on the sample and population
1 MonthsDesigning the data collection instruments
1 MonthWriting the methodology
3 MonthsCollecting and analyzing the data
1 MonthCompiling the final report with conclusions and recommendations.

References
Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Practical research: Planning and design. 9th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall .