ethical marketing

TYMS Student Ethics form

(sanctioned by Chair of HSSE Committee)

To be used for:

· Undergraduate and Masters level research involving human subjects. Reference to human subjects includes all types of research that necessitates contact with people (be these managers, customers, workers, the public, other students, government officials, volunteers or key stakeholders of any description). Methods requiring ethics approval include:

· Interviews

· Observations (participant & non-participant)

· Survey (face-to-face, postal, virtual, telephone)

· Secondary analysis of human data (e.g. transcripts, blogs)

· Where the research involves the following a full application to HSSEC is required:

· Children

· Those with learning disabilities

· People with mental impairment due to health or lifestyle

· Those who are terminally ill

· Recently bereaved

· Those unable to consent to or understand the research

· Where research concerns sensitive topics / illegal activities

· Where deception is involved

· Any other research with vulnerable people (young, elderly, those with

disabilities etc.)

· Proposals and ethics forms will be reviewed in the first instance by module tutor. If happy to sign the form (symbolic of a virtual discussion having taken place (as required by the university) the research can proceed.

· Where concerns are raised, these will be addressed to the Chair of HSSEC

Completed forms should be submitted with your proposal.

1 Please provide the following details about the principal investigator.

Name	JIN LIHONG
Student number	205046652
Course	ETHICAL MARKETING
Email	[email protected]
Supervisor for research (if known)	Dr Nadina Luca

2 Project details

Title of project/Research	COCA-COLA PLASTIC POLLUTION
Project start date	20/03/2020
Hand in date	10/04/2020

3 Summary of research proposal

Aims and objectives of the research Please outline the questions or hypotheses that will be examined in the research.

This research will explore whether consumers are aware of Coca-Cola's plastic pollution issues and whether consumers understand that Coca-Cola needs to take social responsibility. And find out the proportion of consumers who have these awareness. Meanwhile, the research will explore how these awareness of consumers will affect their purchase of Coca-Cola products.

4 Methods of data collection Outline how the data will be collected from or about human subjects.

The research will collect data using questionnaires.

5 Recruitment of participants How many participants will take part in the research, how will they be identified and invited to take part in the study, and how will informed consent be obtained? Please attach (1) the project information sheet to be given to all participants and (2) the informed consent form.

The research will use the simple random sampling method to publish 100 questionnaires online. We will select consumers form the consumer review area of the Coca-Cola online retail store.We will use a simple random sampling method to select 100 comments, reply to them under these comments and attach a link to the questionnaire. Informed consent will be attached to a questionnaire to be completed by each participant.

6 Perceived risks or ethical problems Comment by Nadina Luca: Even if this is a low risk study, you still need to show that you considered any potential risks and ways to mitigate them. Explain why there are now risks. Need to complete this section. Please check seminar (week 6) and lecture slides (week 10) on the ethics of research and how to answer this. You can also check the info from the RAM module on research ethics. Please outline any anticipated risks or ethical problems that may adversely affect either the participants, researchers or university, and the steps that will be taken to address them.

1. Risks to participants (e.g. damage to reputation): Participants may need to answer some sensitive personal questions when answering the questionnaire, which violates the privacy right Comment by Nadina Luca: You need to explain how this will be mitigated (e.g. explaining to participants that they can choose to not answer questions that they don’t wish to; that their answers will be confidential and anonymous etc.) 1. Risks to researchers (e.g. personal safety): Researchers may be biased in the process of survey, and tend to get more favorable results in the process of questionnaire design, data analysis, and interpretation. 1. University / institutional risks (e.g. adverse publicity) The survey, conducted in the name of York University, may damage the image of the university if there are problems in its implementation. Comment by Nadina Luca: OK, so what measures will you take to minimise this risk? (e.g. follow research ethics guidelines to ensure the process of research is rigorous and does not harm anyone. 1. Financial conflicts of interest (e.g. inappropriate use of commercial information for personal benefit): Use the data from the survey for personal benefit in exchange for money. Comment by Nadina Luca: This is not clear. You need to explain how you will prevent this from happening.

7 Data confidentiality Please outline the arrangements that will be made to ensure (1) the confidentiality of the data, both during and after the study and (2) that the identity of the respondents will not be revealed.

The data collected will not be shared with any third parties and only the researchers will access to the questionnaires. The data will only be used for the research of coca cola plastic pollution. All questionnaires will be anonymous to protect participants' proprietary. In this research, we are going to use Wenjuanxing, a platform providing functions equivalent to Amazon Mechanical Turk, to carry out the qiestionaire. Wenjuanxing server is hosted in Alibaba cloud BGP machine room, the data is stored in RAID (disk array), protected by enterprise firewall, and the daily backup mechanism is used to ensure the data security of participants. Meanwhile, wenjhanxing supports multiple open level settings and password protection of questionnaires and results, and internal staff have strict regulations when contacting user data to ensure the data security of participants Important data will not be leaked. Comment by Nadina Luca: Here you also need to write about how the data will be stored to ensure it’s protected and secured. Please check the relevant lecture and seminar slides mentioned above. Comment by Nadina Luca: You are supposed to collect the data yourself and not ask others to do it for you. This needs to be changed here.

8 Ethics checklist

Please confirm that all of the steps indicated below have been taken, or will be taken, with regards to the above named project submitted for ethical approval. If there are any items that you cannot confirm, or are not relevant to your project, please use the space provided to explain. Please also use the space indicated to draw the committee’s attention to any specific ethical issues this study raises. Finally, please sign the form and ensure that all of the indicated documents are attached before submitting your application.

Please tick if true:

√

Informed consent will be sought from all research participants where appropriate

v

All data will be treated confidentially and stored in a secure place

All quotes and other material obtained from participants will be anonymised in all reports/publications arising from the study where appropriate

√

All reasonable steps have been taken to minimise risk of physical/ psychological harm to study participants

√

All reasonable steps have been taken to minimise risk of physical/mental harm to researchers

√

Participants have been made aware of and consent to all potential futures uses of the research and data

√

There are no known conflicts of interest with respect to finance / funding

√

Explanation for any checklist items not confirmed.

9 Other comments

Are there any issues that you wish to draw attention to?

10 Signed undertaking

I hereby undertake to ensure that the above named research project will meet the ticked commitments in the checklist above. In conducting the project, the research team will be guided by the Social Research Association’s ethical guidelines for research.

JIN LIHONG

……………………………………….. (Signed Student)

……………………………………….. (Signed module tutor)

……………………………………….. (Date)

Project Information Sheet

Date

Project title: COCA COLA PLASTIC POLLUTION

My name is JIN LIHONG and I am conducting this research as part of the Ethical Marketing module, for the BSc Marketing programme at the University of York.  

What is the purpose of the study?

The purpose of this research is finding out if the consumers notice the coca cola plastic pollution and if they realize the social responsibility coca cola needs to take. Comment by Nadina Luca: This should be changed to: What consumers think of Coca Cola’s social responsibility. Note: you need to avoid using leading sentences in your project information sheet (if you say that the study is about Coca-Cola’s plastic pollution you will already influence the participants to think about pollution. You want to see whether they think of this by themselves when you ask them about problems caused by Coca Cola.)

Why have I been invited?

You have been invited because we think your experience of purchasing products from coca cola could help us understand better the customer’s awareness of coca cola’s environmental pollution and responsibility.

Do I have to take part?

This is not a mandatory questionnaire. If you are interested in our research and want to participate, you will see this information sheet and you need to sign a consent form to confirm that you have volunteered to participate in this survey and fully understand your rights.

What will happen to me if I take part?

You will need to fill out a questionnaire, this process will not take more than fifteen minutes

What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?

The risk of this survey is low so small that it can be underestimated, and you can choose not to answer if you feel uncomfortable with the question

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

Although we do not provide material returns, the information you provide will give us a deeper understanding of the study of Coca-Cola’s social responsibility. plastic pollution.This will be very helpful for us to find solutions to enhance environmental sustainability。

Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?

Your data will not be shared with any third parties and only the research team will have access to the questionnaires. And the questionnaire is anonymous.

What will happen if I don’t want to carry on with the study?

Your participation is voluntary and you are free to withdraw at any time before April 20

Who do I contact for more information?

If you have any questions or are unclear about any of the information provided above, please contact JIN LIHONG, email address: [email protected]

6