research methods

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Wbua_12

Computer Science

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This week you start your first step toward building your research proposal project in Project assignment 2 in which you identify your selected research problem. Use this application assignment to achieve two goals:

  1. Learn how to search an online data base.
  2. Identify and review two journal articles in that data base that are related to your selected research problem.

All VIU students have a free access to the online JSTOR database and other data bases. Search JSTOR or Other data bases, depending on your selected topic of research, for one journal article that is related to your selected research problem, download the article (not the abstract) and review it and keep it, you will have to include it in your submission for this application.

    • Identify the Research Problem discussed in your downloaded article. Explain the problem in your own words, and discuss the importance of the study.
    • Identify Hypotheses. Identify whether or not research hypotheses are present in such study.

Follow the following instructions to get your submission graded:

1.Ensure you follow the grading rubric provided below but do not include it in your submitted file.

2.Upload answers to all questions in a single MS Word document. Then upload the single file. Upload the file with your class number followed by last name and first initial followed by Application_Assignment_2. Example “77_Moumen_F-Application_Assignment_2.doc”

3. Put your Last name followed by your first name as the first line in your submitted word file

Then put the name of the selected article that you used.

4. Submit you document and a PDF file containing the article you used by Day 7 of this week, this assignment will close on day 7.

User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Compulsive Buying: A Phenomenological
Exploration
THOMAS C. O'GUINN
RONALD J. FABER*
Compulsive buying is framed within the iarger category of compulsive consumption, and both quantitative and qualitative data are used to provide a phenomenological description. Results indicate people who buy compulsively are more likely
to demonstrate compulsivity as a personality trait, have lower self-esteem, and
are more prone to fantasy than more normal consumers. Their primary motivation
appears to t>e the psychological benefits derived from the buying process itself
rather than from the possession of purchased objects. Consequences of compulsive buying include extreme levels of debt, anxiety and frustration, the subjective
sense of loss of control, and domestic dissension.

F

or most people, buying is a normal and routine
part of everyday life. For compulsive buyers, the
inability to control an overpowering impulse to buy
pervades their lives and results in significant and
sometimes severe consequences. Compulsive buyers
buy not so much to obtain utility or service from a
purchased commodity as to achieve gratification
through the buying process itself.
Although significant resources are being expended
in efforts to understand the abuse of various substances and all types of excessive behaviors and activities (i.e., alcoholism, drug abuse, eating disorders,
compulsive gambling), very little is known about
such abuses and excesses in the domain of buying behavior. For the most part, research in consumer behavior focuses on examining normative behavior.
However, the realization that buying has an abuse potential similar to other excessive or compulsive activtential similar to other excessive or compulsive activ-

ities indicates that consumer researchers should also
explore abnormal consumer behaviors.
One reason the study of abnormal consumer behavior is important is that these behaviors have severe
consequences for both the affected individual and
others. Compulsive buyers who amass unmanageable
amounts of debt can create economic and emotional
problems for themselves and their families. An inability to retire this debt can also adversely affect their
creditors. Thus, understanding this problem and providing help for those who suffer from it is not only
humanitarian, but in the interest of society as well.
A second reason for exploring abnormal consumption is that our understanding of more normal consumer behavior will be enriched by our understanding of its extreme forms. In the same sense that abnormal psychology has presented seminal concepts and
important insights into areas such as personality and
motivation, that sociological studies of deviance have
enlightened us about norms, and that anthropological studies of exotic cultures have revealed much
about our own culture, the study of abnormal consumer behavior may augment our knowledge of more
typical consumption behavior.

*Thomas C. O'Guinn is Associate Professor, Department of Advertising and Business Administration, University oflllinois, Urbana, IL 61801 and was Visiting Associate Professor, Anderson
Graduate School of Management, UCLA, during the completion
of this manuscript. Ronald J. Faber is Associate Professor and Codirector of the Mass Communication Research Division, School of
Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN 55455. The authors contributed equally to this
work. The order of authorship was determined by a flip of a coin.
The authors would like to thank the James Webb Young Fund of
the University of Illinois and the University of Texas College of
Communication for their financial support. We would also like to
thank Sandi Gostin and Carla Perez, M.D., for their expertise and
gracious assistance in the data collection. Finally, we wish to thank
Seymour Sudman, David Adelman, Nadine Curias, Kay Schmitt,
Rich Semenik, Bridgett Shoppert, and Sandy Willats for their assistance and three anonymous reviewers for their many constructive
comments.

COMPULSIVE CONSUMPTION
Compulsive buying may be viewed as part of a
broader category of compulsive consumption behaviors. Compulsions are "repetitive and seemingly purposeful behaviors that are performed according to
certain rules or in a stereotyped fashion" (American
Psychiatric Association 1985, p. 234). They are often
excessive and ritualistic behaviors designed to alleviate tension, anxiety, or discomfort aroused by an obtrusive thought or obsession. Although in the strictest
147
© JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH • Vol. 16 • September 1989

148
sense compulsions refer to behaviors that are ego-dystonic (i.e., against the conscious will ofthe individual), the term is frequently used to classify a number
of different repetitive behaviors driven by an irresistible urge and ultimately harmful to the individual
(American Psychiatric Association 1985).
Consumption also has a wide-ranging definition.
Holbrook and Hirschman (1982), for example, argue
for a view of consumption that goes beyond the purchase and use of goods and services to include the
consumption of time, experiences, and feelings. Taking a similarly broad view, we define compulsive consumption as a response to an uncontrollable drive or
desire to obtain, use, or experience a feeling, substance, or activity that leads an individual to repetitively engage in a behavior that will ultimately cause
harm to the individual and/or to others. Under this
definition, many addictive or excessive behaviors can
be considered forms of compulsive consumption.
These include substance abuse and extreme excesses
in behavior, such as eating disorders and compulsive
sexuality, as well as more marketplace-oriented behaviors, such as compulsive gambling and kleptomania.

Commonalities Across Compulsive
Consumption Behaviors
These various problems have been examined under
a wide range of labels including addictive, compulsive, excessive, habitual, abusive, and adjunctive behaviors, as well as impulse control disorders. Although there is a notable lack of consistency in labeling, recognition in recent years ofthe commonalities
among these behaviors has increased the tendency to
examine them as related phenomena (Cooper 1983;
Levison, Gerstein, and Maloff 1983; Mariatt et al.
1988; Miller 1980; Mule 1981; Peele 1985). Thus, an
understanding of the similarities and differences
among these behaviors may provide us with a useful
framework for better understanding the problem of
compulsive buying.
There are two essential definitional criteria that
must be present in these various behaviors (Walker
and Lidz 1983). The behavior must be repetitive, and
it must be problematic for the individual. Of course,
the affected individual may not initially see the behavior as a problem. In fact, at an early stage it may
be seen as providing immediate relief from anxiety or
emotional distress (Salzman 1981). Thus, these behaviors can be characterized as producing immediate
gratifications, but leading to delayed negative consequences (Marlatt et al. 198...


Anonymous
I was struggling with this subject, and this helped me a ton!

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