Hello All:
Today's blog post will focus on how I have chosen to break down my topic into subtopics. But before I can talk about that, I have to say what my topic actually is. After a week of research and quibbling over what variable I should test and what topic to choose, I have finally decided to focus on the effects of arbitrary price anchors, random numbers and signals, on people's decision-making during time pressure situations. There is a lot of research that currently shows people think more irrationally in time pressure situations and there is even some research on pricing decisions in time pressure situations, but nothing specifically on price anchoring and time pressure. The connection is important because in many real-life situations consumers are exposed to time pressure and are simultaneously exposed to subtle cues, or price anchors. So analyzing the two together explicitly will help consumers, companies, and behavioral economists understand the relationship. I also plan to standardize the group of people I test it on in order to get more consistent and credible results, but that it something I can focus on in my methods section.
So now that I have a topic, I can start dividing it into subtopics for me to research. Currently my project has two obvious large subtopics, price anchoring and time pressure effects, so I will start by dividing it into those. But both of those subtopics are still large and complex topics, so I will need more subtopics to help me in my research and writing my literature review. I plan to look into time pressure decisions as one subtopic. While my research will be specifically on price decisions, other time pressure decisions, such as those involving risk, are still made by similar parts of the brain. And much research shows that regardless of the decision, time pressure will play a role. I also plan to look at pricing decisions specifically and research on that. Then by using these subtopics in conjunction, I can create a cohesive and well-evidenced literature review. I will also look into price anchoring through different subtopics. One important thing for me to look into will be how price anchoring affects consumers' decisions on specific goods. Many price anchoring studies use many goods and look into consumer decisions on each individually. So by looking into that, I can make a better decision about how I go about my own experiment and also I can understand how specific goods change consumer decisions. Finally, I will look into the different environments that price anchoring effects occur in and how the environment changes price anchoring effects. This may seem irrelevant to my topic, but it is vital for me to understand, since the environment will affect my experimental design and also my results.
I think that through looking into these topics, I will be able to make a cohesive literature review and I will be well-equipped for my research moving forward. (493)
Wait, I thought behavioral economics was looking at how a CEO affects profit? Akash, triggered.
ReplyDeleteOkay, but for real, I think this sounds really good, and your instinct that "price anchoring" and "time-pressure" being too large and complex to exist as subtopics on their own is absolutely right. I like how you're thinking of ways to break them down, and I urge you to try to break them down even further.
Also, you'll want to try to find, perhaps, something more specified. As in, a certain type of purchase that a person makes. IDK. Just thinking out loud.
Finally, I want you to think about how you'll marry your two overarching topics (and all of the subtopics underneath) to create a clear, cohesive picture for the reader. It seems like a lot, so start strategizing now.
Hello Max!! Wow, I can say that I already see a lot of focus since what you presented to the class. That's really wonderful! I'm beginning to see what you are envisioning more clearly, which is a great sign! I also really like how your blog post reflects how critically you are approaching this process in trying to break down the subtopics into more refined, focused ideas.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of your subtopics, I like how you've decided to break down the broader subtopics. I think that a majorly important part of your literature review will be establishing a connection between price anchoring and time pressure. A suggestion for doing this is to further narrow the subtopic of "how price anchoring affects consumers' decisions on specific goods." Specifically, I think it might be interesting to refine the subtopic from specific goods to goods involving risk. That way you have a starting point to develop the connection. I believe that as you continue to do more literature searches, you will have a better understanding of how to narrow your subtopics even more. My question for you is this: do you think it will be most effective to focus on a specific type of good (such as those involving risk)?
As you continue to dive into your topic, I think you are already finding a clearer direction for your research! I'm really excited about your project!
hey max I like that you've decided to focus on time pressures with price anchoring - it sounds really interesting, and it’s good that you showed the connection in your blog post because it’s a connection you'll have to make really clear in your literature review. I think it’s interesting that you mentioned risk within time pressure decisions and the the environment related to price anchoring. It’s definitely important to consider because, as you said, the environment is part of how you’ll carry out your research. I just think you need to be more specific when talking about what your literature review specifically is going to entail. you already seem to have kind of an idea about the research itself, but what do you think needs to be explained in the literature review? the connection between all of the subtopics or…? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ReplyDeleteSpecifically understand what type of goods to be analyzing. Risk assessment might work. Gambling might be a place to look. Pricing decisions are linked to both time pressure and price anchoring. Look at risk-involved decisions for importance and implications of my project. We did not finish fully discussing my topic, but that is where we were so far.
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