Module Code: PM002

Class/Group: Group C

Module Title: Research Design and Critique

Assessment: Full Research Proposal

Assignment Title: An investigation into the factors that influence the Glaswegian public’s choice of car.

Student ID Number: 2059626

Date of Submission: November 29th, 2012

An investigation into the factors that influence the Glaswegian public’s choice of car.

Rationale
The number of automobiles had risen to over 1 billion vehicles all the world in 2010, which is 20 times more than this number in 1986(Sousanis, John,2011). Car plays a indispensable role in today's society, according to a survey from World Bank(2011), the number of ownership of motor vehicles per 1,000 people is more than 500 in most of developing countries, especially for Monaco, the number was 908(World Bank Data,2009). Although cars have become more and more commonplace, but the cars are still expensive commodity, also there is no doubt that the final decisions are usually made after careful consideration when people purchasing a car(Kathuria, Singla,2012). At the same time, as the vehicle types supplied to be chosen by consumers have become more and more various. When consumer facing with abundant of choices, they become more and more confused and irresolute. With the segmentation of automobile market, the factors that affect the public' car choices are more and more diversified.

According to Couton et al.(2006), various studies have applied hedonic price modeling to show that price variation among new cars can be explained by differences in key product characteristics such as horsepower, engine capacity, speed, and safety features. However, these measurable variables may not be the main explanatory factors which will influence the choice of consumers. Based on the above mentioned content, this research will