HBC201: Food waste has been a growing problem especially in recent years with the increasing attention: Research Methods for the Social and Behavioural Sciences Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Question (100 marks)

Food waste has been a growing problem especially in recent years with the increasing attention on climate change and food insecurity. Recognising that a substantial part of the food waste crisis is attributable to undesirable consumption patterns, a group of researchers conducted a study to investigate religious beliefs and family upbringing as underlying drivers
for such behaviour.

Read the following journal article for more information about the study. You may access the article via SUSS Library.

Filimonau, V., Mika, M., Kubal-Czerwińska, M., Zajadacz, A., & Durydiwka, M. (2022). Religious values and family upbringing as antecedents of food waste avoidance. Global Environmental Change, 75, 102547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102547 Analyse and critique the study in the journal article above. You are required to apply relevant concepts and information from the course materials, given journal article and additional
research to answer the following questions.

(a) The researchers noted the presence of leading questions and volunteer-administered surveys as two limitations in the given study. Using the context of the given study, discuss concerns around each of these limitations:
 How would these limitations affect the quality of data collected?
 What could the researchers do to address each of these limitations?
(30 marks)

(b) Examine ONE advantage and ONE disadvantage of using a semi-structured interview to determine the influence of religious values and family upbringing on wasteful consumer behaviour.

(c) Based on the findings of the given study, the researchers had suggested that supermarkets design in-store posters with messages that are associated with religious values and family upbringing. For example, “Food is a blessing from God and your grandparents would disapprove of your wasteful behaviour. Please buy only what you need.” Propose a quantitative study to determine whether in-store posters with such messages would improve consumers’ intention to avoid food wastage. Specifically, address the following points below. For each of the points below, explain your rationale and state any assumptions.