Research Design and Methodology

Abstract

Just as so many other countries already have before, for nearly two decades now, Bangladesh and in particular its capital Dhaka are witnessing the emergence and diffusion of modern food retail formats. Although an increasing amount of grey literature in the recent past may be interpreted as a growing interest in the subject matter, to date, an extensive study has neither been conducted on the characteristics of Dhaka’s modern food retail landscape, nor on modern food retail’s (potential) impact on traditional food retail formats. The examination of both of these aspects, however, is an essential basis for answering this thesis’ overarching question of whether, and if yes, how and to what extent Dhaka’s food retail market is undergoing a structural change under the influence of emerging supermarkets. With the aim of shedding light on these aspects, the author applied an iterative research process with theoretical and conceptual reflections in Kaiserslautern, and phases of fieldwork in Dhaka. In the following, the research process (subchapter 8.1), data collection, and applied research methods (subchapter 8.2), as well as the procedure of data analysis (subchapter 8.3), will be described.