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bibliography and appendices). The proposal should include the following: a title rationale (reason for interest in topic) overall aim of research a brief outline of methodology

It is arguable whether people buy products -- and this includes fashion -- due to the name of the designer or whether the country of origin (COO) impacts. This is specially the case when the designer is as yet unknown and still new to the field. The brand of third world -- or developing countries, it is presumed, have a negative impact on the consumer. Influence may extend, too, to the name of the designer whose name may share connotations with a less desirable country. On the other hand, countries such as America are perceived as wealthy nations, Germany as efficient, France as fashionable, and it may be possible that a designer with a French name may be more attractive than someone with an Indian last name.

I intend to conduct my research using netnography. Netnography involves lurking on Internet sites, following discussions, and surveying participants' likes, dislikes, and motives / rationale for their decisions. I intend to approach fashion consumer sites where participants often enter to record their opinions regarding certain items. I might also access blogs and similar websites related to the fashion industry. This will be field observation.

I might also adopt a pre-test / post-test one group quantitative experiment where I will take a certain fashion designer with a French name exhibit his samples to a certain group of participants who are unfamiliar with that designer and record their observations to his items, whilst somewhat later taking that same designer and changing his name to a Middle Eastern one and record their impressions to those same (or very similar) fashion designs that had been exhibited to them a few months or weeks earlier.

If the theory of COO were correct, my hypothesis would be that the group of participants would show attitude to clothes based upon the designer's name. When Middle Eastern, the participants would show less favor to the samples than when the designer appeared with his original French name. The null hypothesis would indicate the reverse: that change of name would not influence participants' attitude to fashion samples.
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