Quantitative Research for the Company Coca-Cola Global

Running head: Quantitative Research for the Company Coca-Cola Global 1

Quantitative Research for the Company Coca-Cola Global Quantitative Research for the Company Coca-Cola Global 2

Introduction

This essay will identify a research problem at a company that I am familiar with. The company is Coca-Cola. The problem with Coca-Cola is that Diet Coca-Cola is known to cause seizures (Epilepsy Foundation.com, 2016). In order to understand this problem better, quantitative research would be used in the form of surveys to those people who have suffered from seizures and to determine if they have or still do drink Diet Cola. First, I will begin by identifying the name and the description of Coca-Cola. I will describe the problem at the company. I will discuss how the quantitative research will be used. I will discuss my methodology. I will also discuss how I will be able to determine if the data collected will be valid. First, I will begin by identifying the name and the description of the Coca-Cola Company.

Coca-Cola Global (Coca-Cola.com, 2016) is in North America, Latin America, Europe,

Eurasia, Africa and the Asia Pacific. The company’s current slogan is: “Taste the Feeling,”

(Coca-Cola.com, 2016). Unfortunately the problem that seems to be occurring with Diet Coke is that “Tasting the Feeling” is causing seizures for many, many people worldwide. There is also supporting evidence of this from medical researchers in Belgium (Mortelmans, Van Loo, De

Cauwer, & Merlevede, 2008). To build on the research of Mortelmans, Van Loo, De Cauwer, &

Merlevede (2008), this research will use quantitative surveys as a methodological approach in order to determine the efficacy the previous research and to discover whether Diet Coke does indeed cause seizures.

By crafting a basic survey that builds upon the following sample, this survey would be sent out through Survey Monkey (Survey Monkey.com, 2016) to two Epileptic organizations: Quantitative Research for the Company Coca-Cola Global 3

Epilepsy Foundation (Epilepsy Foundation.com, 2016) and the Epilepsy Network (Epilepsy

Network.com, 2016). The survey design will be based on the following format:

1. Do you have Epilepsy? Does a close friend or a family member of yours have Epilepsy?

2. What brought you to belong to this organization?

3. The purpose of this survey is to determine if there is a link between Diet Coke and

seizures. When was the last time that you had a seizure?

4. How many seizures have you had in your lifetime?

5. How do you usually control your seizures?

6. Do you drink Diet Coke?

7. How often do you drink Diet Coke?

8. Are you someone who still gets seizures and has not ever had Diet Coke?

9. Has your Doctor ever told you not to drink Diet Coke because they cause seizures?

10. Do you think Diet Coke causes seizures?

11. Do you have a personal story or a story of a close friend and/or family member who has

been affected by seizures due to Diet Coke?

The above would be the sample of the surveys. Once the surveys are done and at this point it would be difficult to determine exactly how many completed surveys I would receive, I would then be able to analyze the data and coupled with more research on the link between Diet

Coke and seizures I can determine if there is indeed a link between the two. Quantitative Research for the Company Coca-Cola Global 4

The analysis of the data will build upon the research of Mortelmans, Van Loo, De

Cauwer, & Merlevede (2008) where these researchers in Belgium did discover that there was a link between drinking massive amounts of Diet Coke and seizures, as well as hyponatremia.

Conclusion

This essay identified a research problem at a company that I am familiar with. The company is Coca-Cola. The problem with Coca-Cola is that Diet Coca-Cola is known to cause seizures and hyponatremia (Epilepsy Foundation.com, 2016). In order to understand this problem better, quantitative research would be used in the form of surveys to those people who have suffered from seizures and to determine if they have or still do drink Diet Cola. First, I began by identifying the name and the description of Coca-Cola. I described the problem at the company. I discussed how the quantitative research would be used. I discussed my methodology. I also discussed how I would be able to determine if the data collected would be valid. I began by identifying the name and the description of the Coca-Cola Company Globally. An example of the research survey to be used for the quantitative analysis is the following:

1. Do you have Epilepsy? Does a close friend or a family member of yours have Epilepsy?

2. What brought you to belong to this organization?

3. The purpose of this survey is to determine if there is a link between Diet Coke and

seizures. When was the last time that you had a seizure?

4. How many seizures have you had in your lifetime?

5. How do you usually control your seizures? Quantitative Research for the Company Coca-Cola Global 5

6. Do you drink Diet Coke?

7. How often do you drink Diet Coke?

8. Are you someone who still gets seizures and has not ever had Diet Coke?

9. Has your Doctor ever told you not to drink Diet Coke because they cause seizures?

10. Do you think Diet Coke causes seizures?

11. Do you have a personal story or a story of a close friend and/or family member who has

been affected by seizures due to Diet Coke?

This survey would be sent out to two Epilepsy organizations in America. At this point it is difficult to determine the number of respondents that the survey would yield. The results should help to build upon the research of Mortelmans, Van Loo, De Cauwer, & Merlevede (2008) where these researchers in Belgium did discover that there was a link between drinking massive amounts of Diet Coke and seizures, as well as hyponatremia. Quantitative Research for the Company Coca-Cola Global 6

References

Coca-Cola.com. (2016). “Taste the Feeling,” Coca-Cola.com. Atlanta, GA: Coca-Cola Global.

Retrieved from: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/contact-us/index

Epilepsy Foundation.com. (2016). “Community Forum: Diet Coke Aspartame Seizure Link?”

Epilepsy Foundation.com. Landover, MD: Epilepsy Foundation. Retrieved from:

http://www.epilepsy.com/connect/forums/men-epilepsy/diet-coke-aspartame-seizure-link

Epilepsy Network.com. (2016). “Stronger Together,” Epilepsy Network.com. United States:

Epilepsy Network.com. Retrieved from: http://theepilepsynetwork.com/

Mortelmans, L. J., Van Loo, M. De Cauwer, H.G. & Merlevede, K. (2008). “Seizures and

Hyponatremia after excessive intake of diet coke,” PubMed.gov. Washington, DC: US

National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18180668

Survey Monkey.com. (2016). Survey Monkey.com. Palo Alto, CA: Survey Monkey.com.

Retrieved from: https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/aboutus/office-locations/