1. The subject, once having exercised the choice to participate in a study, should cooperate fully in the tasks ahead, such as responding to a survey.
2. The respondent also has an obligation to be truthful and honest in the responses. Misrepresentation or giving information, knowing it to be untrue, should be avoided.
Visit the companion website at www.wiley.com/college/sekaran for Case Study: An online shopping questionnaire.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of personally administered questionnaires, mail ques- tionnaires, and electronic questionnaires.
2. Explain the principles of wording, stating how these are important in questionnaire design, citing examples not in the book.
3. How are multiple methods of data collection and from multiple sources related to the reliability and validity of the measures?
4. “Every data collection method has its own built‐in biases. Therefore, resorting to multimethods of data collection is only going to compound the biases.” How would you critique this statement?
5. “One way to deal with discrepancies found in the data obtained from multiple sources is to average the figures and take the mean as the value of the variable.” What is your reaction to this?
6. How has the advancement in technology helped data gathering via questionnaires?
● Learning objective 4: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various data collection methods in survey research.
Having discussed the primary data collection methods in survey research (interviews, observation, and administering questionnaires), this chapter recounts the advantages and disadvantages of these methods and examines when each method can be most profitably used.
● Learning objective 5: Discuss the advantages of multisources and multimethods of data collection.
Because almost all data collection methods have some bias associated with them, collecting data through multimethods and from multiple sources lends rigor to research. If data obtained from several sources bear a great degree of similarity, we will have stronger conviction of the goodness of the data.
● Learning objective 6: Demonstrate awareness of the role of the manager in primary data collection.
Managers often engage consultants to do research and may not be collecting data themselves through interviews, questionnaires, or observation. However, some basic knowledge of the characteristics and the advantages and disadvantages of primary methods of data collection will help them to evaluate alternative approaches to primary data collection and/or to understand why a consultant has opted for a certain method or for a combination of methods.
● Learning objective 7: Demonstrate awareness of the role of ethics in primary data collection.
Several ethical issues should be addressed while collecting primary data. These pertain to those who sponsor the research, those who collect the data, and those who offer them.
Now do Exercises 9.1, 9.2, and 9.3.
EXERCISE 9.1
David Shen Liang is a business student engaged in a management project for Ocg Business Services (OBS), a supplier of office equipment to a large group of (international) customers. OBS operates in the Business‐
to‐business market. David wants to test the following hypotheses:
1. Service quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction.
2. Price perception has a negative effect on customer satisfaction.
For this purpose he has developed the following questionnaire:
- - - Dear Sir,
My name is David Shen Liang. I am a business student currently engaged in a management project for Ocg Business Services (OBS). I am interested in how satisfied you – as a client of OBS – are about your relation- ship with OBS. For this purpose I would like you to fill in the following questionnaire. It will take no more than five minutes to fill in the questionnaire. Thank you so much for your time.
Kind regards, David Shen Liang.
OBS is in an easily accessible location
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree OBS has convenient opening hours
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree OBS delivers fast service
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree OBS informs you on the status of your order
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree OBS provides its services on the agreed time
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree OBS offers a range of products and services that fits your needs Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree The end‐products of OBS are sound
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree The facilities of OBS look well‐cared for
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree
Employees of OBS are helpful and friendly
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree Employees of OBS give good advice
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree Employees of OBS respond to your requests promptly Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree OBS is reliable
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree When a problem occurs, OBS will help you adequately Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree OBS is innovative
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree OBS has your best interests at heart.
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree
OBS fully informs you about the products and services it provides within your organization and about everything else you may want to learn from OBS or its employees
Strongly disagree ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Strongly agree The price of OBS products is:
Very Low ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Very high
In general, how satisfied are you about the services you received?
Very satisfied ‐1‐‐‐2‐‐‐3‐‐‐4‐‐‐5‐‐‐6‐‐‐7‐ Very dissatisfied Which services do you miss at Ocg Business Services?
When was your first contact with Ocg? ____________ ago.
Are the services of Ocg Business Services of added value to your organization?
[_] Yes, they are.
[_] Irrelevant, the services are not better or worse than those of other providers.
[_] No, I would prefer another provider.