CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH AND COMMERCIALIZATION POLICY IN ZIMBABWE
5.7 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS
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A mixture of both open ended and closed ended questions were employed in order to solicit data that would help achieve the set research objectives. On the one hand, open ended questions left room for respondents to express their opinions, attitudes and perceptions of Zimbabwe’s technological innovations and the commercialization status. On the other hand, closed ended questions guided respondents to give a definite answer. The use of both open ended and closed questions facilitated the use of both qualitative (open ended questions) and quantitative measurements (through closed questions).
When constructing an effective questionnaire the researcher, amongst other things, should choose questions and their form, wording and sequence in a manner that respondents can easily understand (Coldwell & Herbst, 2004). When they perceive or see the questionnaire as interesting, of value, short (Peterson, 2000), clearly thought through, and well presented (Burgess 2001), respondents are motivated to answer the questionnaire with little encouragement. Guided by these requirements, the researcher designed the questionnaire to be precise and interesting so as to solicit respondents’
commitment to answer the questionnaire.
In order to reduce bias, the same questions were asked to every respondent within a given sample.
Respondents were also given assurance regarding privacy and confidentiality of their individual responses. In most cases, the researcher or the trained research assistants had to wait for the respondents to complete the questionnaire in order to reduce failure to return the questionnaire, while at the same time encouraging respondents to answer all questions.
To assist in questionnaire administration, the researcher hired, trained and closely monitored data collectors who issued questionnaires to respondents. They waited for respondents to complete answering the questionnaire. Each data collector had a covering letter which, among other things, explained the purpose of the research. After reading through the cover letter and understanding the contents of the questionnaire package, the respondents were made to sign the consent form, which was collected together with the completed questionnaire.
5.7.1.1 Questionnaire Design
The questionnaires were designed following the ‘funnel’ approach to questionnaire development (Saunders et al., 2007), in which the instrument commenced with more general level and / or broader questions before narrowing down to specific questions meant to address the study’s specific research questions and objectives.
The first section (Section A) of the customer questionnaire consisted of the respondents’ background information i.e. demographic data. This section was aimed at gaining information about the type of respondents in terms of their age groups, role in the family, economic well being etcetera, thus aiding in establishing the groupings that existed across and within the target population.
Section B required respondents to reflect on their access to the market as well as their preferences (if any) of the technological innovations from different research institutes.
Section C of the questionnaire sought to explore the respondents’ attitudes and perceptions regarding Zimbabwe’s technological innovations, thus the section provided respondents with an opportunity to react to the statements posed, indicating the extent to which they agreed or disagreed. This section utilized the five point Likert scales (Likert, 1932) which had the following measurements:
1 = Strongly Disagree (SD), 2 = Disagree (D), 3 = Neutral (N), 4 = Agree (A) and 5 = Strongly Agree (SA).
One last open ended question allowed respondents to state what they thought could be done to improve the general state of commercialization of new products in Zimbabwe.
The questionnaire for research institutes’ staff members, which used the same structure as above, was intended mainly to gather the employees’ views regarding the determinants of the commercialization of technological innovations in their respective institutes. (See Appendix 4 for the sample questionnaire for research institutes’ staff).
5.7.2 Personal Interviews
In order to ascertain the existence, the determinant factors of, and the role played by Public-Private- Partnerships (PPPs), the researcher conducted six (6) semi-structured interviews with senior managers (Business development, sales and marketing and product commercialization related managers) conveniently selected from both private and public research institutes. For this particular qualitative element of the study, personal interviews were chosen as they proffered priceless and detailed information from knowledgeable managers. The five (5) respondents who eventually emerged offered abundant insights into the subject of PPPs in addressing the relevant research objective.
There are three approaches to gathering interview data and these include personal interviews, postal surveys and telephone surveys / interviews (Gillham, 2000). The researcher opted for personal interviews because they are completed through ‘face-face contact’ with the respondent(s) (Coldwell &
Herbst, 2004), thus the researcher found personal interviews to be most suitable because they reaped the following advantages:
a) Interviews provided invaluable responses within the participants’ or research institutes’ contexts.
b) The use of “pre-determined questions”, based on the interview guide, helped in ensuring some degree of response uniformity.
c) Compared to questionnaires, they yielded higher return because of spot answering.
d) The information was first hand with less distortion.
e) The dialogue led to the provision of verified facts to a larger extent, presenting the researcher (interviewer) with an opportunity to probe for more information.
f) Language could be modified in the process thus assuring at least some response to all questions posed.
h) The researcher had the opportunity to observe gestures i.e. non-verbal cues.
A template of the Interview Guide used (for personal interviews) is found is Appendix 5 of this write- up.
5.7.2.1 Interviews Sample Size’s Saturation
The ‘guiding principle’ in determining the sample size in carrying out studies with a component of qualitative research has remained the theory of saturation (Mason, 2010). Though the concept has been explored in detail by numerous authors, the question remains, “How many interviews are enough?” (Mason, 2010; Guest at al., 2006). In addressing this dilemma, the current study was guided by Charmaz (2006: 114) who clearly states that:
“ The aims of the study are the ultimate driver of the project design, and therefore the sample size…small study with ‘modest claims’ might achieve saturation quicker than a study that is aiming to describe a process that spans disciplines (for example describing drug addiction in a specific group rather than a description of general addiction)…”
Thus, guided by this and other related contributory principles, five (5) interviews conducted were deemed sufficient, given that the study’s methodology was mixed and interviews were primarily meant to achieve the third objective of the study, which read, “To explore the role of Private-Public Partnerships (PPP’s) in ensuring successful Research and Development, and Commercialization (R &
D-C) of research outcomes.”
5.7.3 Secondary Data Review
Secondary data involved a systematic review of appropriate information from journal articles, textbooks, e-books, databases, policy documents and other relevant sources. Secondary data was helpful as it gave the researcher the necessary background and guidelines to the research. Past empirical studies on commercialization of innovations were reviewed thus providing the researcher with insights on past results on studies related to the current study. This gave room for comparison, critical thinking and analysis of result trends which assisted in drawing conclusions for the study.