CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODS
3.7 Quantitative Study
3.7.2 Data Collection
The questionnaire was the main data collection instrument of the study. The aim of the questionnaire was to collect the data necessary to help quantify the degree of association between each of the six factors and 35 success items that were identified previously (Chapter 2). The questionnaire of the study was divided into two parts.
The first section of the questionnaire was about the demographic information of the participants of the study. Seven items that the researcher developed measured participants’ profiles; these items were race, gender, age, qualifications, length of service, role, and industry. Table 3.7 shows the items for each concept in the first section of the questionnaire.
Table 3.7 : Items to Measure Participant’s Profile
Item Scale Example
Race 5 Categories African,Coloured,Indian,White,Other
Age 6 Categories age bracket >60 or <21
Gender 2 Categories Male or Female
Qualification 6 Categories Matric, Diploma, Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, Doctorate
Role 4 Categories Top Management, Middle Management,
Operational Staff and Other
Industry Industry Sector
Length of Service 4 Categories < 1 year or >10 years
The questions asked in this section provided demographic data regarding the research participants.
This information can be used to compare this sample with other samples used in different studies.
The second part of the questionnaire was about the dependent as well as the independent variables of the study. The main dependent variables in the second sections are User Satisfaction and Individual Impact. The main independent variables are System Quality, Information Quality, User Quality and Service Quality. The survey instrument designed was based on the BI success model proposed in the previous chapter. All items on the questionnaire were measured on a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. A copy of the full questionnaire can be found in the appendix.
Each construct in the study had at least two items in order to increase the reliability. The questions in the study were modified from related prior studies relating to IS success. The questions were designed to ask the respondent to evaluate their organisational BI systems.
Table 3.8 : Survey Instrument Constructs.
Construct Item Description Literature Source
System Quality SQ1 Availability (DeLone & McLean,1992) (Watson & Wixom, 2001) SQ2 Ease of Use
SQ3 Ease of Learning SQ4 Responsiveness SQ5 Stability SQ6 User Friendly SQ7 Secure SQ8 Reliability
Information Quality IQ1 Usefulness (DeLone & McLean,1992) (Watson & Wixom, 2001) IQ2 Completeness
IQ3 Accuracy IQ4 Timelines IQ5 Trustworthy IQ6 Understandability IQ7 Relevance
User Quality UQ1 Business Skills (Wixom & Watson, 2001)
Construct Item Description Literature Source UQ2 Technical Skills
UQ3 Analytical Skills
User Satisfaction US1 Efficiency (DeLone & McLean, 2003) US2 Effectiveness
US3 Overall Satisfaction
Service Quality SS1 Assurance (Yoon & Suh, 2004) SS2 Empathy
SS3 Responsiveness SS4 Knowledgeable
Individual Impact IB1 Job Performance (Hou, 2012) IB2 Individual Productivity
IB3 Job Effectiveness IB4 Extent of Analysis in
Decision Making
IB5 Decision Making Quality IB6 Problem Identification
Speed
IB7 Decision Making Speed 3.7.2.1 System Quality
The System Quality construct was measured using eight items adapted from DeLone and McLean (1992); Watson and Wixom (2001). The items asked the respondents if the BI system is easy to use, user friendly, easy to learn, always does what it should, responds quickly, always available for use, secure and if it is stable to use.
3.7.2.2 Information Quality
The Information Quality construct was measured using seven items taken from DeLone and McLean (1992); Watson and Wixom (2001). The items found out from the respondents if the BI system provides complete, accurate, clear, timely, trustworthy information that meets their needs and is presented in a useful format.
3.7.2.3 Service Quality
The Service Quality construct was measured using four items adapted from Yoon and Suh (2004).
The items asked the respondents if the BI service team is: knowledgeable, shows empathy, is responsive and responds quickly to their requests.
3.7.2.4 User Quality
The User Quality variable was measured using three items adapted from Wixom and Watson (2001). The items asked the respondents on their opinion of the following characteristics of a BI end user technical skills, business skills and analysis skills.
3.7.2.5 User Satisfaction
The User Satisfaction variable was measured using three items adapted from DeLone and McLean (2003). The items asked the respondents if the BI system is efficient, effective and they are satisfied overall.
3.7.2.6 Individual Impact
The Individual Impact variable was measured through the use of seven items adapted from Hou (2012). The items asked the respondents if the BI system they use improves their job performance, individual productivity, job effectiveness, extent of analysis in decision making, decision making quality, problem identification speed and decision making speed.
There are advantages and disadvantages of using a questionnaire. The table below summarises some of the advantages of using a questionnaire.
Table 3.9 : Advantages and Disadvantages of the Questionnaire Technique (Gay, 1992)
Advantages Disadvantages
Easy to administer, quick to fill in Analysis is time consuming Easy to follow up It is difficult to get a list of good
questions together
Data are quantifiable Some respondents do not answer
honestly Makes tabulation of responses
quite effortless
Effectiveness depends very much on reading ability and comprehension of individuals
Facilitates the direct comparison of groups and individuals
Response rate is often low, due to fear of lack of anonymity
Appropriate for large samples Difficult to get questions that explore in depth
Provides direct responses of both factual and attitudinal information
Respondents try to provide the
"correct responses"
Despite the disadvantages listed above, the following principles were taken into consideration when developing the questionnaire (Gay, 1992:224): the questionnaire was deliberately constructed for clarity and simplicity, avoiding using long questions, the questionnaire only asked simple questions that respondents could answer easily while following a natural logic and order. Also the questionnaire ensured that all the possible responses are covered.