Business Research Methods - Assignment Example

?Running head: Business Research Project The information that was gathered from the research completed is of great help to thecompany. This is because the company is able to pinpoint their strong hold like customer’s satisfaction, loyalty to its products, and its products competitiveness in the market. Apple as a company is able to know its short comings regarding its products and also customer service and satisfaction. While undertaking this type of research, just like they once did it means that the company reaches a huge number of its customers and while doing it at a low cost. This is very important in any organization in order to maximize the profits (Allan, 2007, p 45). In the first part of the question that gets to know how first the customers was attended to. It’s observed that most of the customers this is approximately 62% seem to have been attended to in less than 5 minutes. This is a ratio question that its goal is to establish an exact time. The therefore having more than half of the customers falling on the upper cut in terms of in time service it’s commendable. No one likes to wait for service delivery we all detest quest .In the business world service delivery is key (Fraser, 1990, p 23). The second question in the research is also out to establish the almost exact amount of time that the customer gets responded to. As a company apple is trying to establish its competence in customer service when it comes to responding to their needs. Most of the customers as well here seem to get their response in a span of less than 12 hours. It is all logical to know that customers especially if one is calling regarding problem with products provided by apple company among them phones which are an everyday use a 12 hour wait for them to attend and fix a problem is long. Therefore the response shows that most of the customers get delayed service hence it’s in order for apple to improve on the above (Trochim, 2000, p 78). Referring to the third question in regards to the second question. We come across customers calling for all the varied reasons this includes warranty claim, more information on the products, web pages among others. Looking at this in a customer’s point of view it clearly shows some sort of inefficiency. This is because when customer is calling to inquire about for instance there settings with the web pages and they get the response after 2 hours or so. The information they needed might not be of any help later .People ask questions to get direct answers to solve their problems according to philosopher Rene Decartes. While information gets to an individual not immediately it does not serve the intended purpose. Only 19% of the customers seem to have gotten the information in less than 2 hours (Fraser, 1990, p 76). According to the research we gather that those with problems with functionality of the products, and service problem had to wait for the longest time. As indicated prior apple products are an everyday use therefore their failure to function or delayed fixing can cause an individual a job, money time, it has power even to spoil a day and even break a relationship either personal or professional. Apple customers as the research gathers are young people by young we are talking less than 40 year olds that is where the customer base is. The company has been able to detain this age group because of its products that are saying compatible with the age. This age comprises late teens this is where freshmen in college fall to the young entrepreneurs who are striving hard to climb the corporate ladder. Basically what this age comprises is the proverbial young and energetic. Therefore having established that apple company has the right information required to identify its strength and weaknesses among its customers (Trochim, 2000, p 57). The question that rates the customer service the research finds out the customer service at apple is rated very low that is it falls below average. The customer service in any company is vital and it comes as a selling point to any particular company. We all have that shop that we can never go to why because we did not like the way they served us. In today’s world companies should strive to meet and tackle their customers’ demands and even exceed them. This is because competition is very high we can all give at least 2 or more companies that would match up with apple for that reason in order to be able to retain customers or even add more customer service is fundamental (Allan, 2007, p 102). When it falls below average the company’s top management should be concerned. As it has been indicated in the research most of the customers thought that the apple customer service correspondents were competent enough therefore it’s evident that apple has its priorities in check, the problem might have been individual differences or lack of motivation with the customer representatives at apple. We get to see the level of professionalism is below average again they seem to exhibit mannerism like being rude and not been efficient. The saying customer is king is not expressed here. When customer service seem to exhibit such tendencies it would be very hard to keep the customers. Most of the customers are new to and also they are interested in apple products therefore it would be very easy to keep them as well as loose them (Trochim, 2000, p 98). Information gathered on the type of the apple product that the respondent is using is crucial to any company. It would enable company to make it’s prioritise in terms of advertisement and production. In this case apple would be able to produce more on the iphone. Maybe do more marketing to the iPad and the other products that are not popular. Numbers don’t like and so the company should establish what is making the iPhone tick and apply elsewhere. The research validity and reliability regarding the research questions provided is a subject of discussion too. Reliability in research means consistency. When the same research is done under same conditions will it yield the same results? Validity on the other hand refers to whether a study is able to scientifically answer the questions it is intended to answer. To what extent is are the research questions provided able to help Apple Company answer improve on customer care (Trochim, 2000, p 67). There are four types of validity face validity it is concerned with how a measure appears answers questions like is it reasonable? Criterion related validity; it is used to demonstrate measure using comparing with another data that has been already done. The third one is construct validity that seems to bring in the theoretical view (Carmines, 1991, p 103). Lastly is the content validity it measures the extent to which the content was covered to bring in. Reliability sometimes varies this is because according to the person been asked questions, their age, education level, culture and other physiological factors. Therefore it’s important when setting questions those customers to be asked they should cut across a huge line of individual differences in order to provide consistency (Shuttleworth, 2008, p 74). Therefore, the research questions provided will they provide the validity and reliability needed. A question like ‘How long were you treated? ‘And another one that follows’ how long did you gets response?’ The former seems to ask after how long did the customer speak to a customer care representative while the latter establishes after how long did the customer their issues sort out. From the customers perspective some will assume it’s a repeat of the other while others will establish what exactly is been asked. Therefore the reliability here is questionable. When getting information through a phone call its sometimes challenges reliability and validity for instance not many customers will be willing to spend an extra 5 minutes on the phone perhaps after bad customer service. The time factor might come in apple company has a lot of customers but the research might take a long time because most of the customers we have seen come from the cream of economy driving therefore they are busy people (Fraser, 1990, p 14). Another challenge that might occur is that the research might attract callers from rival company. Apple is a giant company and therefore this research would attract many people among them their competition due to malice or just plain competition might be driven to give wrong information. They might not give information required consequently challenging content and face validity. Most of the questions will however provide Apple Company with the information they wish to gather because their validity is met and reliability too hence it can be concluded that the research is able to gather information and also measure what is said to measure (Trochim, 2000, p 31). The above challenges can be minimized through the following ways In order to establish reliability a re-test this is established through conducting the same test under the same conditions and coming up with information that should reflect the one already gathered (Shuttleworth, 2008, p 43). Questions to be answered by the customers should not be vague like the first two questions which are not clear. The questions in a research should always be short, using simple language in order to provide for those with language barrier and to the point (Meeker, 1998, p 29). As much as saving money is a business is important. It is well known that cheap is expensive therefore apple company should be able to conduct numerous researches using different research methods like questionnaires, door to door researches. This would help Apple Company be in touch with their customers and also come up with information that is reliable. Lot can happen through the phone that might render the research not valid. This would mean it did not measure what it was meant to measure (Fraser, 1990, p 28). The research conducted seems to have a bias on the males. This is a great challenge because judging from the customer base it should be an equal situation in terms of gender distribution this would therefore mean that either most of the callers that agreed on undertaking the research were male. The research should be conducted such a way equal number of males and females conduct the research in order to come up with more tangible data. Regardless of either they are customers or not. This would help Apple company establish also why it does not attract females like the research conducted shows. As explained earlier the company should use a different approach (Allan, 2007, p 113). References Allan, B. (2007). Business research methods. Oxford: Oxford University press. Fraser, C. (1990). Validity in research. New York: Kleph Publishers Meeker, W. (1998). Statistical methods of evaluation for reliable Data. New Jersey: John Wiley and sons. Shuttleworth, M. (2008). Definition of research. New Jersey: Fordham University Press. Trochim, W.M.K. (2000). The Research Methods Knowledge Base. Cincinnati: Atomic Dog Publishing. Read More