Quantitative Methods and Analysis - Essay Example

Questionnaires The data collection method used in the study of Zeithaml, Parasuraman &Berry (1985) was questionnaire in their research of service marketing. The questionnaire that was used in the study was sent via mail survey to 1000 service oriented firms. Around 323 questionnaires were returned unused by the sample respondents. The questionnaire was focused on three parts namely 1) classification of service business, 2) difficulties that are unique to services and 3) business practices and strategies to solve the problems related to services.

The scale rating in questionnaire was kept from 5(surely applies to our firm) to 1(does not apply to our firm).AdvantagesInformation can be gathered from huge number of people in a very less time, Questionnaires are also considered as feasible, encompass low financial resources and collects immense amount of knowledge in a lesser time. It is suitable for variety of topics relating to variety of fields for variety of jobs. Questionnaires are also considered as cost-effective as to gather and pool the information has nowadays become much easier due to readily available computer software (Dörnyei & Taguchi, 2010).

DisadvantagesThe primary reason of unreliability of questionnaires is that many respondents do not have research sense and are unmotivated as they feel that it would not benefit them from in any way therefore they do not prefer to provide the correct answers which lead to the unreliability and misleading information. The researcher has no opportunity to correct the mistake of the respondents. Respondents often forget or hide the true information intentionally or unintentionally. Sometimes respondents even don’t know the exact response towards the questions.

If the overall impression of a person towards the topic is positive he will less likely provide answers in a negative manner (Dörnyei & Taguchi, 2010). InterviewsThe study of Olivero & Lunt (2004) used interview technique as part of data collection tool to compare the privacy and willingness in terms of e-commerce exchanges. Long qualitative interviews were held for participants using repeated e-mail exchanges. Interview data were combined with insights from the literatures on self-disclosure, sociology, and consumer research in a grounded theory analysis.

In a grounded analysis of theory, based on self-disclosure, consumer research and sociology, the interview data was gathered in light of previous studies. Initially an introductory e-mail was sent to participants elaborating the purpose of research and the interview process. Before conducting the interview it was made sure that none of the participants, before and during the interviews, had ever met the interviewer. Semi-structured interviews were conduct with out any restriction on the amount, timing and content of information presented.

AdvantagesIt helps to focus on major interest of small groups. I t provides an opportunity to amend or modify questions and analyze responses. It presents in-depth information that can be critically evaluated due to small number of candidates (Lodico & Spaulding, 2010).DisadvantagesInterviews generally includes small sample size, it consumes administrator’s too much time. After conducting an interview, the analysis and inference of data is complex and requires ample time (Lodico & Spaulding, 2010).

ReferencesBluman, Allan G. (2004). Elementary Statistics (5th ed.). U.S.A: McGraw Hill.Dörnyei, Zöltan and Taguchi, Tatsuya. (2010). Questionnaires in second language research. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Lodico ,Marguerite G., Spaulding, Dean T. and Voegtle ,Katherine H. (2010). Methods in Educational Research: From Theory to Practice. (2nd ed.). SanFrancisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons. Olivero, N., Lunt P. (2004).Privacy versus willingness to disclose in e-commerce exchanges: The effect of risk awareness on the relative role of trust and control.

Journal of Economic Psychology, 25, 243–262Zeithaml, Valarie A., Parasuraman, A. & Berry, Leonard L. (1985).Problems and Strategies in Services Marketing. The Journal of Marketing, 49, 2, 33-46