Mobile Phone Service Provider Selection by International Students in Australia - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages Analysing the means of communication being fundamental to the present study, a clearer picture was considered necessary. Hence, to obtain a more distinct picture, a GPA scorecard of respondents’ means of communication preference was prepared by first tabulating the options against the frequencies of choices made by the respondents. The GPA scorecard indicated a comparison of the degree of approval accorded by the respondents to the various means of communication. The calculation of the GPA scorecard is explained below.

These frequencies were then assigned with attributes ranging from 1 to ‘very unlikely’ to 7 to ‘very likely’. These attributes were then multiplied with their respective frequencies, which were then summed up and divided by the highest attribute (7) multiplied by the sample size (n = 30). This figure was then reduced to a percentage. This was undertaken to indicate the highest preference value had all the respondents in the sample assigned the maximum attribute (7).

The figure so obtained was pasted on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and using the custom sort function available, was sorted to list the GPA scores in descending order. The figures obtained were then plotted. The resultant bar diagram is placed in Figure 4 below. The communication options, the responses and the attributes assigned by the respondents, along with the frequencies, are placed in the table below. From the table and bar diagram above, it is evident that the international students studying in Australia, participated in the survey were more likely to use Skype (GPA = 87) than any other means of communication. This is followed by E-mail (GPA = 84). The Internet secured third place with GPA = 83. Surprisingly, the social networking website Facebook (GPA = 81) scored much high than the cell phone (GPA = 66).

The other social networking website Twitter (GPA = 66), had a tie with the cell phone. One of the reasons for the low score of the cell phone, despite being very convenient, could be due to the price of the service. Another less significant reason why it scored less than E-mail, and social networking sites, could be due to its intrusive nature and time zone constraints. Having understood the preference over means of communication, the next important aspect was to find out how often the respondents made communicated with people overseas. When the respondents were asked, “How often do you communicate with people overseas” forty per cent of the respondents said that they called more than once every two days. Similarly, more than one quarter (27 per cent respondents) indicated that they called more than once every fortnight; while, 20 per cent respondents replied that they called ‘more than once every three days, whereas, as much as 13 per cent respondents said they called overseas ‘more than once every day. A pie diagram depicting the frequency at which the international students studying in Australia called overseas is placed in the figure below. ...Download file to see next pages Read More