Consumer Product Survey - Assignment Example

CONSUMER PRODUCT SURVEY - CRITICAL ANALYSIS Overview Surveys serve as important data collection tools for most private and public institutions and organizations who want to gather opinion from a targeted group of persons. It is in line with this that the American Statistical Association (2004, p. 9) explains that “survey is used most often to describe a method of gathering information from a sample of individuals”. An important aspect of the definition of survey given above is that surveys make use of information collected from a sample size. The sample size as used in this context means that a fraction of a larger population where the survey conductor wants to take information from. A typical example of this is that when a shop wants to conduct a survey to collect information from its customers, all customers of the shop is regarded as part of the population. But if the company decides that it will engage customers who come to the shop on a designated day from 9am to 2 pm, the number of customers who fall within that description and part take in the survey are referred to as sample. The sample is also very important because based on how the selection of the sample is done, the research may be either valid or invalid, or reliable or unreliable (Creswell, 2013). To use survey as a credible research process that can help in bringing about the benefit of collecting informed and decision making information, it is recommended that certain key procedures and guidelines be followed. One of such critical guidelines is the need to ensure that the sample size represent a sizeable proportion of the population (Sapsford and Jupp, 1996). This is necessary because the responses from the sample size are always generalized to represent the entire population (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003). It is also important to ensure that there is as much fairness in the selection procedure as possible so as to ensure internal validity or reliability of the survey (Remenyi et al, 1998).one way to achieve this is by using a random sampling technique. Then also, the actual instrument that contains the questions from which respondents are going to answer to is very important. There are key principles that must be followed in the construction of the questions so as to ensure that the survey is able to achieve the goal for which it was set. It is in line with this that the critical analysis presented below is undertaken. Critique on Survey Design The formatting of a survey design remains an important aspect of the entire preparation and conduct of the survey. This is because to a very large extent, the formatting helps in determining how organized the survey will be, which can also affect the level of understanding that the respondents will have for the various variables of data being collected. In the survey presented, it can be said that that the survey design is well organized, differentiating one variable from the other. For example, knowing that the shop is involved in the sale of as many categories of products as possible, the survey design has clearly distinguished each category of product from the other, such as, home cleaning, pet and pet product, nutrition and diet, and so on. This style of formatting makes it very easier for the respondents to make decisions when answering the questions because of the coherent nature of data flow (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003). Respondents were also informed of the deadline for submission, example of which was stated as 28th of February, 2012. With such notification, it becomes easier for respondents to plan their activities around the answering of the survey questions. A weakness with the effort in organizing the survey design however remains that various variables have been mixed up in the formatting. For example, consumer behavior practices have been mixed with products. Example of this is the way the various products named above has been mixed with consumer behavior practices such as purchase decisions, coupon use and mail order or catalogue. Once such a situation takes place, respondents may be confused on whether all variables must be approached in the same way, and so may misunderstand the whole aim of the survey design (Sapsford and Jupp, 1996). The divisions of the survey design also seem clumsy and stacked, making the writing almost ineligible. On the whole, the idea to organize the survey design is commendable but this could have been done in a more presentable manner. Critique on Survey Questions The survey questions always represent the actual test items with which data will be generated. This way, it is always important to ensure that the questions are very clear, precise, easy to understand, and thorough. As far as the questions presented in the case survey are concerned, there are various issues that can be discussed in terms of their clarity, precision, understandability and thoroughness. In the first place, it would be noted that the survey questions are very clear and well articulated. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to notice any ambiguities in the questions as they were well numbered out with clear options for respondents to choose from. The clarity of questions affected the understandability of the questions, making it very easy for an ordinary person to understand exactly what the questions were demanding from them. One element of strategic questioning that was used in the survey questions that make them very understandable is the fact that the questions have clearly been categorized with each category in a cell of its own. Each cell also has a title or heading, giving a generalized overview of the ideas that the researchers were expecting from the respondents. This way, it was possible to get an understanding of the survey questions from the headings and titles that were provided. A typical example of this is that in the first cell, the title “Home Cleaning” is given to make the respondent realize that all the three questions under that section is structured around home cleaning. On the issue of precision, it would be said that the survey questions are precise as the headings used make the questions straight forward and focused on a specific themes. Skip questions were also provided to provide the respondents with exact emphasis on questions to focus on and those that could be skipped without any substantial effect on the data collection procedure. Examples of these were seen in the cells with heading “Home Cleaning” and “Pet and Pet Products”. It is with the issue of thoroughness that the survey questions will be criticized negatively. This is because there is virtually no room for respondents to make choices for other options that were not supplied in the survey. For each set of questions for example, there could have been the option of “other” or “none of the above” to make respondents have the chance of including options that were not captured in the survey. There is also a major problem with the order and scale that was used. Creswell, 2013) has noted that scaling of a set of survey item helps in guaranteeing internal validity such that as much as possible, there should be an elastic scaling to capture all possible grades or scores. However, what is noticed in the survey presented is that most of the questions have only 2 grades for scoring. Under “Home Cleaning”, an example is given as “used most often” and “tried in past 12 months” and under “Do you buy these products?” the scales are “3 or more times per year” and “1 or 2 times per year”. Similar situations exist throughout the survey questions. But for thoroughness of the scaling, it is expected that there will be at least three levels of scaling namely highest, medium or lowest. At best, there would be a 5-level likert scale. Under “Do you buy these products” for example, the scale could have been, very often, often, occasionally, once a while, not at all”. This would have given five levels that could easily be analysed by scoring them from 1 to 5. Best practices in the survey instrument A very critical best practice modeled in the survey instrument is the nature in which the survey rightly addresses the respondents, explains the goal of the survey, outlines the role of the respondent in the survey, and clearly assures the respondent of ethical considerations. These were very important practices in the survey and in all other surveys that wants to achieve credibility with the respondent. The rationale for ensuring that all these formats are followed is that surveys remain a voluntary exercise that respondents participate in out of choice. As much as possible therefore, it is important that the approach to getting the customer to participate is one that is undertaken in a form of request r a plea rather than a command (Creswell, 2013). As far as ethical considerations are concerned, the survey clearly stated that “Shoppers Voice ® is dedicated to ensuring that all your information you have chosen to provide us is managed responsibly with respect for your personal privacy.” Indeed when respondents are given such assurance, they feel very comfortable giving out candid results, knowing that there are no way their identities will be revealed to be used as victimizations against them. With such candid results supplied, the validity of the survey becomes guaranteed. It was also noted that the survey had a clearly elaborated introduction, which touched among other issues, reasons to participate, possible prices that could be won, and the approaches to use in answering the questions. Areas for improvement in the survey instrument The above commendations notwithstanding, there are crucial areas of the survey instrument that can be improved for more enhanced professional and academic practice. One of these is the number of variables used. It would be noted that there were key omission such as demographic and customer attitude. Rather, all the focus was on consumer behavior and products. Even though there were some demographic data on occupation and education, these could have been expanded and fused with consumer behavior to give better implications of the results that were given. Again, the fact that various variables were mixed up in various aspects of the survey is also very problematic. For example, right after answering question on occupation, one is made to answer questions on tobacco products, and then questions about vehicle ownership. This is clearly a mix up that can lead to non-response due to lack of comprehension (Remenyi et al, 1998). It is suggested therefore that all demographic questions could have been grouped under a section like 1.1; and then all questions on products in another section, 1.2; then consumer behavior questions under 1.3. procedure towards categorization is therefore the biggest limitation of the survey. References Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications. Remenyi, D., Williams, B., Money, A. and Swartz, E. (1998). Doing Research in Business and Management: An Introduction to Process and Method. London: Sage Sapsford, R. and Jupp, V. (1996). Data Collection and Analysis. London: Sage Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003) Research Methods for Business Students. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Scheuren F. (2004). What is a Survey? American Statistical Association. Accessed October 27, 2013 from http://www.amstat.org/sections/srms/pamphlet.pdf Read More