Apart from advantages, the questionnaire format has its disadvantages, such as:
structured interviews reduce flexibility, deep feelings and hidden motivations cannot be probed very well and questions are best limited to items that have short, direct answers. These advantages and disadvantages highlight the fact that questionnaires are used to gain facts rather than in-depth insights into stream-of-consciousness thinking (Sudman & Blair 1998).
Survey questions were developed from the review of extant literature described in Chapter 2. It was carried out via a range of sources such as Business Source Premier, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Academic Science, Harvard Business Review, the Internet, marketing textbooks, computer hardware magazines, and the Australian Statistics website. More relevant information on secondary data was included with proper reference to information quoted in the review.
3.6 Designing the Questionnaire
The questionnaire was designed using multi-items on a scale from 1 to 10 using a Likert-type scale. The scale used in the questionnaire ranges from 1 (very little influence) to 10 (very high influence). The respondents were asked to complete their answers for all the questions in the questionnaire, and it was described as mandatory to do so otherwise there was no point in starting the survey if it was to be left half done or incomplete; i.e., there would be a negative impact in not getting the information in full. In addition, there were descriptive questions where respondents needed to write answers in more detail. Respondents either circled or ticked in front of their answers.
According to Sudman and Blair (1998, p.207), there are various stages in designing a questionnaire. They are as follows in Table 3.1:
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Table 3.1: Formation/ Development of Questionnaire
Stage 1 Planning questionnaire content Stage 2 Ordering the questionnaire Stage 3 Administering the questionnaire Stage 4 Formatting the questionnaire Stage 5 Testing the questionnaire
These suggested stages were followed in the current study. The first stage of designing a questionnaire involved planning in which were considered the research objectives, conceptual model and the hypotheses for designing questions. According to Czaja and Blair (1996, p.122), “at this stage we must decide the goals of the research and determine how best to accomplish them within the available time and resources”.
The first part of the questionnaire related to three questions based on the general expectations of the respondents. The first question was based on the physical characteristics of laptops and what respondents were looking for before purchasing.
18 different items were included in the physical characteristics question (Q1). The next question (Q2) was based on the product life-cycle, where theory was based on the strategy used by the organisation. Respondents were given eight different items in this question and had to identify why the product life-cycle was getting shorter.
Respondents answered using the 1 to 10 Likert-type scale to help answer whether organisations are changing the product life-cycle because of consumer strategy, market-driven strategy, business strategy, sudden decline in sales, increased speed and reduced space of new models, innovations, competitive pressure or new entrants into the marketplace. Though this area was not in the conceptual model, answers to these questions helped to get a general feel of the market and consumer opinion on the dynamic changes in the product life-cycle of different models and technology product items.
The theory of diffusion data is collected through Q3 in the questionnaire, where respondents needed to identify their personality in terms of purchase intention; the question had five major items and one further item. Attributes like innovator, opinion
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leader, willing to accept change, sceptical and conservative were simplified and explored with simple, non-academic language so that respondents could understand the meaning of the questions and answer them using the same 1 to 10 Likert-type scale.
However, it was decided not to consider this section (physical characteristics, product life-cycle and diffusion of adoption theory (Q1, Q2 and Q3) in the research because of a potential for losing focus on relationship marketing which was the major research area. Nevertheless, the inputs and results from these questions helped with the literature review, managerial implications and general understanding of the study. The data collected for these questions were available for use in further study and more research papers can be drawn using the data from those questions.
The second part of the questionnaire (Q4 to Q10) consisted of the major variables established for the study; viz., retail store image, salesperson likeability, relationship orientation, salesperson trust, commitment to retail store, involvement of consumer in purchasing process and, finally, purchasing intent.
Various articles and scales have been used to measure retail store image (RSI-Q4).
However, in this study, the concept of Joyce and Lambert (1996, p.24) was used; viz.,
“memories of the way stores were and retail store image” was the first dependent variable of the conceptual model. However, while testing the variable for reliability and validity of the scale, the desired meaningful average mean and alpha were not achieved. It was decided to skip this item and measure the ones which respondents could identify very clearly as separate items, and group like factors.
Relationship orientation (RO-Q5) was based on the dependent variable ‘relationship orientation’. The scale used was from Neng, Weng and Yi (2003) in ‘Relational Bonds and customer trust and commitment; A study on the moderating effects on web site usage’. There are three parts to the question, with factors like social, financial and structural bonds. Twenty-one different items were used. In the current study, all the scales used by Neng, Weng and Yi (2003) were used, and they worked perfectly well in data analysis.
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Commitment to retail store (COMRS) was measured with Q6. There were 14 different items in the question, representing trust and commitment. However, while doing the factor analysis, the loading was not grouped perfectly so a few items such as trust and commitment were removed from the analysis. Another reason to remove trust from the question was that trust was measured as an independent variable in the model. The scale used for this variable was that of Putrevu and Ratchord (1997) in ‘A model of Search Behaviour with an Application to Grocery Shopping’.
Involvement (INV) was measured with Q7, having 14 different items from the scale used by Gilles and Kapferer (1985); ‘Measuring Consumer involvement Profiles’.
Details of the alpha and mean and other factors will be explained in more detail in the latter part of this chapter. Involvement of consumers is highly regarded in all technology products because of the specific technological knowledge required to purchase high-tech products.
Purchase intent (PI-Q8) was measured using the scale from Aaker and Day (1980) in
‘Marketing Research: Private and Public Sector Decisions’. The question had eight items in which respondents completed their answers on a 1 to 10 scale. This was the independent variable based on the remaining six dependent variables. The results of purchase decision explain the intentions of consumers and whether they are happy with the retailer relationship marketing strategy and willing to move further to actually buy the product.
Salesperson likeability (SPL) was a major dependent variable for this study (Q9). The question had 23 different items and used the scale of Brown, Gene, Widing II and Coulter (1991), Kelley, Scott and Hoffman (1997), Michaels and Day (1985) and Saxe and Weitz (1982). The items are based on the characteristics of salespeople desired by consumers. There are a few items which are in reverse order in order to reduce bias and initiate respondents to think of the answer from the right perspective.
Also, this helps respondents to identify clearly the attributes they need from the salesperson with whom they are dealing. In the retail industry, the salesperson’s professional characteristics play a crucial role; therefore, the results of the question will be discussed at more length and will determine most of the study so as to understand whether salespeople are working on relationship-building tactics in their sales transactions.
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Pre-satisfaction of consumers while going through the process of purchasing is measured in question Q11. There were 22 items in this question which identified the pre-satisfaction level views of respondents of the product, store and salesperson in general. The scale used for this variable was from Ganesh, Arnold and Reynolds (1985) in ‘Understanding the Customer Base of Service Providers: An Examination of the Differences between Switchers and Stayers’. However, the analysis of the question is not mentioned in Chapter 4 because it was decided to remove it from further analysis because the focus on the main business problems and research questions set for the study would be lost. However, using AMOS structural equation modelling, a comparative analysis could be undertaken by keeping the pre-satisfaction variable and labelling the analysis as a rival model; then, by removing the variable from analysis again and labelling it as a proposed model. The result without pre-satisfaction was taken for the proposed conceptual model.
The demographics of the respondents form the third part of the questionnaire. The demographics include age, gender, education, place of residence and profession. The demographic question was put last because of the general understanding that the respondents would feel relaxed in answering the simple questions and would feel that the survey was nearly over. The most important questions in the study were kept in the first two parts, when it was considered that respondents’ general motivation to answer the questions accurately and without any bias was high.
All questions in the questionnaire were designed as closed-end questions. Multi-choice questions were used to allow respondents to choose the one most appropriate answer; different options were measured using the Likert-type scale. According to Sudman and Blair (1998, p.255), a closed question is defined as “a question with response categories”. The closed-end question is a question in which respondents must choose the answer from a pre-defined set of responses. Closed-end questions are efficient and reliable for getting exact answers from a group of people. According to Sudman and Blair (1998, p.267) “closed end questions force respondents to choose the option that researchers desire to get”. Respondents don’t need to think too much in writing their opinion. Closed-end questions reduce the cost of coding as well as the time taken to complete; they also reduce the amount of probing. Respondents just need to choose an option from among those they have been given.
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