Control of biases

Biases of various sources in business research may jeopardise the reliability and validity of the research and therefore need to be properly examined and controlled (Alreck & Settle 1995; Cavana et al. 2001; Haire et al. 2003). Two categories of biases, namely, instrumentation biases and respondent error have been frequently discussed. Instrumentation biases occur when research instruments are not appropriately designed. Biases associated with research instrumentation include such errors as unstated criteria, inapplicable questions, example containment, over- demanding recall, over-generalisation, over-specificity, over-emphasis, wording ambiguity, double barrelled questions, leading questions and loaded questions. As discussed earlier in this chapter, attention was paid to the various aspects of instrument design to avoid any possible biases. Care was taken to ensure that questions were relevant to the industry and sectors, in which the survey was conducted, and the wording of questions was idiomatically equivalent to the

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terminology or the „language‟ used in the industry. Effort was made to simplify questions to avoid ambiguity, or leading, loaded, and double-barrelled questions. In short, every effort has been made in the design stage to keep the instrumentation biases to the minimum.

There are two disadvantages associated with survey research, namely, non-response error and response bias (Zikmund 2003). Non-response error refers to statistical differences between a survey that includes only those who responded and a survey that also includes those who failed to respond (Zikmund 2003). Non-response error is hard to identify and avoid as long as there are non-responses in a survey. For a mail survey, 100 per cent of the response rate is rare to achieve. However, to reduce any possible non-response error, considerable effort such as visits, follow-up letters and emails, and phone calls, was made to increase the response rate. In addition, it is suggested that inspection should be done to determine possible biases in response patterns by comparing the demographics of the sample with the demographics of the target population (Zikmund 2003). It was found that the demographics of this research sample were very representative to the target population and in fact the responses received were corresponding to the demographic pattern shown in the sample. It is therefore acknowledged that, while non-response error existed in surveys where 100 per cent of response rate was not achieved, such an error had been reduced to the lowest possible level in this research.

A response bias occurs when respondents consciously or unconsciously misrepresent the truth (Zikmund 2003). There are different types of response biases including acquiescence bias, extremity bias, interview bias, auspices bias, and social desirability bias. Purposes of deliberately misrepresenting answers may vary, but include factors such as to appear intelligent, to conceal personal information, and to avoid embarrassment. Unconscious misrepresentation can arise from the question format, question content, or other question or instrument related issues. To control response biases, the survey questionnaire was designed in a way that did not pose any challenge to respondents and avoided asking for any sensitive information.

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Furthermore, attention was paid to the sequence, clarification and organisation of questions as well as the layout and presentation of the whole questionnaire in order to remove any stimulus for unconscious misrepresentation. A combination of effort made at different stages of the research survey ensured that the data collected for this research were reliable and valid.

4.5 Summary

This chapter has presented the research design and methodology of this study with justification. The conceptual framework has been developed and discussed based on the literature review conducted in chapters 2 and 3, which includes three main variables, that is, human mobility in the shipping industry, organisational knowledge base, and effective knowledge management practices. The examination of the relationships between these three variables yielded three primary research questions for the study, which are further framed into relevant hypotheses.

Mail survey was utilised as the primary data collection method for the research due to financial and time constraints for the researcher to be personally present in China where the survey was carried out. Detailed discussion was given to the design of the survey instrument due not only to the sheer importance of survey instrument in collecting data and in answering research questions that were elaborated earlier, but also to the need to translate the instrument into another language in order for the survey to be conducted in a country where English is not the official language. In designing the survey instrument, examination was given to details such as types of questions to include and their order, wording and coding of questions, grouping and overall length of the questionnaire, structure and layout, forward and backward translation, and the pre-test of the survey instrument to ensure that the data collected were reliable and valid.

Sampling design and sample size are imperative to establish the representativeness of the sample for generalisation. Probability sampling method was adopted after a

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comparison of different methods. The sample size was determined upon careful calculations which were based on three factors and one adjustment, that is, the variance or heterogeneity of the population, the magnitude of error, the confidence level, and adjustment of population size. The attained sample size is consistent with samples sizes for the different sizes of population at a 95% confidence level suggested in the literature.

To secure a high response rate, attention was paid to the administration of the questionnaire survey, including choosing strategic locations in China and arrangement of survey administrators, preparation of different formats (electronic formats such as Word and PDF, and printed copies) of the questionnaire for the convenience of respondents. Different options were provided for the return of completed questionnaires.

Due consideration was given to the process of data editing, coding, categorising and entering, as well as bias control. In short, the research framework presented, the methodology justified, and the data collection process explained in this chapter laid a firm foundation for the analysis, interpretation, and report of data in the next chapter.

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CHAPTER 5: ORGANISATION KNOWLEDGE BASE AND KNOWLEDGE