Data Collection Method

5.4.1. Self-administered questionnaire

While several data collection techniques have been developed and applied across different disciplines, market survey has been identified as the most popular means of generating primary data in business research (Zikmund, 2000). For marketing researchers, the self-administered questionnaire survey has proven to be an important and useful instrument (Ranchhod and Zhou, 2001).

For the purposes of this study, although there were many possible approaches to communicate with respondents, such as online focus groups and chat rooms, the self-administered questionnaire was considered to be the most suitable method given the time

highly structured and relatively straightforward, respondents were likely to be able to complete the survey on their own without help from the researcher. Therefore, the use of a self-administered questionnaire helped increase the convenience of participating in the survey.

A cross-sectional survey was also considered to be more suitable for this study as compared to alternative designs such as a longitudinal panel, an experiment or quasi-experiment which by nature require more time and efforts from respondents. Indeed, given the lack of any tangible incentives, economic or otherwise, recruiting a sufficiently large sample of “real” online shoppers who agree to participate in a study that features any of these competing designs may prove to be impossible.

5.4.2. Online survey

Since online shoppers communicate with their retailers primarily via the Web, the Internet was considered to be the prime channel to collect data from this population. Nonetheless, as Web-based survey is still a relatively new data collection instrument, careful considerations were given with regards to the benefits and drawbacks of this approach.

In recent years, online surveys are attracting increasing interest from marketing academics and practitioners, who account for approximately 70% of the use of the Internet as a data collection tool (Griggs et al., 2001; Ilieva et al., 2002). The emergence of the Internet as a survey instrument has offered researchers with numerous benefits, notably in terms of speed, geographical access and cost efficiency (Basi, 1999; Ilieva et al., 2002; Kent and Lee, 1999; Tse, 1998). In addition, findings from many comparative studies (Mehta and Sivadas, 1995; Schaefer and Dillman, 1998; Tse, 1998; Tse et al., 1995) indicate that online responses generally provide more complete information and are more insightful than mail responses, while item non-response rates do not significantly differ between the two approaches.

Some authors (Ilieva et al., 2002; Mehta and Sivadas, 1995) argue that email is more convenient and practical for two-way communication between researchers and respondents in case further questions or clarifications are required during a survey.

Furthermore, because the collected data can be electronically sorted and stored, this data collection channel eliminates the need for data entry, as well as the risk of data entry error (Kent and Lee, 1999). Since RMIT University already had a Web publishing system that could be used to build an online survey, this method was also considered to be significantly more cost-effective than other means of data collection, such as personal interviews and postal questionnaires.

On the other hand, several problems associated with the use of the Internet as a data collection instrument, in its present stage, are also widely acknowledged. One major weakness of Internet surveying is the lower response rates that are usually obtained in comparison to those of conventional approaches (Ranchhod and Zhou, 2001; Schaefer and Dillman, 1998). For example, compared to the traditional postal survey, e-mail surveys often yield considerably lower levels of response (Couper, 2000; Ranchhod and Zhou, 2001). Typically, these response rates are below 10% (Kent and Lee, 1999; Riel et al., 2001; Tse et al., 1995). Although some researchers (Ilieva et al., 2002; Parker, 1992) have been able to report e-mail response rates that are equal to or higher than their mail counterparts, these studies often focus on very restrictive populations (e.g., employees of a company).

Another popular method to gather data online is the use of Web-based surveys which can be in the form of a pop-up questionnaire, fixed banner invitation, part of a Webpage, or a combination of these (see Bradley (1999) for a review). The use of a Web-based survey can usually eliminate many technical issues associated with sending a questionnaire via email, such as size of the email, participant anonymity, system compatibility, layout and

The main weakness of a Web-based survey, however, is that it usually yields even a lower response rate compared to an email survey, due to the lack of personalisation that is often used to improve response rates in both email and mail surveys (Schaefer and Dillman, 1998). Also, researchers often have very limited control of participants (Bradley, 1999), which increases the likelihood of multiple completions of the survey by the same respondent, respondents passing the survey to others to complete, and participation by people who are not part of the target population (Couper, 2000; Ilieva et al., 2002).

However, with the aid of technology, these can be prevented through the use of measures such as system-generated passwords and email identifiers (Couper, 2000; Meuter et al., 2000).

In addition, a commonly cited potential problem for all Internet surveying methods is sampling error, as only Internet users are able to participate in an Internet survey, who may not be representative of the target population (Bradley, 1999; Couper, 2000;

Zikmund, 2000). Therefore, Coomber (1997) concludes that this method is most useful to generate informative and reliable data about specific online populations only.

In summary, as with any other data collection methods, Internet survey has its own advantages and disadvantages. All things considered, it seemed that an online survey was appropriate for the purposes of this research. In particular, since the study focused on an Internet-based service sector, sampling problems associated with respondents’ access and ability to use the Internet were not an issue. Hence, an online survey was suitable for the target population. It also offered many benefits in terms of cost-savings and increased efficiency in data collection and processing. On the other hand, having identified the drawbacks that are often associated with Internet surveying, it was possible to design the survey in a way that would minimise the potential effects arising from such issues.

5.5. Survey Design and Administration