Quantitative Data Collection Procedures

As described in section 4.3.1, the quantitative data were gathered using a self- administered cross-sectional survey. The survey was available both online and as a paper-based survey.

I contacted each of the prospective participants over the phone (using the Skype service to minimise the costs). I described the aims of the research and offered the options of completing the survey questionnaire online or on paper. I asked the participants who opted to respond online to provide an e-mail address (which was not available from Kompass) and used it for subsequent communications. I asked the participants who opted to respond on paper to confirm the postal address I obtained from Kompass (in all cases, the postal address was the same as provided by Kompass). Some of the prospective participants could not be reached in person over the phone, but other company staff could be reached; I attempted to obtain e-mail addresses of the prospective participants who could not be reached from the company staff that could be reached. If e-mail addresses were provided, I applied the same procedure as for the participants who explicitly opted to respond online; if e- mail addresses were not provided, I applied the same procedure as for the participants who explicitly opted to respond on paper. Some of the prospective participants that I talked to over the phone refused to participate; I did not attempt to

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contact them any further, and for the purposes of calculating the response rate, they were counted as non-responses.

Survey procedures for the participants who opted to respond online are detailed in Figure 4-1 and for the participants who opted to respond on paper, in Figure 4-2. Two reminders were issued. Participation was tracked by using token numbers generated by the online survey software or (for the paper-based survey) by marking

prepaid, self-addressed envelopes issued to the participants with the participants’

identification codes. Copies of the cover letter, of the information sheet, and of the reminder letters are given in Appendices B, C, and D, respectively.

E-mail the questionnaire package:

x cover letter;

x infoff rmation sheet;

x token number identifyff ing the respondent;

x unifoff rm resource locator (URL) to the online questionnaire.

E-mail the questionnaire package:

x cover letter;

x information sheet;

x token number identifying the respondent;

x uniform resource locator (URL) to the online questionnaire. Participant opted to answer online Count as non- response Count as non- response No response

within two weeks

Add the response to the data set

Add the response to the data set

Response obtained

E-mail the fiff rst reminder:

x reminder letter;

x token number identifyff ing the respondent;

x URL to the online questionnaire.

E-mail the first reminder:

x reminder letter;

x token number identifying the respondent;

x URL to the online questionnaire.

No response within two weeks

No response within two weeks

Post the second reminder:

x reminder letter;

x infoff rmation sheet;

x questionnaire;

x self-ff addressed prepaid envelop marked with the

participant’s identififf cation code.

Post the second reminder:

x reminder letter;

x information sheet;

x questionnaire;

x self-addressed prepaid envelop marked with the participant’s identification code.

Response obtained

Response obtained

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Figure 4-1. Online survey procedures.

Post the questionnaire package:

x cover letter;

x infoff rmation sheet;

x questionnaire;

x self-ff addressed prepaid envelope marked with the

participant’s identififf cation code.

Post the questionnaire package:

x cover letter;

x information sheet;

x questionnaire;

x self-addressed prepaid envelope marked with the participant’s identification code.

Participant opted to answer on paper Count as non- response Count as non- response No response

within two weeks

Add the response to the data set

Add the response to the data set

Response obtained

Post the fiff rst reminder:

x reminder letter

Post the first reminder:

x reminder letter

No response within two weeks

No response within two weeks

Post the second reminder:

x reminder letter;

x infoff rmation sheet;

x questionnaire;

x self-ff addressed prepaid envelope marked with the

participant’s identififf cation code.

Post the second reminder:

x reminder letter;

x information sheet;

x questionnaire;

x self-addressed prepaid envelope marked with the participant’s identification code.

Response obtained

Response obtained

Figure 4-2. Paper-based survey procedures.

The online survey option was used primarily to control costs (most of the respondents opted to respond online, resulting in considerable cost reduction). It was also hoped that because the prospective participants could choose their preferred way to answer, it would increase the response rate. To offer the option to respond online, the initial phone contact was necessary because e-mail addresses were not available from Kompass. It was also hoped that the initial personal contact over the phone

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would increase the response rates (e.g., compared to a design involving sending unsolicited e-mails).

Even though in principle there is a possibility that the respondents would interpret items or scales differently depending on whether the questionnaire is administered online or on paper, thus undermining the validity of the results, prior studies (see, for example, Bordens & Abbott, 2011; Fleming & Bowden, 2009) found that online questionnaires and paper questionnaires return equivalent results.

The phone calls were carried out in October and November 2010. Quantitative data collection was completed in February 2011.