Quantitative Research Method

The purpose of this survey is descriptive-exploratory with some explanatory analysis.

Surveys are frequently conducted for the purpose of making descriptive assertions about the population that is discovering the distribution of certain traits or attributes (Babbie 1990). Some advantages of the survey design are the cheap economy of this design, the rapid turn around in data collection, and the ability to identify attributes of a population from a small group of individuals. The data collected by the survey method may not be wide ranging as those collected by qualitative research methods; since there is a limit to the number of questions (Babbie 1990).

4.2.1. Structured Interviews

The questionnaire²² consists of four parts: Part one covers the different elements of Porter’s diamond and Porter’s five forces, part two covers the different scenarios of the generic strategies, and part three covers the impact of the ICT while part four cover the SMEs’ profile. Four-language questionnaires have been prepared (English, Arabic, Italian and Turkish). The English version (Appendix A-1) has been translated into Arabic (Appendix A-2) by the researcher and evaluated by the Competitiveness Team at the Jordanian Ministry of Planning and another team from the Natural Resources Authority in Jordan, since asking experts to comment on the questionnaire helped in establishing content validity (Saunders et al. 2000).

A qualified translator has been asked to translate the questionnaire from Arabic into Italian (Appendix A-3), and the English version has been sent to an Italian staff member at Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands to translate the English version into Italian then the two versions of the Italian translations have been reviewed by an Italian industrial expert working with an EU project for developing the stone and marble

22 Questionnaires can be used for descriptive or explanatory research. Descriptive research identifies and describes the variability in different phenomena. While the explanatory research enables to examine and explain relationships.

sector in Palestine. Almost the same process has been done with the Turkish version (Appendix A-4). A Turkish doctorate student in the USA has been asked to translate the English version into Turkish and a Ph.D. student at Maastricht University, the Netherlands has been asked to review the Turkish version. Furthermore, the Turkish version has been sent to TUMMER in order to send their comments and feedback before distributing the questionnaires.

In order to link the variables with the research questions and items on the survey, table (4.3) shows how the variables relate to the survey instrument.

Table 4.3. The Link between the Variables and the Questionnaire Variables Research Question Item on Survey Competitive elements Research Questions # 1,2,3 See Question: 1, 2,3,4,8 Impact of the ICT Research Questions # 4 See Questions: 5, 6, 7, 8

4.2.2. Pre-test Phase

A convenience sampling was used to collect data during the piloting. At the beginning, the sample has been selected from the population and then a pre-test-study sample has been selected from the remainder of the population. A pre-test study of 5 firms from Jordan in conformity with the present criteria for small and medium sized enterprises was conducted. The purpose of the pre-test was to refine the questionnaire so that respondents have no problems in answering the questions, and in reporting and recording the data (Saunders et al. 2000; Babbie 1990). In addition, it enabled the researcher to obtain an overall assessment to the question’s validity of the data that has been collected.

All of the research questions have been answered based on the data of the pre-test-study sample except the question of measuring the performance indicator. Initially, the researcher suggested the use of profit, cost, productivity, and debt to equity ratio, the ability to meet interest payments, and cash flow in terms of liquidity status and market share as measures for competitiveness (Feurer and Chaharbaghi 1994). Any performance indicator that entailed enquiring about exact monetary values was completely rejected by

the managers/ owners. A monetary measure was not possible either due to the respondents’ inability or to unwillingness to offer such data. In general, the pre-test phase proved satisfying in terms of the ways to improve upon the questionnaire and to interview guide and in terms of asking the appropriate questions on the way to testing the hypothesis and reflecting upon the research questions.

4.2.3. Analyzing Quantitative Data

The Kruskal-Wallis Test is the non-parametric alternative to a one-way between-groups analysis of variance. It allows comparing the scores on some continuous variables for three or more groups. Scores are converted to ranks and the mean rank for each group is compared (Anderson, Sweeney and Williams 1999). The non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used since it does not ask for the assumptions of normality and equal variances that are required by the parametric analysis of variance procedure. Using the levene Test, Appendix (B-2) shows that there are significant differences in the variances in the different components between the three countries. ²³Although the sample size is more than (30) in the three countries, the normality test shows that some of the diagrams are skewed to the right or to the left, such as the diamond diagram in the three countries, balanced scored card, and the ICT impact diagram as shown in (Appendix B-1).

It was noticed that the significant differences between the three countries is referred to the Italian figures i.e. the developed country. Thus, the Mann-Whiney Test is used to testify the significant differences between Jordan and Turkey. This technique is used to test the differences between two independent groups on a continuous measure (Anderson, Sweeney and Williams 1999). This test is the non-parametric alternative to the t-test for independent samples. Instead of comparing means of the two groups as in the case of the t-test, the Mann-Whitney Test compares medians. It converts the scores on the continuous variable to ranks, across the two groups. Then it evaluates whether the ranks

23 Levene's test is used to test if k samples have equal variances. Equal variances across samples are called homogeneity of variance (Anderson, Sweeney and Williams 1999). The deviation around the median in each group was found. The larger the deviations in one group compared to other groups, the more the spread and more likely that the variability are different.

for the two groups differ significantly. As well, the Mann-Whitney Test is used to test whether there is a significant difference between the different variables in Jordan in the first round in 2003 and the second round in 2006 or not.

4.2.4. Reliability and Validity

Validity is concerned with whether the findings are really about what they appear to be about or not (Saunders et al 2000). There are many threats to validity such as: history, testing, instrumentation, morality, maturation, and ambiguity about causal direction. For the quantitative analysis, confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken to test the consistency of each construct (see Appendix B-3). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) seeks to determine if the number of factors and the loadings of measured (indicator) variables on them conform to what is expected on the basis of pre-established theory. The indicator variables are selected on the basis of prior theory, and the factor analysis is used to see if they load as predicted on the expected number of factors (Anderson, Sweeney and Williams 1999). All of the data show that the CFA is more than 0.5 which means that there is an internal consistency of each construct (Saunders et al 2000).

This was followed by the reliability test²⁴ Cronbach’s α. Cronbach Alpha formula was used to calculate the internal reliability of the tests as shown in table (4.4). Alpha gained in total degree is (0.9169). The value is above 0.7, so the scale can be considered reliable with the sample (Saunders et al. 2000). The reliability for Jordan is 0.6541, while the reliabilities for Turkey and Italy are 0.8216 and 0.8070 respectively.

Table 4.4. Reliability (Cronbach Alpha)

Country No. of Cases No. of Items Alpha

Jordan 140 55 0.6541

Turkey 213 55 0.8216

Italy 299 55 0.8070

Total 652 55 0.9169

24 There are three common approaches for assessing reliability: test re-test, internal consistency, and alternative form. Cronbach's alpha is method for calculating internal consistency that measures the consistency of responses across either all questions or a sub-group of questions.

It is noticed that the value of the Cronbach Alpha in Jordan is less than Turkey and Italy.

That could be explained by different reasons. The average inter-item correlation is low.

This result could be due to the educational and cultural background. A second reason is size of the sample; the sample size in Jordan is smaller than the sample size in Turkey and Italy²⁵.

25Cronbach's alpha can be written as a function of the number of test items and the average inter-correlation among the items. formula for the standardized Cronbach's alpha:

Here N is equal to the number of items and r-bar is the average inter-item correlation among the items.

One can see from this formula that if you increase the number of items, you increase Cronbach's alpha.

Additionally, if the average inter-item correlation is low, alpha will be low. As the average inter-item correlation increases, Cronbach's alpha increases as well.