Questionnaire design

The questionnaire was designed to appear on 8 pages, with a total of forty questions separated into 6 parts. The question sequence in this questionnaire began with easy-to- answer questions to involve respondents’ cooperation. Definitions and instructions were used and kept simple and understandable to assist respondents to complete all questions. Part 1 of the questionnaire was devoted to general questions that dealt with the company, its specific service activity, legal status, its formation, branches, and internal and external challenges facing the organization. The purpose of these questions was to gain some information on the organisation’s specific activities, business requirements and challenges that may impede its business growth. Although some authors recommend putting this demographic part towards the end of the questionnaire survey, the researcher decided to put it in the first part, as recommended by the pre-test group due to its ease of use and the fact that contained no personal information which could threaten or embarrass respondents such as age, marital status or salaries.

Part 2 concentrated on the first driver of knowledge economy development, namely governance quality and economic incentives. Part 3 was devoted to the second driver of knowledge economy development, education and training. The questions regarding

information and communication technologies, the third important knowledge economy development driver, were incorporated in Part 4 of this survey. Part 5 dealt with research and development (R&D) elements that make up the fourth driver of knowledge economy development. Finally, Part 6 dealt with knowledge economy outcomes that could be generated from the current status of knowledge in these organisations.

The construction of the type of questions and measurement scales used in the questionnaire are crucial in determining how the researcher wants each question to be answered. While open-ended questions allow respondents to answer them in any way they choose, closed-ended questions ask respondents to make choices among a set of alternatives provided by the researcher (Zikmund, 2000).

The questions asked in this research all consisted of closed-ended questions in which the respondents were asked to choose the answer closest to his/her own opinion. This research chose closed-ended questions not only to ensure that the alternatives are mutually exclusive and to code the information easily for subsequent analysis, but also to lead respondents with some sort of guidance that better benefited the data collection process as knowledge economy development in Oman is yet to be recognized. A tick box was provided in front of every question that could be marked easily by respondents. It is very important in this context that the researcher decide the best way to measure what is to be investigated by determining the measurement scale used in quantifying the value which affects the form of statisticalanalysis to be used after receipt of the responses (Zikmund, 2000; Creswell, 2003; Pallant, 2006).

Generally, there are three types of measurement scales that have been recognized by the literature; nominal, ordinal and interval scales (Zikmund, 2000; Cavana et al., 2001). A nominal scale, sometimes called a categorical scale, is the simplest type but has no intrinsic ordering. That is, it offers basic categorical information on the variable of interest such as male or female gender grouping. An ordinal scale is similar to a nominal scale, but the earlier differs in it has a clear ordering of scales. Even though the order can be classified, however, it is hard to determine whether the space between each level is equal. An example could be ranking from lowest to highest or best to worst. An interval scale is similar to an ordinal scale, except that the

intervals between each level are equally spaced. This is the scale mainly used in this research. An example of the interval scale used in this research questionnaire is:

How much do you invest on your staff training from your annual budget?

None Between 1-3% 4-6% 7-9% More (please specify)

Besides these three types of scales, there are attitude measurement such as the Likert scale, itemised rating scale, and graphic rating scale, all of which are also important in social research since they offer a number of choices when dealing with attitude scales. The Likert scale is the most common among these scales and is designed to examine how subjects rate statements on a five or seven point scale (Cavana et al., 2001; Creswell, 2003). The researcher should consider several questions and consider the advantages and disadvantages of each attitude scale by comparing it with the research problem. An example of the Likert scale used in this research questionnaire is:

How do you evaluate the overall telecommunication services in Oman?

(1) Very good (2) Good (3) Neutral (4) Bad (5) Very bad

It is very important that questions in the questionnaire be linked to the research problem and research question that relates to the field of study. The linking of research questions to the appropriate questionnaire questions is indicated in Table 5.5. Demographic factors, even though not included as part of the variables in this research theoretical framework, were also gathered since they can be used to describe the sample’s characteristics in the report following the data analysis (Zikmund, 2000; Creswell, 2003). From the research problem, five research questions were identified according to the research model proposed in Chapter 4. These research questions were used quantitatively to find out what knowledge economy factors could assist Oman best in developing a knowledge economy.

Table 5.5 Quantitative research questions and their relationship to the questionnaire survey

Research questions Part number in the survey

Number of question items

Type of variable

Q1. What are the potential factors (outcomes) of sustainable knowledge economy

development in Oman?

6 18 Dependent

variable Q2. What is the role of quality government

institutions and economic incentives in knowledge economy development?

2 27 Independent

variable Q3. Does education and training

enhancement influence knowledge economy development?

3 25 I.V

Q4. Does information and communication technologies affect knowledge economy development?

4 18 I.V

Q5. What is the role of research and development and innovation in knowledge economy development?

5 14 I.V