Questionnaire Method

The questionnaire is the cheapest way to collect data on a particular topic from a very large sample of people but it can be expensive in terms of design and extracting results. Consequently, it is important to know that the researcher has made every effort to get the design of the questionnaire right and will be guaranteed in getting data that can be used to take a particular decision on the issue being studied. It is important that the preparation of the questionnaire is completed in stages. Firstly, matters to be tested need to be defined and lastly the method of extracting the results needs to be defined. Each stage must be designed very carefully, because the final outcome depends on the interdependence of all stages.

Questionnaires can be administered by post, by fax or by email. The questionnaire can contain questions in a variety of formats. According to Denscombe (2003) there are nine types of questions that might be included in any questionnaire: a statement; a list; a yes/no answer; agree/disagree with a statement; choose from a list of options; rank order; degree of agreement and disagreement (the Likert Scale); rate items; and feeling about a topic (the semantic differential).

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The closed question type is most commonly used in questionnaires because of its advantages in eliciting specific answers, relatively complete responses, the clarity of meanings and connotations and their facilitation of the process of classification. However, there are many disadvantages such as haphazard answers, and difficulties in verifying the veracity of the answer. In open-ended questions, the respondents have great freedom to answer the questions. These questions are used when there are difficulties in determining the array of possible answers and they too are very important in helping the respondents' self-esteem as they can give their preferred answer.

The following lists the advantages and disadvantages respectively of using the questionnaire as a data collection method:

 Cheaper than any other methods

 Offers greater assurance of anonymity

 Produces quick results

 Completed at the respondent's convenience

 Information can be obtained from a large number of individuals

 Researcher cannot note and record the reactions of respondents

 Cannot be used in a community that does not have a command of reading

163 7.7.2.1 Design of the Questionnaire

Table 7.7 summarizes the relationship between the main categories of question and the questions found in the questionnaire (see Appendix 3).

Table 7.7: The Relationship between the Main Categories and the Questionnaire Questions

Category The question(s)

relating to this category

General information of organization, 1,2,3

The important factors which influence investment decisions for your organization

4,5 Policies in host countries which help your organization's investment

decisions

12 The Main obstacles for low inflow of MNCs in tourism sector into Libya 6

Obstacles facing MNCs. 14

The main advantages which a host government may expect to obtain 7,9

Entry mode in new markets 13

Suggestions for promoting foreign investment in North African Countries 15,16

Additional requirements 17

7.7.2.2 Questionnaire Approaches

Having determined the standardised questionnaire as the data collection method for the survey in this study, questions arise as to how to deliver the questionnaires. In this regard, there are four major approaches. These are face-to-face, mail, telephone, and internet-based questionnaires (Czaja and Blair, 1996; Saunders et al, 2000; Zikmund, 2000).

 Face-to-Face Approach It is possible to keep in touch with each of the prospective respondents in person with the face-to-face approach. Taking the transportation time into account, the total amount of time needed to complete a face-to-face questionnaire is restrictive. Moreover, the transportation expense would drive up the cost of the whole

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survey. If the number of respondents required is small, the costs in time and money may not be too high. In this research, it would be inappropriate to use face-to-face surveys due to the limits on time and money costs.

 Mail Approach The mail approach involves sending a cover letter and questionnaire with a pre-paid stamp and envelop to specific persons and addresses. It allows the collection of a large amount of data from a large population in a highly economical way (Saunders et al, 2000). Moreover, it provides a quick, inexpensive, efficient, and accurate vehicle for obtaining information with respect to the survey population (Zikmund, 2000). Due to the unavailability of the targeted respondents’ addresses, this approach was considered to be unsuitable in this research.

 Telephone Approach The telephone approach requires much less time than either face- to-face survey or mail survey. However, this kind of survey is suitable only for those surveys that involve only a small amount of time, such as opinion polls on election candidates. As this research covers a wide spectrum of international hotels, the questionnaire takes around fifteen minutes to complete. It is thought that a prospective respondent may get easily bored with the length of such a questionnaire, making the telephone approach also unsuitable for this research.

 Internet-based Approach From the previous comparisons of data collection method, it can be seen that internet-based questionnaire survey enjoys a number of advantages that are crucial to this study. The questionnaire could be quickly and easily administered with this approach. This method is adopted as an appropriate measure to achieve objectives of this research.

7.7.2.3 Justification of Choosing the Questionnaire for Data Collection

To achieve the objectives of this study, questionnaires have been used to collect the data by means of emailing questionnaires to each of the policy makers and heads of department to the following hotels: Hilton Hotels Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Golden Tulip Hospitality Group, Accor, Marriott International, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Choices

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Hotels International, Intercontinental Hotels Group and Best Western Hotels. Using a questionnaire to gather data is a relatively quick method.

Moreover, it must be remembered that when choosing a questionnaire as a research instrument, respondents may be unwilling to answer the questions because they wish to keep their opinions and/or information private, or they may worry about being punished for revealing their opinions. To ensure the respondents feel more comfortable in this respect, they should be fully informed of the reason for providing the information, how the results will be beneficial, and asked to reply honestly in the full understanding that all responses are entirely confidential. Furthermore, they should understand that whatever their response, the response is valuable, and that if possible the identity of the respondent to the questionnaire should be anonymous. The choice of the questionnaire technique was made based on the assumption that it would be possible to collect numbers of respondents from different nationalities to gain the information using the questionnaire survey. This research depends on two main kinds of data