Research Design and Analysis Sample Assignment
Executive Summary
The purpose of
this report is to elucidate the factors which are considered to be of
significant importance for tourism industry. The report begins with a detailed
analysis of the secondary data such as academic journals and articles which
forms the basis for the rest of the report. The major findings from the
literature review reveals that service organisations are increasingly
differentiating themselves on the basis of customer service which in turn is
related to the perceived quality of the service offering. Positive word of
mouth has a strong influence as customers perceive it to be more credible than
organisation-sponsored communications. The past experience of the customer has
a huge impact on the decision making criteria of the consumer which in turn
impacts the repeat purchase behavior and subsequently customer loyalty. The
later part of the literature review has been related to ski resort in
particular which has focused on motivations of the customer and why they
consider visiting a ski resort for spending their leisure time which varies
from different individuals. Further the importance of place attachment and
affect of promotional activity on consumer’s decision making has been detailed
which is a vital aspect in consumer decision is making process.
In the light of
above discussed factors, the Management Decision Problem is how the number of
visitors can be increased which has assisted by the marketing Research problem
and research objectives throwing light on how the strengths and factors which
are most valued by the customers can be used strategically to improve the
competence of the Resort as a whole.
The report
highlights the research design in which use of both the primary and secondary
data has been suggested. Quantitative and qualitative have been suggested to be
taken up the management. The report concludes with the research instruments
like topic guide moderator questionnaire which would help in the research
process.
Problem
definition
Background to
the problem
Last few decades
have seen a transformation in how people spend their leisure time as it has
increased considerably. Researchers are consistently investigating and
developing methods to determine the attributes of tourist behavior in the
present era.
In this report our
main focus is on customer satisfaction and motivation, and finding their links
with customer loyalty, recommending behavior, service quality, pricing policy,
promotional activities etc..
Opperman (2000)
declares that from an operator or destination perspective, repeat visitation
has been intuitively used as an indicator of the positive perception of the
“product” in question which gives way to positive word-of-mouth, a critical
element, as friend or family member does not have a vested interest in the
organization. Dmitrovic et al. in turn proposes in her conceptual model of
tourist satisfaction that loyalty and complaint behaviour are two main outcomes
from customer satisfaction. Opperman concludes that the behavioural measure of
loyalty by itself can be a reasonable or even good predictor of future tourism
destination choice purporting the notion that past experience has an influence
on future behaviour in a tourism destination choice context.
A heavily argued
approach called Net promoter Score, originally invented by Frederick Reichheld measures
customer satisfaction and is basically the net difference between number of
customers who are likely to recommend the service and those who will not.
Considered to be an easy way to measure Company’s success to deliver service
that delights customers, it became widely adopted by the managers (Keiningham
2007) B. Sharp (2008) is convinced that no empirical evidences were given, it
was an absolutely analytical finding. On his way he has done several misleading
assumptions, for example that one can halve the defection at zero cost, as well
as assuming that defection is not only perfectly possible, but can be easily
achieved. One of the serious blows to the NPS idea the double jeopardy law.
“Double jeopardy shows that it isn’t possible to radically alter defection
rates without massively shifting market share.”(Sharp, 2008) Disadvantage of
NPS is that it measures brand’s performance with the single indicator of
customer loyalty. Moreover, it is crucial to bear in mind that customers do
change their opinion and can move from promoters to detractors over the short
period of time, which can change NPS and this was especially visible in the
time of the depressed economy. (Michael Feehan, Cristina Ilangakoon and Penny
Mesure, 2009) However, there is a completely different opinion, which states
that NPS is not only trustworthy, but also when gathering information to
estimate it one can get much needed information and feedback from the customers
(Merrick, 2009).
As loyalty and
positive word of mouth arise from high level of customer satisfaction, the most
popular and well-established view in literature is that service quality has
strong influence on customer satisfaction (Matzler et al., 2004), Hudson, Simon
and Shephard, Graham W. H.(1998), Marcjanna Augustyn and Samuel K. Ho (1998),
Cronin et al., 2000; Spreng and Mackoy, 1996). Although defining the term
service quality is not easy, marketing theorists generally accept that the
concept is personal and subjective and that consumer perceptions constitute an
essential element of its conceptualization (Gonzalez et al. 2006). The most
common definition of service quality relies on a global consumer judgment of
the superiority of the product or service (Parasuraman et al., 1988), and
thereby integrates consumer expectations of the service and perceptions of the
firm providing the service (Gronroos, 1994; Parasuraman et al., 1985). A more
general application entails the use of the SERVQUAL scale (Parasuraman et al.,
1985). Consequently, recent recommendations suggest the use of consumer
perceptions to determine service quality (Cronin and Taylor, 1992). Dmitrovic
(2008) in her research postulates that service quality influences perceived
value and they both affect customer satisfaction.
Different
reasons for motivation (reasons for visiting the ski resort) can also be
referred to as the benefits derived by the customers for visiting ski resort.
For example: excitement, mastering
skills, relaxation, social relation, leisure, self-esteem, reduced stress, fun
and enjoyment, improved mood, physical health etc (Johnson, J.R., Zucco, P.,
Shealy, J.E. 2000).
Other
motivational factors include learning about new places and acquiring information,
learning about new cultures, stimulation seeking. However the important
consideration with stimulation seeking is that the customer is likely to get
bored quickly when the task is repeated too often (Richards, G., 1996).
Emotional needs
and emotional benefits are the driving forces which help the customer evaluate
their decision eventually which often includes a cost-benefit analysis. Apart
from the above mentioned factors, imagining, day dreaming and emotions also
play an important role in decision making.
Many resorts have lot of augmented service
offerings like restaurants and bars as they appeal to the customer positively increasing
probability of attending the places with more attributes are higher. However,
it may be noticed that not all the attributes would be appreciated by the
consumers and they should be customer focused and research should be done upon
to know what would be appreciated by the customers more instead of just adding
it to their offerings and increasing the price for the customer which has said
to be an important factor in the first place. The result of various studies has
shown that skiers’ loyalty was directly related to the physical environment service
quality dimensions and place attachment dimension (Park & Njite, 2010; Lee
& Huang, 2009).
A promotional
activity which includes advertising can be used strategically by the marketers
and in the same regards this helps the customers to have more information about
the place before actually arriving at the venue which is often backed up by
positive image as it is a company sponsored marketing communication. This also
helps in exciting the imagination of the customer and also increasing the
customer involvement.
Apart from the
above factors a consumer’s spending patterns, emotional attachment to a tourist
spot, willingness to pay recreation fees, availability for substituting
recreation places, interaction quality, employees’ expertise because of
potential risks involved with skiing(safety issues), ambience and service cape,
how crowded is the particular place in a particular season, place dependence
and loyalty, brand image etc can also be considered as vital factors affecting
the decision making process (Alexandris, K., Kouthouris, C., Meligdis, A.,
2006).
Description of the broad problem
Mount Deakin Ski
resort is interested in knowing the key aspects of its performance and how they
can increase the customer loyalty which gets them to re-visit and also recommend
the place to others. Customer satisfaction has been regarded as the basis for
this kind of behaviour of the customer. The growth of the service industry is
directly related to the value they offer and the level of satisfaction customer
derives from that. It has been noted above that negative word of mouth has a
greater impact and positive word of mouth would be delivered only by satisfied
customer who can bring a boost to the financial performance of Mount Deakin ski
resort. The recommending behaviour has been found to have positive relationship
with the tenure of the customer (how long the customer has been visiting Mount
Deakin Ski Resort). The level of Service quality can be measured and monitored
using SERVQUAL as an instrument which focuses on consumer’s perceptions and
expectations. The cost involved and the benefits received are often evaluated
by customers prior to making their decision of adopting a service or a product,
thus the Mount Deakin ski resort can either try to increase the benefits or
reduce the monetary and non-monetary costs involved for the customer.
Statement
of the management decision problem (MDP)
Management
decision problem is actually what manager wants to do. Being action oriented,
it states what actions manager should take in order to reach the certain goals
(Malhotra , 2010).
In this
particular research, it is more reasonable to consider the opportunity that
management team can use. So we put MDP as: “How to broaden the clientele of Mount
Deakin Ski Resort?
Statement of the Marketing/business research problem (MRP)
The marketing
research problem is essentially information oriented and determines what kind
of information is required and where such information can be obtained from. In
the present research the marketing research problem can be defined as
To determine
what factors add value to the overall satisfaction of the clients and to
determine the critical success factors of the Mount Deakin Ski resort.
Specification of the Research Objectives (MRO) and decision criteria
- The Key aspects of this problem can be defined as
determining strengths of Mount Deakin Resort
- What factors are being considered by the clients
as most important and that determine that are achieving value for their
money.
- Asking clients what was the most satisfying
experience you are taking back after visiting Mount Deakin Resort
- Asking clients about where they spent most of
their time in the resort which indicates that
- Conversely, information should be found about which particular aspect was not up to the mark to gain an insight about the weaknesses also.
Decision
criteria
- The factors which are common in most of the
responses should be used strategically as to build upon the strengths to
attract more clients. And also the weak factors should be eliminated.
- The place where most of the time is the one where clients are probably enjoying maximum. For example (Video game parlour or Bars and Restaurant).
Research design
Type and rationale of the research design
Research design
is the framework of the future marketing research project. Our main problem is
clearly defined and thus we can use conclusive research in order to help
managers to find a way to solve the problem with the maximum efficiency. It
will be a descriptive research, as we need to determine how variables (in our
case elements of marketing mix, readiness to recommend, revisit etc) are linked
providing the base for decisions. Literature review and exploratory research of
the Australian ski resort sector were conducted, as the descriptive research
assumes, that the researcher has much prior knowledge and this helped to
formulate hypotheses. Researcher has a clear understanding of the six W’s.
Management’s main aim is to broaden clientele, by adjusting services of the ski
resort to the needs and wishes of the customers. Specially for this purpose the
research is conducted and as there is a need to find out how different
variables, such as price, customer satisfaction etc. interact and influence
customer’s loyalty, in our case their intention to come back and recommend
Mount Deakin resort, the research needs to be conducted several times at
regular intervals, during which variables can be changed and influence
customer’s opinion differently. Thus, the cohort analysis is going to be
conducted (Malhotra et al., 2010, pp. 114-118).
Methodology for data collection from
secondary sources
Secondary data refers
to data, that already has been collected, but it is not relevant as primary
data is. Secondary data can be found within the organization for which research
is conducted (sales invoices, information from the management decision support
system) and external (published materials, computerized databases, etc).
Researcher has
to bear in mind the importance of the external secondary data. These
governmental and non-governmental resources are easy to obtain and easily
available but requires careful analysis before being selected for use in the
research.
For the
researchers of the Mount Deakin case demographic data from www.abs.gov.au and web-sites is relevant,
as the main idea is to broaden clientele. This information gives the idea of
how big the focus group of the ski resort is and also provide with the new
ideas, for example ageing of the population in Australia can provide a new
focus group with the new demands. Also information that could be getting from
the web-sites of the other ski resorts and articles can help to formulate the
idea of the research more detailed and thus help in creating questionnaires and
focus groups guides. (Malhotra et al., 2010)
Methodology for data collection from primary sources
We are going to
conduct both quantitative and qualitative research, which results in management
not only having substantial data to analyse, but also reliable data. First of
all we are going to develop a questionnaire which is going to obtain both types
of the information, as there are going to be two types of questions
(fixed-alternative questions and open-ended questions). Questionnaire is going
to be given to all clients of the resort during certain time interval, so that
management would have a substantial data for analysis, which is especially
important for the quantitative research. In the qualitative research we are
going to conduct focus groups. Structured data collection is going to be used
in the form of the non-personal interviews through mail interviews and by
asking clients to fill in the questionnaire when they are checking out from the
resort. The non-personal attitude here can be quite important as the customer might
manipulate their opinion to please the interviewer. The advantage is that the
mailing list is easy to obtain and if provide some incentives one can have a
good feedback.
A focus group is
an interview conducted by a trained moderator for the purpose of gaining
insight by listening to a group of people from a target market. Focus group
generally consists of 8 to 12 people and researchers often value focus group as
this technique helps them to discover unexpected findings from a free flowing
discussion. Focus group is suggested as Personal Surveys are increasingly
becoming expensive and also the spontaneity factor can help provide an accurate
idea of the general view of people about ski resorts as they are more
interactive and discursive. (Malhotra et al., 2010)
Research Instruments
Topic guide for
Group Moderator
Topic guide for
moderator specifies the processes and the topics discussed in qualitative
research process. Generally, direct questions should be avoided and key topics
should be addressed demonstrating that the researcher gets into people’s
opinion, attitude and behavior.
The following
Guide has been derived from the attitude theory which forms the basis of our
Focus Group Moderator’s Guide.
Also in our
Research we are assuming that the focus group would only be members who have
been visiting Mount Deakin in the past regularly to find out more about the
critical success factors of Mount Deakin resort. All questions are in regards
to Mount Deakin
- Customer Motivation
·
How
did you get to you get to know about Mount Deakin?
·
Which
attribute was most appealing to you about mount Deakin before visiting for the
first time?
·
What
do you think are the reasons people visit Mt. Deakin for the first time?
- Critical Success Factors
·
Which
part of the resort do you spend most of your time and why? (Briefly Explore)
·
Which
part of the resort do you dislike the most and why? (Briefly Explore)
·
How
often do you visit Mt. Deakin?
·
When
discussing with your friends and relatives about your experience, what is the
first thing that comes to your mind about Mt. Deakin?
·
What
is the first thing you do when you visit Mt. Deakin?
·
What
is the last thing you do when you visit Mt. Deakin?
- Definition of satisfaction
·
If
you have been to some other resorts, how different did you find it?
·
Do
you think you are paying the right cost for visiting Mt. Deakin?
·
What
according to you is satisfaction? Is it more features being added to our
offerings or is it reducing the monetary costs for you?
- Customer Loyalty
·
How
much determined are you to continue skiing in Mt. Deakin resort?
·
How
much committed are you to continue skiing in the Mt. Deakin Resort?
·
How
much difficult would be for you to stop skiing in the Mt. Deakin resort?
The
topic guide helps reducing the reliability problem which is inherent in the
focus group. The moderator should probe and explicitly state the rules of the
group interaction which should tailored to the needs and specific objectives
desired to be achieved. The moderator should provoke intense discussion in the
relevant areas to get an in-depth knowledge of people attitudes toward mount
deakin resort. Further, an attempt should be made to summarise the group’s
response to determine he extent of agreement. (Malhotra, Hall, Shaw &
Oppenheim 2006)`
Questionnaire
30 Monthly passes to win!
Our beloved
customer!
You are now
holding a piece of paper with a few questions on it, answering which will
significantly help us to learn how you do feel about Mt. Deakin Resort. It will
help us to deliver better services to you in future. It is absolutely vital for us to know your
opinion, and that is why we are happy to give you an opportunity to win monthly
ski pass and 5% discount for your next purchase straightaway.
General
Instructions for Questionnaire: on a scale of 1-5, 1 represents “Extremely
Dissatisfied” and 5 represents “Extremely Dissatisfied”
1.
How
would you rate your level of overall satisfaction with visiting Mt. Deakin Ski
Resort?
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
 |
|
|
|
|
2.
How
would you rate the overall quality of your relationship with Mt. Deakin Ski
Resort, considering all of your experiences with them? Would you say it is …
|
Excellent
|
|
Very Good
|
|
Good
|
|
Fair
|
|
Poor
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3.
How
would you rate your level of satisfaction with Mt. Deakin Ski Resort in regards
to customer service?
4.
Please
indicate whether you agree or disagree with the following statements
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
The staff of
Mt. Deakin Ski Resort was very courteous
|
|
|
|
|
|
The staff of
Mt. Deakin Ski Resort handled my query quickly
|
|
|
|
|
|
The staff of
Mt. Deakin Ski Resort was very knowledgeable
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5.
How would you rate your level of satisfaction
with Mt. Deakin Ski Resort in regards to price?
6.
How
would you rate your level of satisfaction with Mt. Deakin Ski Resort in regards
to value?
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7.
How
likely are you to come back to us? Would you say the chances are …
|
Excellent
|
|
Very Good
|
|
Good
|
|
Fair
|
|
Poor
|
8.
How
likely are you to recommend Mt. Deakin Ski resort to your friends and family?
Would you say the chances are …
|
Excellent
|
|
Very Good
|
|
Good
|
|
Fair
|
|
Poor
|
9.
In
total, how long have you been a customer of Mt. Deakin Ski resort?
|
Less than
one year
|
|
One to
under three years
|
|
Three to
under five years
|
|
Five to
under ten years
|
|
Ten years
or more
|
10. Please rate your level of agreement with the following
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
I believe
Mt. Deakin Ski Resort deserves me come back again
|
|
|
|
|
|
Over the
past year, I believe that I became more dedicated to Mt. Deakin
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mt. Deakin
values people and relationships ahead of short-term goals
|
|
|
|
|
|
11. Please rate the factors that prompted you to visit
Mount Deakin for the first time
|
Internet,
Newspaper, Magazine or Radio Ad
|
|
Competitive
pricing policy
|
|
Recommendation
from friends, family, colleagues
|
|
Existing
customers opinions (other than friends, colleagues and family – for example,
reviews in the Internet, etc.)
|
|
Location
of Mt. Deakin (accessibility, nature conditions)
|
|
Other
factors (please specify________________________
|
12. Please rate the importance of factors that influence
your opinion when choosing a ski resort
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
Price of the
services (ski pass, accommodation services)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Location of
Mt. Deakin Ski Resort (accessibility, nature conditions)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Word-of-mouth
(either from friends/relatives or other people)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Your
Information:
·
Sex:
·
Marital
status:
·
Age
Group (encircle):
a.
18-24
b.
25-35
c.
36-45
d.
46-55
e.
56+
·
Income
(encircle):
a.
0-20k
p.a.
b.
21-50k
p.a.
c.
51-80k
p.a.
d.
80-120
p.a.
e.
120+
p.a.
·
Suburb:
The
questionnaire should be offered to customers and the intention of improved
campaign should be mentioned. To increase respondent level the incentives for
filling out the questionnaire should be emphasised.
The questionnaire
should be sent via e mail due to low response rate from conventional post
method which is also time consuming and expensive.
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