Financial Analysis - Questionnaire Piloting and Administration

Questionnaire Piloting and Administration

A questionnaire is a schedule of written, printed or computer based questions with a pro forma for recording answers. It is a means of eliciting information from respondents, and a medium for recording answers (Veal et al). In PART A of this assignment, a questionnaire was designed to address the following management problem: Amidst the rapid rise and subsequent competition of Low Cost Carrier (LCC) airlines, the Department of Infrastructure and Transport have commissioned research to get a better understanding of the factors that may influence the future behaviour intention of LCC customers. Prior to completing PART B, this questionnaire has been piloted, modified and administered. This is a reflective report detailing why we chose the survey administration method that was used, a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of this method as well as some reflections on this method. Some suggestions for improving this method will be proposed, before a discussion on what changes will need to be made before administering it to a larger group of people. Finally there will be a personal reflection on some of the lessons learnt from the exercise.

Survey Administration Method

In PART A of this assignment, one of the key steps that were taken in the development of the questionnaire (after distilling the management problem) was to search some of the existing literature that surrounded it. We wanted to find out if the factors of brand image, experience and satisfaction had been tested in any similar studies; and if so, what were they being tested, and what questions were being asked. The question content and answer pro forma that made up our questionnaire leant heavily on three studies that we felt were highly relevant to the management problem; namely the research of Lin and Huang (2015), Curry and Gao (2012) and Chung et al (2013). Whilst the research of Lin and Huang (2015) was instrumental in determining some of the determinants of low cost carrier customer’s purchase intentions however, the methodology used by both Curry and Gao (2012) and Chung et al (2013) was most influential in how our questionnaire was designed and administered.

Curry and Gao (2012) administered their questionnaire face to face at both Terminal Side (Land Side) and Airside (Past Check In) at their selected airports, as did Chung et al (2013). We had originally designed our questionnaire to mirror this face to face approach, however we learned from the pilot test that the wording we had used (specific to a sample which would be found at an airport terminal) was not practical as we had planned to administer the questionnaire to family and friends as suggested in the requirements for this assignment, thus it was modified. Additionally, we learned from the pilot test that Question Eleven was confusing, and too close in its wording to Question Six, so this too was modified. In the pilot test, the suggestion was also made that Question Three, which was intended to measure household income, was of little use without a measure on how large the household was; and as such a question in regard to ‘persons per household’ was also added.