Business Research Methods: Reflective Report on Survey Administration

This report reflects on the administration of a survey investigating consumer behavior related to luxury goods purchases during travel. The report details the chosen survey method (telephone interviews), its advantages and disadvantages, and the success of the administration procedure. Suggestions for improvement are provided, along with potential changes to the questionnaire for larger groups. Key lessons learned from the survey administration process are highlighted, emphasizing the importance of clear question design, communication skills, and appropriate survey methods for different sample sizes. The survey aimed to understand socio-demographics, cultural values, and shopping motivations influencing tourists' buying behavior.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Business Research Methodology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
2.0 Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Reasons for selecting the particular method of survey administration........................................2
2.1.1 Advantages and disadvantages of using this method...........................................................3
2.2 Success of the administration procedure.....................................................................................4
2.3 Suggestion for improving the administration procedure used.....................................................4
2.4 Changes made in the questionnaire while representing the questionnaire to a larger group.......4
2.5 Key lessons learnt from the survey administration process.........................................................5
3.0 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
4.0 Reference List..................................................................................................................................7

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1.0 Introduction
Nwankwo, Hamelin and Khaled (2014) stated that people buy luxury products for variety
of reasons like they like expensive material goods, they like being highlighted in the community,
they like to maintain uniqueness and also to collect such products. This nature is also present
among some travelers and they like to collect such expensive products from the places, where
they visit. This survey is based on the topic to identify the consumer behavior regarding the
purchase of luxury items while they are travelling. This reflective report will highlight the
method of survey administration used and its advantage and disadvantage. The discussion is
followed by the details of the success of administration procedure and the suggestion for
improving the administration procedure used. This reflective report will also illustrate the
discussion on changes made in the questionnaire if presented to a larger group of respondents
and lastly the lesson and main things leant from the survey administration process will also be
demonstrated.
2.0 Discussion
2.1 Reasons for selecting the particular method of survey administration
In this survey, I have utilized the method of direct interviewing through telephone. The
survey respondent are asked about the questions regarding their trips like how often they travel,
the purpose of their travelling and whom they prefer to go with when they are travelling.
Moreover, the traits of their shopping activities are also asked through the telephonic interview
which is comprised of the luxurious products they like, aspects that closely define their shopping
intention and perception of a luxury item. Moreover, the respondents are also asked about their

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motivational aspects of shipping for the luxurious products and the cultural values due to which
they like to purchase for such expensive products. The survey respondent are asked question one
after the other and their response are recorded on the laptop.
2.1.1 Advantages and disadvantages of using this method
The main advantage of the telephonic interviews is that no time and financial resource is
required to reach to the respondent and the entire interview session can also be done quickly
compared to other form of data collection. Trier-Bieniek (2012) stated that in telephonic
interviews, sample from wide geographic area can also be attained. Block and Erskine (2012)
portrays that this kind of interviews are more customized and personal in nature and helps the
survey conductor to understand the emotion of the interviewee. In this survey, I have also
experienced the same sense that all the respondents can easily understand my language and I
have got the answer from the survey respondents.
On the other hand, telephonic interview can present negative result if respondents cannot
understand the research questions. In this survey also, I have to repeat questions more than twice
to some respondent as they cannot understand the questions. According to Szolnoki and
Hoffmann (2013), this type of interview cannot see body language and sometimes the survey
procedure become exasperating for the respondents. I also felt that telephonic interview will be
challenging if the same will be conducted for larger sample size. Moreover, the network issue is
also a problem in this kind of interview. Taken for instance, for the question “What luxury item
have you bought or MOST likely to buy during this trip?”, people want to select more than one
option and when they are asked to select only one they started feeling confused and took much
time to answer the question. Moreover, for the research question “What is your main reason for

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purchasing this item?”, I have to make them understand the meaning of each options as not all
the respondents are getting the value if these options.
2.2 Success of the administration procedure
The telephonic interview process was a great success as I can freely talk with the survey
respondents and ask them all the questions in the survey. I have made 20 calls and in all the cases
I have receives a positive outcome except the fact that I have to make them understand the
reliability of the survey and the purpose of the same. I have received genuine answers and also
did not face much understanding problem among the respondent as I was reciting the question to
them in an understandable way. However, I have noticed that some of the survey respondents
took longer time to answer some questions. In that case, I have to repeat the questions or ask
them whether or not they understand the question. Another measure of success is that no survey
respondent missed any question as I was noting down all the answer to every question.
2.3 Suggestion for improving the administration procedure used
The administration procedure used in this case is telephonic interview. One of the main
suggestions to the administration is to search for the background details of the respondents in
order to understand their origin and the language they refer the most. This process will initially
take much time but reduces the time during the survey as the administrator can make the
respondent understand in their preferable language. Another suggestion is the use of simplified
language with lesser options. I think that giving more options for a research question in the
telephonic interview result in that some respondent might forget some options or take longer
time to answer the same.

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2.4 Changes made in the questionnaire while representing the questionnaire to a larger
group
The entire questionnaire comprised of seven sections- “About Your Most Recent Trip”,
“About Your Shopping Activities”, “Your Shopping Motivations”, “Cultural Values”, “Your
Future Visit”, qualitative question and “About Yourself”. These sections furthermore comprised
of many sub-questions. The main problem that I have felt is that questioning these many question
take more time and make the survey respondents more uncomfortable and dissatisfied. Thus, the
first suggestion is to shorten the questionnaire so that not more than 30 minutes will require for
a single respondent. Another change that I would suggest is to select other method of the survey
procedure like face to face survey interview or survey through the online medium. The face to
face survey interview will allow noting the body language and facial expression of the survey
respondents and they can also ask for the problem if they face any. Moreover, if the online
medium for the survey will be selected, the benefit of not skipping of any question can be
obtained as all the research questions can be marked as mandatory. In addition to that, in order to
conduct the research survey for a larger group of people, administrator need to give the option of
representation of research question in the preferable language depending on the region of the
survey respondents. This will help them to understand the research questions more easily. Lastly,
the respondents should be present with a consent forms and ethical guidelines and research
regulations to the research, which will help the respondents to understand the reliability of the
research and the main purpose of the conducting the survey.
2.5 Key lessons learnt from the survey administration process
I have learnt that the research question should be developed in such a way that survey
respondents can relate their experience with the research questions. This will help them to give

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genuine answers and in lesser time. The telephonic interview are also good when there are lesser
number of research questions as larger number of question might leads to dissatisfaction among
the survey respondents. Another key lessons that I have learnt that communication skills plays a
crucial role in telephonic interview. In this process, the survey conductor needs to be patient and
also know the local language or the preferable language of the respondents so that in case any
person does not understand the questions, administrator of the survey conductor can make them
understand the same. I have also learnt that it is important for presenting all the questions in a
similar way which is applied in this survey also. In this survey, the concept of likert scale has
been opted which will help to generate a pattern for assessing the socio demographics, culture
values, shopping motivation that influence the tourists buying behavioral intention. This
approach will help the respondents to understand the answering pattern and develop a clear
perception on the research questions. I have also learnt that in order to conduct a survey research
for larger group of people, it is better to conduct a face o face survey interview or online survey.
3.0 Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that the pilot test on the existing research questions is a success
as most of the respondents are able the question and give reliable answers. Some of the problem
that is occurred in telephonic interview is that it is time consuming and can be worse if some
respondent does not understand the English language. Thus, suggestion of conducting a small
background assessment is made to overcome this problem. Moreover, it is also concluded that in
order to present the survey questionnaire to larger group of people, it is necessary for shorten the
survey with important questions through which socio demographics, culture values, shopping
motivation that influence their buying behavioral intention can be obtained.

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4.0 Reference List
Bian, Q., & Forsythe, S. (2012). Purchase intention for luxury brands: A cross cultural
comparison. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), 1443-1451.
Block, E. S., & Erskine, L. (2012). Interviewing by telephone: Specific considerations,
opportunities, and challenges. International journal of qualitative methods, 11(4), 428-
445.
Cheng, H. G., & Phillips, M. R. (2014). Secondary analysis of existing data: opportunities and
implementation. Shanghai archives of psychiatry, 26(6), 371.
Davies, I. A., Lee, Z., & Ahonkhai, I. (2012). Do consumers care about ethical-luxury?. Journal
of Business Ethics, 106(1), 37-51.
Grbich, C. (2012). Qualitative data analysis: An introduction. Sage.
Kastanakis, M. N., & Balabanis, G. (2012). Between the mass and the class: Antecedents of the
“bandwagon” luxury consumption behavior. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), 1399-
1407.
Liu, X., Burns, A. C., & Hou, Y. (2013). Comparing online and in-store shopping behavior
towards luxury goods. International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management, 41(11/12), 885-900.
McDaniel, C., & Gates, R. (2013). Marketing research. Singapore.
Nwankwo, S., Hamelin, N., & Khaled, M. (2014). Consumer values, motivation and purchase
intention for luxury goods. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(5), 735-744.
Szolnoki, G., & Hoffmann, D. (2013). Online, face-to-face and telephone surveys—Comparing
different sampling methods in wine consumer research. Wine Economics and
Policy, 2(2), 57-66.

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Trier-Bieniek, A. (2012). Framing the telephone interview as a participant-centred tool for
qualitative research: a methodological discussion. Qualitative Research, 12(6), 630-644.
Wiedmann, K. P., & Hennigs, N. (Eds.). (2012). Luxury marketing: A challenge for theory and
practice. Springer Science & Business Media.