3.6 Significance/limitations 14
4.2.4 Development of survey/questionnaires 18
The primary aim of the proposed study is to investigate customer satisfaction, a case study of Northshore Resource Centre based in Birkenhead, New Zealand. In contemporary society, the technological innovation together with globalization has led to the change in customer satisfaction, taste, and preference. Thus, every organization should understand the customer needs and preference to satisfy them. According to Hill and Alexander (2017), the customer in the contemporary business environment is the primary stakeholder and thus meeting their demands allows the organisation to achieve its competitive advantage in the face of its industry rivals. Customer satisfaction is a measure of how corporate services and products offered to the clients surpass their expectation.
The NSRC is an organization operated by a voluntary group that allows businesses and the general population to recycle their still usable products and home items. The main aim of the organization is to assist the companies and the general public to recover many things in their compound that are no longer usable but can be recycled for other uses (North Shore Resource Centre, 2018). However, the major challenge is on whether the recycling process and the new products collected from the landfills and schools satisfy customer expectations. The recycled items are returned to the community. However, the organization faces a challenge of meeting customer expectations from the recycled items as they do not have knowledge on customer satisfaction. Therefore, it is under this back that the proposed study will examine how the customers can be satisfied at NSRC.
The report will begin with a review of the past kinds of literature on customer satisfaction. The second part of the research proposal will involve an in-depth explanation of the research problem, and then followed by the research methodology where there will be an explanation and justification of the research approaches and instruments to be used in data collection. The final section of the proposal will be an explanation of the research ethics to be considered in the final study, as well as the documentation to access literature and the data from NSRC.In order to maintain this aspect, a thorough research is required to be conducted by keeping in mind the rules and regulations of NSRC. Maintaining a structured format can help in accessing information through which adequate information can be collected for this report.
It is recommended that the NSRC organisation will conduct primary quantitative research amidst the market focusing on the customers that use recycled products. They can use research techniques like questionnaires and surveys to gain an idea about what the customers expect from their organisation. From the research data a deeper insight of the needs and requirements of the customers can be gained. Applying this insight to design goods will also enhance the quality and utility of the goods. Recycling goods that in accordance to the needs of the customers will increase customer satisfaction rates and help the organisation grow by making more profit.
This section will show a review of many studies that were done in the past relating to customer satisfaction. The literature review is carried out inorder to understand the research gap that exists in similar industries under which the research problem is based (Hickerson et al. 2016). The section is thus focused on the research done in the area of customer satisfaction and at the end finds out a gap that needs to be filled. The section is categorized based on the research objectives and variables. The first section is the review of the literature on service quality and the last section is a review of related literature about the service quality and customer satisfaction because it pertains to the topic and provides an insight to the crucial connection that exists between service quality and customer satisfaction.Service quality can be defined as the difference arising from customer expectations and the perception regarding the plethora of services provided by various organizations. Service quality alludes to how well services are given to customers to fulfill their wants and requirements. Service quality and customer satisfaction are thus interconnected. Sevice Quality is related to various decisions made by the customers to either procure the product and service or not.Providing superior services to customers ensures customer loyalty and contributes to the increase in revenues of an organization. The quality of service plays a pivotal role in ensuring greater levels of customer satisfaction. Managers of an organization thus focuses on Empathy, responsiveness, reliability and assurance in order to achieve complete customer satisfaction that would ensure loyalty of customers as well as business profit.Superior quality of service will enhance satisfaction of customer and provide them with a firm and a competitive edge in the industry and garner profits. The Servqual Scale used in this research employs the use of performance and expectations gaps method, which is an acceptable way of analyzing the service quality. This model is utilized in order to quantify customer services in an organization and the resultant satisfaction in service-oriented industries. The Servqualmodelcan be used to examine perceptions of consumers in regards to five service dimensions that includes quality, empathy, responsiveness and assurance.
and reliability) relative to customers‟ satisfaction.This format is followed so that information collected can be presented in a structured and systematic manner.
Literature review focuses on conducting a concise analysis of the available information from the researches done in the past. It helps to gain a comprehensive understanding of all the variables that are involved. With a better and enhanced knowledge of the problem, a deeper insight of the problem is gained and it can now be rectified. Through the literature review it was understood that customer satisfaction can be studied from various aspects that range from psychological to physical considerations. If these considerations are taken into account while planning and manufacturing a product, it will bring in more customers and consequently profits for the organization.
In the present era, customers are flooded with choices and have plenty of options to choose from when making a purchase. Customer satisfaction thus plays an important role in deciding what product a customer is likely to favour more than the others. If a customer is satisfied after procuring a product, then there are greater chances of customers purchasing the product again. Customer satisfaction thus plays an integral role to increase the revenues of an organization. Hill and Alexander (2017) have defined customer satisfaction as a metric used to measure the degree to which the customer is happy with the services, product, office layout, organization’s activities and their experience with the organization’s community.
A number of studies that delved into variables that impact customer satisfaction arethus reviewed. Kumar (2016) evaluates the significance of using customer satisfaction as a measure for corporate performance and concludes that it is one of the primary metrics for customer satisfaction and organization’s success. If an organisation is able to provide customers with goods and services that are meet or exceed their expectations, it is natural that theywill procure the products of that company rather than purchase the products of other brands. It will also lead to brand loyalty in customers. In addition, if customers are happy with the products and services of a company theyare likelyto advertise the products to the people around them through word of mouth. This word of mouth publicity would prove to be highly beneficial for a company as it would bring in more customers for an organization. Therefore, it can be unanimously agreed that customer satisfaction brings a plethora of beneficial results for the organisation (Ellingeret al. 1999).
Many studies have found a number of determinants that have a positive association with customer satisfaction. An exploratory qualitative study done among customers and executives of a nationally recognized service firm (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985) found that high service quality positively impacts customer satisfaction. Hapsari, Clemes and Dean (2016) conducted an evidence-based study in an Indonesian airline in which they investigated the relationships between service quality, perceived value, and customer satisfaction. The study found that perceived value plays a significant role between quality and customer satisfaction. Another quantitative study done among retail banking customers (Caruana, 2002) found that service loyalty plays a vital role in customer satisfaction. Another quantitative research study of the United Arab Emirates-based airlines done by Hussain, Al Nasser and Hussain (2015) with the aim of investigating service quality and customer satisfaction found out that service quality, brand image as well as the perceived value are the primary determinants of customer satisfaction. Thus, all these findings suggest that there are numerous determinants that positively affect customer satisfaction.
Many studies have found a number of determinants of service quality that affects customer satisfaction. An exploratory qualitative study done among customers and executives of a nationally recognized service firm (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985) found that reliability, responsiveness and tangibles as determinants of service quality. Another quantitative study done among retail banking customers (Caruana, 2002)found that responsiveness, empathy and assurance are important for service quality. A quantitative study done in an Australian trading bank (Avkiran,1994) found that credibility and responsiveness were more important. A focus group interview study was done among customers of a retail industry (Berry, Zeithaml, &Parasuraman, 1985) found an important dimension of service quality to be reliability. Thus, all these findings show there are a number of determinants of service quality important for customer satisfaction.
Even though the studies have delved into the issue of customer satisfaction and service quality point of view, as mentioned in section 2.0, no previous similar studies could be found in this context in New Zealand. In addition, no similar studies have also been done at NSRC about customer satisfaction (M. Reed, personal communication, December 4, 2018). Therefore, the researcher will attempt to fill this gap by testing the relationships between service quality and customer satisfaction at NSRC.
The Northshore Resource Centre established in 1985 is an organization based in Birkenhead, New Zealand with the main purpose being to recycle the still usable items (North Shore Resource Centre. 2018). The organization’s operation days are between Wednesdays and Saturdays, and they always close business on holidays such as Christmas and public holidays. The organization depends on charitable organizations and well-wishers for its financial support. The organization was founded by a group of experts who identified the need to have a facility in a central position that could provide storage and distribution as well as storage for factory off-cuts for recycling of art and craft assets. The Northshore Centre is managed by a voluntary group of people which gives the general populace and businesses the chance to recycle and reuse items that are still-usable, rather than dispose them in a landfill. The Northshore Centre gives an opportunity to a large number of schools, community groups and a plethora of early childhood centres the opportunity to gain access to cheap resources.Items can be almost anything; such things as spindles; ball bearings; springs; nuts and bolts; stationery; polystyrene packaging; cardboard; paper. If it can be used just as it is, be part of an art project or can be utilized for a science project then we will probably be happy to receive it.
The issue at NSRC is that the company has no knowledge on customer satisfaction because they have not done a survey before. Monica Reed, Chair Person of NSRC, confirms this by saying that they do not collect feedback from the customers to know if customers are satisfied with the service that they are provided (M. Reed, personal communication, December 4, 2018). This is a problem because Ellinger, Daugherty and Plair (1999) also support this by saying that obtaining feedback from customers is very important for an organisation in order to fulfil their needs. Feedback and reviews from customers are used to gain knowledge and insight about the perception about the goods and products of a company.It is imperative to understand how the buyers are responding to their goods and even to their advertising and marketing campaigns to locate the shortcomings involved in various processes.
Customer feedback is an important resource for enhancing customer experience and also enables a company to adjust their actions based on the needs of the customer. Customer feedback can be garnered with the help of various surveys that are referred to as prompted feedback and online reviews that a customer posts online that is called unprompted feedback. Both sources help in understanding as to how a customer perceives one’s brand. Customer review thus helps in improving services and products. It also helps an organization to measure the satisfaction of customers. In addition, customer reviews shows that an organization values the opinions of their customers. It also helps in creating a superior customer experience and helps in improving customer retention. Customer feedback is also a dependable source for information for other consumers. Last but not the least, customer feedback gives an organization the essential data that it needs to take business decisions. Customer feedback is integral and organizations should believe the fact that customers have good ideas. Organizations ought to gather feedback of customers at every opportunity and after getting customer feedback should focus on improvement of its products and services. Organizations should solicit both bad and good feedback and seek real-time feedback. It is the duty of the organization to make the process of customer feedback easy so that greaternumber of customers feelsinclined to give feedback. Organizations should also leverage technology in order to help in one’s efforts. After getting customer feedback, the responsibility lies with the managers of the organization to share the feedback of customers throughout their organization. Customer feedback should also be used to implement changes quickly.
Therefore, in order to ensure the satisfactionof customers and bring in profits for an organization, it is important to understand the needs and requirements of customers which can be obtained through customer feedback, and thus it would be a problem for NSRC if they do not understand the needs of their customers.
As identified in section 3.2, the research problem is the company NSRC’s lack of knowledge and understanding about customer satisfaction levels because they have not undertaken any relevant research operations. Northshore Resource Centre lacks knowledge when it comes to understanding customer satisfaction and expectations. The organization is also not considering the need to collect customer feedback in order to know what the customer expects from them. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to gain information about the relationship between customer oriented surveys, customer satisfaction levels and the growth and success of the company. A test between the relationships and interdependencies between service quality and customer satisfaction is important in order to evaluate what steps and strategies the company should follow to improve their customer satisfaction levels to achieve enhanced corporate performance.
This research has been carried on with the aim of resolving the research question. In order to put forward a successful resolution, the problem has been divided into two variables. The solution would be gained after understanding the relationship between the two variables. in the company NSRC, the owners are unaware of the customer’s needs, requirements,demands and their response to the company’s products. This puts them in a risky position where all their decisions are taken blindly. The first variable in this problem can be identified as the customer satisfaction level and the second variable will be the NSRC Company.
The SERVQUAL model will be used in the survey to understand the requirement s of the customers and the gap between the strategy of the company and the outcome that is desired by them. It takes into account the perceptions of the customers to understand what their needs and demands from the organisation are. This perception is then analysed and maintained over five components of service.
The survey will provide an insight in the needs of their customers and how relevant they think the company is amidst the whole market. From this knowledge, NSRC can bring in changes that will improve the quality and utility of the goods making the customers prefer them. Moreover, if NSRC are able to have a foresight about the changing needs of the buyers and make changes accordingly in their products, they will be able to excel more than their competitors.
It is to be noticed that customer satisfaction is dependent upon certain other variables such as brand image and brand equity of the company, marketing and advertising activities and availability of goods. Brand image is marketing practice where a company develops a set of objectives, aims, values and morals that particular to the products or services it sells. A customer is likely to associate the products with the brand image and choose the company whose image is closer to an individual’s set of opinions. Marketing and advertising aim to increase the reach of a product to the people. A product that is well markets and available is obviously going to bought by more people
The stakeholders for this research are Northshore Resource Centre, NZIE and the researcher. This study is of significance to all these stakeholders because they are benefited by its outcomes. According to Slunge, Drakenberg, Ekbom, Göthberg, Knaggård and Sahlin (2017), a stakeholder is an individual or an organisation who is interested in the research topic and who is affected by the research findings. Firstly the research will benefit the NSRC and NZIE organisation by providing them with much needed information about customer satisfaction rates and the variables it depend on. Through this knowledge NSIC will be able to make necessary changes in their work process. If they find that the customer satisfaction rates are low, they need to take in measures to improve. It is to be found out why the customers are not satisfied and what aspects of the products are not up to their pleasure. By identifying and making relevant changes they will able to cater to their customers better. Secondly, the researcher is going to benefit by getting the paper published in a renowned journal and gain proper acknowledgement for his hard work.
The proposed study is expected to face the challenge and limitation of time. This is because the study has only 10 weeks, which is not enough to conduct this research. To collect accurate and enough information about both variables and for conducting a survey a minimum time period of 4 months is needed. The survey involves various actions like intimating the people about the essay and waiting for them to respond. While conducting this it was found out that not many customers were readily to respond to a set of question. Therefore, another set of people were intimated and persuaded that the survey will not take much of their precious time and will keep their identity anonymous. Moreover, the sampling size of people gathered for taking the survey was also not enough. It was unable to account for all the possible views and grievances of people about the essay. Furthermore, customer satisfaction is avery intangible aspect that is quite difficult to be measured accurately. A level of discrepancy is always inherent in the results as the customers are not themselves quite sure about their views. Other challenges include the fact that respondents may not always be completely honest, lack of reliable response, respondents may not completely able to understand and decipher the questionnaire completely, respondents may also find it hard to convey their emotions and feelings as a questionnaire or survey is unable to capture the emotional responses and the feelings of respondents. One cannot observe the facial expressions or body languages of all the respondents when they address the questions. Thus the information gathered is not comprehensive in nature. It can also be difficult to analyze the data and is also impersonal in nature as the questionnaires lack personalization.
Research methodology refers to specific techniques or procedures that are used to select, identify, analyze and profess information pertaining to a topic. Research methodology enables the reader to examine and analyze the reliability and the validity of a study. Research methodology seeks to answer two primary questions, i.e. how the data was generated or collected and the methods that were employed to analyze the data. This research is a quantitative study that will use the positivism philosophy. This quantitative methodology is suitable for this research as it will enable and aid the researcher to decide what to study and help in formulation of hypotheses and collection of numerical data to test the hypotheses. Kumar (2014, as cited in Mukherji&Albon, 2018) describes this quantitative approach as a structured approach wherein the researcher can decide the research process even prior to collection of data. According to Coolican (2013); Haslam and McGarty (2014), the quantitative methodology measures, quantifies or finds the extent of a phenomenon while the qualitative method describes experiences, emphasises meaning and explores the nature of an issue. In addition, the quantitative study will also enable the researcher to gain a deeper knowledge and provide an insight to comprehending the opinions of a large population, a broad capability which the qualitative methodology is unable to provide.
A Research Design refers to a plethora of procedures and methods that are employed in the collection and analysis of variable that are stated in the research problem. Research design helps in defining the type of study, i.e. whether it is semi-experimental, descriptive, meta analytic, review and correlation, in addition to methods of data collection and a plan for statistical analysis. Research design refers to a framework, which is created in order to seek answers to the various research questions. Research design has been differentiated into two separate types: exploratory and conclusive. Exploratory research design aims to look into specific aspects of the research investigation. However, the exploratory research design will not be able to provide comprehensive and decide answer of the research questions posed. For this reason, conclusive research design was chosen and it is well suited with quantitative data analysis. Both the approaches together are successful in providing answers to the research questions that give answers or solutions that closely reflect reality. The research design will be able to provide information about the customer satisfaction levels in the Northshore Resource Centre. Through this research, the Northshore Resource Centre will be able to understand and assess the area where they were lacking. By fulfilling their lacking and shortcoming, they will be able to increasing customer satisfaction levels, which will ultimately help them to improve their business.
It is proposed that quantitative primary data will be collected through survey/questionnaires. It has been identified that there are two types of data collection method that includes primary and secondary data collection method. In this research work, primary data collection method has been selected. The plethora of advantages of quantitative data analysis include the fact that it allows a greater scope for study thereby making the study more comprehensive in nature, involves a bigger number of subjects thereby improving the generality of the results. Quantitative methods help to provide the summaries of data which support generalisations pertaining to the phenomenon that is being studied. One major advantage of quantitative research is the fact that it is easy to calculate the data and the consequent results can be shown clearly through objective data. Unlike qualitative research, quantitative research which is based more on numerical data and less on observation. The numerical basis of quantitative data also makes it easier to make predictions. The capability to develop quantitative data into predictions is also another major advantage. Quantitative data will be helpful in developing a strong case study with the contribution from the data collected as the resource centre serves to a large number of customers ranging from various demographics (Etikanet al. 2016). Moreover, the survey method will be able to provide various options as close ended questions, which will be more specific. Open ended interviews with a large sample size would provide a vague and limited understanding. According to Creswell and Creswell (2017), primary quantitative data will be collected directly from the source through surveys/questionnaires. According to Saunders and Lewis (2012), quantitative data is a measure of values and are expressed in numbers, with the main aim being to evaluate on how many, how often or how much a value is measured. Therefore, the researcher proposes to use the survey/questionnaires to collect primary quantitative data.
The proposed study will sample the respondents through convenience sampling procedure. The data collection will be performed in a non-probable random sampling method. This will be beneficial as the various demographics coming to the resource centre will find proper representation in the survey. A total of 100 participants will be selected in the sampling procedure. However, the sampling procedure will be guided by ethical concerns. It will be ensured that consent is sought from each participant actively before they are asked to take part in the survey or answer the questions in the questionnaire. According to Etikan, Musa and Alkassim (2016), convenience sampling is a nonprobability sampling strategy in which participants are selected due to their convenience in accessibility and proximity to the researchers. Therefore, the researcher proposes to use the convenience sampling technique.
As discussed in section 4.2.2, the study will utilize convenient sampling to approach customers face to face. The data shall be collected by conducting questionnaire survey that comprises of certain demographical and question based on 7 Likert scale. During the internship period, the researcher will give surveys to the customers when they visit the organization. Before distributing surveys, the researcher will first start by explaining to the customers the significance of the study and their contribution by filling and returning the surveys. The length of the survey will be kept short, although emphasis will be given towards exhausting every possible choice to the question that is presented to the participants. Additionally, the completion of the data collection process will be followed by a comprehensive evaluation of the efficiency of the data that is obtained. Pertinent questions will be asked like whether it is detailed enough, whether it covers all the aspects of the overarching topic and whether it is inferential enough to bring about a positive impact in North Shore resource Centre’s operational processes and their service quality.
The nine steps that help in developing a questionnaire include deciding the information that is required, defining the target respondents, choosing the method to reach one’s target respondents, deciding on the content of question, developing the question wording, putting questions in a proper format and order that is clearly understandable and makes sense, checking the length of questionnaire, pre-testing the questionnaire and developing the final survey form. There are two kinds of questionnaires that include exploratory questionnaires and Formal standardized. The questionnaires used in this research are formal standardized questionnaires. Formal questionnaires are characterized by order of questions and prescribed wording, in order to ensure that every respondent gets the same kind of stimuli. Formal questionnaires are also characterized by explanations to each and every question thereby ensuring that interviewer’s consistently handle questions and are in a position to answer the queries of the respondents for clarification in case they occur.
The survey questionnaire chosen for this research is adopted from previous studies done by Munusamy, Chelliah&Mun (2010). The source was selected with its questionnaires because the study was also testing the variables similar to the proposed study. Their findings included the fact that tangibles in service quality have the biggest impact on customer satisfaction. This aspect can be thoroughly utilised in accordance to this study through which it has been evident that customer satisfaction can thing better opportunities to an organisation to develop itself and achieve organizational benefits. These include the state and appearance of physical facilities, the existing technology and equipment used to dispense service, the working personnel and the way in which the organisation communicates with its customers. Each of these aspects has been incorporated in the questionnaire to obtain an accurate idea of the extent to which such tangibles have had an impact on client relations at North Shore Resource Centre.
The researcher has made some modifications to the questionnaire to make them adequate for this study. These include the level of trust that customers have on the personnel, their perception of the employees’ willingness to help, promptness of service and convincing mannerism in conducting business. In initial part of survey questionnaire, four demographic and multiple-choice questions will be integrated for gathering respondent information for instance association of participants with company, age, gender, education, and profession. The second section of questionnaire shall comprise of ten statements related to sustaining customer satisfaction and related research hypothesis. This will be done to ensure that the cause-effect relationship between various responses and the demography of the respondents can be properly understood before moving on to more objective assessment of the service quality of North Shore Resource Centre. Survey questions will be based on the 7 Likert scale which consists of strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree. The people being interviewed for the survey will be requested to fill the questionnaires on the spot. Thus, with the help of the questionnaires from the work by Munusamy et al., (2010), the study will be in a position to prove or disprove its hypotheses and test the theory.
The researcher will assure the data collected is reliable. The reliability and validity of the instrument is extremely important in collecting data for research. An instrument is perceived to be valid if it is able to measure what is meant to be measured. In a quantitative research, the instrument that is frequently used is the questionnaire. This is because the data analysis procedure will adopt the SPSS software which is also accurate and scientifically reliable. In SPSS software, the researcher will utilize Cronbach alpha test that proves reliability. Reliability in research methods is defined as the way by which the credibility of obtained data and quality of the measurement procedures can be explained and verified (Heale&Twycross, 2015). In this research, the reliability of the study will be dependent on how stable or constant each of the two variables, NSRC’s operational processes/service quality and their end customer satisfaction. The survey data will be analysed and process using the SPSS data processing software. This software effectively handles a large amount of data in a reliable way at a rapid pace.
According to Bonett and Wright (2015), the Cronbach alpha test is a measure of internal consistency or how closely correlated a set of items are as a cluster. Hence, the researcher will maintain the reliability of this study through using SPSS software to analyse the data, a valuable process of measuring the reliability of a set of items. As per the view of Henseleret al. (2015), the validity of a research refers to both the research design and methods being conducted for the completion of the research. It essentially means that the observed findings are truly representative of the phenomenon that the research aims to study, highlight and measure. This is one of the main concerns of any research and in this case, controlling external factors like individual bias, subjective analysis and information overlap will be controlled to ensure that the validity of the research is not compromised.
The analysis of data taken from the interviews and surveys will be analyzed by first looking at the top research questions. The next step is to cross-tabulate the results and filter the results, deriving calculations based on numbers and finally drawing conclusions.In this research, SPSS analysis will be used. In SPSS analysis, the researcher will conduct tests such as Cronbach alpha, regression and correlation analysis. The software is one of the most preferred data analyses, mainly when used with the natural language processing technologies that are primarily designed for survey/questionnaires texts (Fink, 2015). Data collected through surveys will be categorized and regrouped based on their relevance to ease analysis. The data collected through the surveys will be analysed using the SPSS software program, through excel. The software of Text Analyticsis chose for this research so that unstructured data can be accessed and evaluated in a thorough manner. This program essentially helps in process of organising structured data into appropriative qualitative data in accordance to its key variables. The information for the data will be extracted through a survey. The basis of the data analysis is formed by the positivist approach. This approach states that a research needs to be based upon the facts and information.A research cannot make any actions without basing them on facts. These facts will be presented clearly in the research to make it easy for academics to comprehend (Meyers, Gamst & Guarino, 2016). It also helps to understand key scientific variables such as quality and strength based on sentiment analysis, which is the process of identifying and categorising a set of opinions on any topic based on whether they are positive, negative or neutral (Fink, 2015). Thus, the proposed study will utilize the Text Analytics for Surveys Program for data analysis procedures. Using the SPSS software, the researcher will use demographical, Cronbach alpha, regression and correlation analysis. This will provide a thorough idea about how the opinions of the participants vary according to their sex, age, race and level of education.
This information will be represented in various charts and graphs. Similarly, Cronbach alpha gives an accurate estimate of internal consistency or how closely a set of items are related to each other. It is essentially a measure of the reliability of the findings. Likewise, regression analysis helps in understanding the inter relationship between dependent and independent variables. It also helps in understanding to what extent the dependent variable varies with changes in the independent variable. Lastly, correlation analysis is a statistical technique that helps in measuring the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables. The data will also be selected based on their relevance and according to the research objectives.
The ethical issues in this research are informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity. Informed consent is a voluntary agreement for the participants to get involved in a study (Barcia et al., 2017). Thus, the ethical issues will be dealt with by ensuring that every participant is assured of their anonymity and their privacy and confidentiality would be ensured by using information lawfully and fairly. It would be used exclusively for research purposes. The information garnered would be used in a relevant, adequate and is not excessive in nature and would not be kept longer than necessary. In addition, the information would be kept secure and safe.Appropriate measurements such as secured database can be utilised in order to overcomesuch issues. Thiswill be done by making sure that every questionnaire does not contain the names and positions of the participants in the organization. Additionally, access to identifiable information will be limited to prevent any form of data leak.
The participants will be given coded numbers as their identities. The study will also seek ethical consent documentation from the NSRC. This documentation provides legal authority to use participant’s information in order to perform this research in an appropriate manner. On the other hand, if some participant so not gives consent, their decision is required to be respected. The ethical concerns in this study are of significance because the reviews are supposed to be objective and as such, protecting the confidentiality of the participants allows for credibility and authenticity of the overall results (Resnik, 2011). Therefore, to further ensure the confidentiality of participants, face sheets containing identifiers like name and address will be removed from survey instruments after the data has been procured from the participant. Furthermore, identifiable data will be encrypted and stored away safely for future reference. Thus, the researcher will be able to deal with the above ethical issues.
The Gantt chart below shows the tasks that the researcher will be carrying out during her 10-week internship programme. This timeline is appropriate as it displays the list of events that will take place chronologically and within a time period that is sufficient to source, collect, test and analyse data relevant to the subject.
