Customer Satisfaction - Quantitative And Qualitative Rm

INTRODUCTION:

This report on advantages of qualitative and quantitative research methods, applied in studying customer satisfaction of a book store, aims to present the differences and strengths of both research methods and which will fit better for this particular case.

Many books refer to how to approach people in order to understand behaviour and to formulate theories in a more flexibleway, others, are more objective and use deductive process and report the reality on observed effects. In general, there is no consensus to which method should be used as it will depend of the objectives of the research and is for the research team to choice the best suitable method.

Researchers need to know which type of data gathering will be used: for qualitative research the most commonare in-depth individual interviews, structured and non-structured interviews, focus groups, and participants’ observation. For quantitative research, questionnaires and surveys are the most commonly used to collect numerical data.

The results of any research project should provide information about the situation. This will help to make the right decisions in procedures and to obtain conclusions.This information should be relevant, clear, complete, timely and trustful. The importance of ethics and responsibility are also points to keep in mind.

Independent of the chosen method or a mixture of methods, the obtained data should be reliable, valid and easy to interpret and analyse. Thus, is very important to have clear objectives and to clearly define the aim of the research.BACK GROUND


Since 1950, scientists emphasises are in the idea of having systematic methods of research in order to respond better to solutions of problems. There are two principal research methods (Silverman, D. third ed.)

1. Qualitative research intends to explain situations and social phenomena from inside by analysing experiences and behaviours of individuals or groups, interactions orcommunications (Flick U. (2007)). This form is more open and focuses in deeply exploring the situation of a phenomena. It is time consuming and needs more dedication.

2. Quantitative involve numbers: collection and analysis of data in a numeric form. It assumes that social reality is objective and tries to confirm the hypothesis about phenomena.

However, in the last 30 years, the importanceof the naturalistic and subjective approach has increased and the decision, which is the best method to implement, depends of the research subject. As shown in this report, a combination of both methods could be appropriate to respond to the research question.


It is necessary to add that before beginning with the study the researcher needs to be familiar with the subject, in this case tounderstand customer satisfaction and also to know how the business of a book store is working. The familiarization with the subject will help in deciding which method will be the most convenient for this study.

For this specific study researchers need to:

• know the book store business and the environment, both online and face to face;
• understand what is the meaning of customer satisfaction.Although is not part of this report, below is a brief description of customer satisfaction and also a general description of the activities of a bookshop online and face to face This is only for a better understanding.


Customer Satisfaction:

Nowadays, businesses are very competitive and any company that wants to stay in the market needs to respond to what the customer needs andwants. According to Kottler (2006), satisfaction is when the customer is satisfied or not satisfied with the performance of the product and the expectations of the consumer. If the product exceeds the expectations, then the client will be very satisfied with the product.

Companies need to add value to their products and to maintain a competitive advantage. This will create loyalty.

Referring...