TOURISM & TRAVEL INDUSTRY

Impacts of the Internet on the Travel and Tourism Industry: A Consumers' Perspective

Table of Content

CHAPTER THREE3

3. METHODOLOGY3

3.1 Research Methods3

3.2 Objectives Of The Study12

3.3 Findings and discussions12

Questionaire: Impacts of the Internet on the Travel and Tourism Industry37

REFERENCES41

BIBLIOGRAPHY46

APPENDIX51

Chapter Three

3. Methodology

3.1 Research Methods

The primary data collection commenced with quantitative data, which were conducted in a non-structured manner. The most prominent themes and issues were extracted from the focus group findings for questionnaire design purposes. They were also used to support the development of conceptual framework as well as the measurement items of the questionnaire. This was followed by the quantitative data collection which was a questionnaire survey.

Owing to the nature of the research, accessibility to the target audience and facilities available, this study employed online survey which involved web-based questionnaire for the main data collection process. An e-mail database acquired from a research agency represents the total population of e-shoppers in the UK. Sample of e-mails were picked at random by a generated sampling system, similar to random digital dialling. This approach deemed to permit generalizations.

E-mail invitations with a web-link to the survey page were used as a vehicle for inviting and reminding respondents to participate for the survey. To encourage participation, this study offered the respondents the opportunity to enter into a lucky draw to win a flight voucher sponsored by BMIBaby.com. The online survey was activated for two weeks with 300 e-shoppers participated.

The potential richness in information gathered through Quantitative methods used for this research is thought to serve as a basis for further development or research questions and also to deepen our knowledge about the concepts of customer value in an online environment. A Quantitative methodology, which is characterized by the closeness between the researcher and the object through for example personal in-depth questionnaire, is believed to generate valid information and hence give a good basis from which to analyse and discuss the results.

The questionnaire for this research were designed according to two different techniques which are believed to complement each other. Moderately structured in-depth questionnaire have been carried out, using both laddering techniques (a one-on-one in-depth interviewing technique used to establish association networks of how customers link product attributes to higher levels of abstract values following means-end theory) and a method called “the grand tour” (an interviewing technique which explores in detail how a product or service is experienced by a customer in a specific context through asking the customer to describe the situation in detail). Both these techniques are used in the study and adapted from Woodruff and Gardial (1996) and Reynolds and Gutman (1988). The laddering technique, more structured than “the grand-tour”, is helpful in finding the connections between attributes, consequences, and desired end states since they are often explicit using this methodology. Connections between levels in the hierarchy are possible through using probes during the interview.

An example of such probes, in trying to build ladders for each attribute identified, is to ask why it is important and what it means to ...