Study of Customer Satisfaction for Tata Commercial Vehicles

The research topic is selected, the testable research question is developed, research on the topic is found, the literature review is completed, and a decision is made on the research design. Now, one of the most important steps in the research process to accomplish is the collection of data. Notwithstanding the research project and whether the method of research is whether qualitative or quantitative, data must be collected. Data collection is essential whether the method of choice is a mail survey, a telephone survey, an interview, an experiment, field research, or secondary data analysis. Data collection is an important aspect of any research study. Inaccurate data can impact the results of a study and ultimately lead to invalid results. During the data collection step, a significant amount of time, energy and attention are required. In order to ensure the data collection process is valid and successful, one should adhere to the four steps involved: (1) the construction of a collection data form which is used to organize all data that is collected; (2) the designation of the coding strategy used to represent data on a data collection form; (3) the collection of the actual data; and (4) entry into the data collection form (Salkind, 2012).

The methodology was described with the data collection method. Quantitative and qualitative questionnaire which consisted of closed questions with a choice of fixed answers and free text to enhance qualitative data were sent out in the form of mailshot, followed by telephone call to non-respondents and it was repeated for more wider sample results to gain more evidence to reduce bias (Parahoo, 2006).

The procedure used to collect information for the research study is a survey and the techniques used were interview and questionnaire. An interview is when questions are posed to an individual to obtain information (What Is Survey Research? - Definition, Methods & Types, n.d.). A questionnaire is a series of written questions a participant answers (What Is Survey Research? - Definition, Methods & Types, n.d.). Follow- up questionnaires were administered to participant face- to- face and participants who were living long distance were interviewed by telephone.

The measure which will be utilized to collect data for this project will include the use of questionnaires, which will consist of a significant amount of semi-structured questions will be given during the focus groups. The main advantage of

The survey contains at least 50 items and is projected to take 15 to 20 minutes to complete

The questionnaires will be correctly labelled to ensure survey data will be correctly linked. Verify that all surveys collected have signed consent forms. Track and analyze data as it comes in. All data will be stored on computer files for easy access and to comply with privacy laws. In conducting of the pilot testing, efforts were made by the researcher to ensure the setting, choice of participants and interview methods were as close as those intended in the main study as possible. Interview the participants on any difficulty they encountered while responding to the questionnaires. Record and analyze their responses for drafting the final questionnaires. This form of data collection and management aims ensure the collection of accurate and reliable

Pilot test is necessary to examine the quality of the questionnaire. It helps to check whether there are any problems in answering the questions such as the misunderstanding of content of questions or bugs of settings. 10 respondents were invited to take part in the pilot test. After getting feedbacks from these respondents about the experience of answering the questionnaire, small adjustments were made in terms of the setting of answer choices. The finalized questionnaire was distributed to target respondents.

There were a total of 60 attempts at responding to the survey and all of these were completed, representing a completed response rate of 100%. This suggests that the survey design was accessible to those who responded the survey and that the length of the survey was not a factor that contributed to

The basis of sample surveying is to use a representative selection within a population to define the larger population as a whole. The sample survey should therefore reflect the characteristic make-up of the wider population and where

The strength of questionnaires is it can give an insight into respondent’s thoughts and opinions and also cost efficient as it is inexpensive.

In general, there are several methods for data collection and the different data collection methods provided its own advantages and disadvantages (Sekaran 2003, p. 223). For carrying out the data collection, the appropriate methods should be applied. In the research, the data collection could be done through the interview, for example, face-to-face and telephone interview. To collect the data by using interview technique, the questionnaire is commonly employed as the instrument for gathering data, the questionnaire could be able to distribute by mail or electronic mail. In addition, the data collection could be conducted by observation of individuals with or without audio or video recording. Before choosing the methods for data collection the expertise of the researcher, the degree of accuracy required, time and resources must be taken into consideration. Thus,

When social researchers are doing a survey in quantitative research they employ the structured interview. The structured interview is one of the two main ways of administering a survey research instrument; the main forms of it are face-to-face and telephone. Social researchers prefer using the structured interview, the reason being that it promotes standardization of both the asking of questions and the recording of answers. If the interview is done properly variation in people’s replies will be due to true variant and not due to the interview context. There are two different variables; they are called intra-interviewer and inter-interviewer. A closed type of question is used in quantitative research because it gives the respondent a limited choice of possible answers. One of the advantages when using a closed question is that it is easier to process the data. When processing the data with coding it introduces two errors which are: the coding frame can be flawed, and the possibility of variation of which the answers are categorized. Like interviewing, there can be two sources of coding: intra-coder variability, and inter-coder variability.

As stated previously in the research design section of this paper the data collection methods used were by using survey questionnaires, interviews, focus group interviews and observations.

The research will use various materials for its data collection. It will incorporate the use of questioners to collect data. The questioners will be both open ended and closed questionnaires. The questionnaires will be beneficial for their and are a cost effective tool for data collection. They

The purpose of this chapter is to set out the approaches adopted during data collection and data analysis.