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Chapter-3

Services Quality Dimension Technique of E-Commerce Websites

3.1 Methodology of Website Quality

I have outlined in my research purpose and research questions in Chapter One.

The aim of this chapter is to:

Discuss my research purpose in relation to other purposes

Expound my research approach and strategy, followed with the

data collection and sample selection methods being adopted

Introduce the research techniques that I have utilized in the pursuit

of our goals

Present the data analysis methods and the credibility of the research

findings.

In trying to explore this theme, I have been try to identify factors that

were found to be significant in prior research. I have already discussed in brief

the role and influence of traditional service quality dimensions, online service

quality dimensions, and the role of perceived ease of use and usefulness. Thus

the emergent questionnaire would include technology adoption, perceived ease

of use, and perceived Usefulness or Utility, while taking Servqual as the basis

for designing the tool.

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It is viewed that the collection of data will take place in geographically

varied markets. I am doing so from the customer’s point of view, that is

judging the customer’s perception of the service quality offered by e-

businesses (B2C). Discovering the relative weight age between the service

components will help us identify which factors motivate customers more, or

which factors play an important role in the customer’s perception about the

service quality of an internet based service provider.

Literature search, surveying certain people about their experiences,

focus groups, and case studies. For instance, when surveying people,

exploratory research studies would not try to acquire a representative sample,

but rather, seek to interview those who are knowledgeable and who might be

able to provide insight concerning the relationship among variables. Case

studies can include contrasting situations or benchmarking against an

organization known for its excellence.

Exploratory research may develop hypotheses, but it does not seek to

test them.

3.2.2 Descriptive Research

When a particular phenomenon of a nature is under study, it is

understandable, that research is needed to describe it, to explain its properties

and inner relationships (Huczynski and Buchanan 2011). The object of

descriptive research is “to portray an accurate profile of persons, events or

situations”(Robson, 2007). In academic research, descriptive research is more

rigid than exploratory research. When conducting a management or business

research, it seeks to describe users of a product or service, determine the

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proportion of the population that uses a product or service, or predict future

demand for a product or service. As opposed to exploratory research,

descriptive research should define questions, people surveyed, and the method

of analysis prior to beginning data collection. In other words, the who, what,

where, when, why, and how aspects of the research should be defined. Such

preparation allows one the opportunity to make any required changes before

the process of data collection has begun. However, descriptive research should

be thought of as a means to an end rather than an end in itself (Saunders,

Lewis and Thornhill, 2010)

3.2.3 Explanatory and Empirical Research

The study can be explanatory and Empirical when the focus is on

cause-effect relationships, explaining what causes produced what effects (Yin

2008). Explanatory (or Causal) research seeks to find cause and effect

relationships between variables. It accomplishes this goal through laboratory

and field experiments.

Our research purpose and research questions reveal that this study is

primarily descriptive. Large-scale survey studies are conducted on the online

customers’ value perception aspect. The related secondary data is collected

and analyzed from other literature or previous research to verify the

hypothesis or result as well. Especially, in the analysis and conclusion stage,

the study becomes slightly explanatory, as the research questions of this study

will suppose to be inferred in the final chapter and conclusions will be drawn.

3.3 Investigative Approach of Website Qualities

1. Qualitative, quantitative or multiple?

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The qualitative and quantitative methods refer to the means through

which one chooses to discuss and analyze the selected data (Patel & Davidson,

2010). A survey was conducted to develop empirical evidence on the

important E-commerce website quality factors. The questionnaire consisted of

ninety quality factor statements under eight categories: Attractiveness

(attractiveness of the web site design), Content Adequacy (content relevant to

the purpose of the website), Readability (content is readable), Reliability

(customer Website service is reliable), Efficiency (website is responsive),

Navigation (ease to navigate around the website Quality), User Friendliness

(website is easy to use), and Security ( E-commerce Website online

transaction is secured). There are between six to twenty-seven items in each

category. A five-point Likert scales was used to measure the degree of

importance from the ‘Most Important’ (5) to ‘Not Important’ (1). The survey

comprised of demographic profile: age, gender (male or female), education

level, occupation, income category and other information such as E-banking,

credit card owed, e-shopping experience, and reasons for shopping online.

Opinions on what made up a good e-commercial web sites and whether

they would be willing to shop at Singapore e-commerce web sites. Majority of

the respondents were part-time working adults from the University. 67.3%

responded were female; 65.3% aged between 21 and 31 years old; 94.5% had

education qualification of degree and above; and 73% were working, in which

69.8% earned between $1200 and $5999. 78.4% owned a credit card and

72.8% have shopped online before.

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A series of web site evaluations using the proposed quality factors

were conducted and factor analysis was performed on the data to further

understand the quality factors; however, I will only give a brief summary in

the discussion section without reporting the details in this paper due to limited

space.

3.2 Research Purpose of E-commerce website

Every researcher has his/her own personal motivation to perform a

scientific study while in general according to Yin (2008), Wiedersheim-Paul

and Eriksson (2009) the types of research purpose can be classified in three

categories: Exploratory research, Descriptive research and Explanatory(or

Causal) Empirical Examination Test research.

3.2.1 Exploratory Research

Exploratory research is characterized by its flexibility. When a

problem is broad and not specifically defined, the researchers use exploratory

research as a preliminary step (Gail, 2010). By an exploratory study we mean

a study of a new phenomenon (Yin 2008).

Exploratory studies are a valuable means of finding out “what is

happening; to seek new insights; to ask questions and to assess phenomena in

a new light”(Robson, 2011). Exploratory research has the goal of formulating

problems more precisely, clarifying concepts, gathering explanations, gaining

insight, eliminating impractical ideas, and forming hypotheses. It can be

performed using a literature search, surveying certain people about their

experiences, focus groups, and case studies. For instance, when surveying

people, exploratory research studies would not try to acquire a representative

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sample, but rather, seek to interview those who are knowledgeable and who

might be able to provide insight concerning the relationship among variables.

Case studies can include contrasting situations or benchmarking against an

organization known for its excellence.

Exploratory research may develop hypotheses, but it does not seek to

test them.

3.2.2 Descriptive Research

When a particular phenomenon of a nature is under study, it is

understandable, that research is needed to describe it, to explain its properties

and inner relationships (Huczynski and Buchanan 2011). The object of

descriptive research is “to portray an accurate profile of persons, events or

situations”(Robson, 2008). In academic research, descriptive research is more

rigid than exploratory research. When conducting a management or business

research, it seeks to describe users of a product or service, determine the

proportion of the population that uses a product or service, or predict future

demand for a product or service. As opposed to exploratory research,

descriptive research should define questions, people surveyed, and the method

of analysis prior to beginning data collection. In other words, the who, what,

where, when, why, and how aspects of the research should be defined. Such

preparation allows one the opportunity to make any required changes before

the process of data collection has begun. However, descriptive research should

be thought of as a means to an end rather than an end in itself (Saunders,

Lewis and Thornhill, 2010)

3.2.3 Explanatory and Empirical Research

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The study can be explanatory and Empirical when the focus is on

cause-effect relationships, explaining what causes produced what effects (Yin

2008). Explanatory (or Causal) research seeks to find cause and effect

relationships between variables. It accomplishes this goal through laboratory

and field experiments.

Our research purpose and research questions reveal that this study is

primarily descriptive. Large-scale survey studies are conducted on the online

customers’ value perception aspect. The related secondary data is collected

and analyzed from other literature or previous research to verify the

hypothesis or result as well. Especially, in the analysis and conclusion stage,

the study becomes slightly explanatory, as the research questions of this study

will suppose to be inferred in the final chapter and conclusions will be drawn.

3.3 Explorative Approach of Website Qualities

1. Qualitative, quantitative or multiple.

The qualitative and quantitative methods refer to the means through

which one chooses to discuss and analyze the selected data (Patel & Davidson,

2008). Qualitative research is the search for knowledge that is supposed to

investigate, interpret, and understanding the phenomena by the means of an

inside perspective (Patel & Tebelius, 2007). Furthermore, Yin (2008) states

that qualitative methods are often related to case studies, where the aim is to

receive thorough information and thereby obtain a deep understanding of the

research problem. Qualitative research is softer, and explores why people act

or think the way they do, and is most effective when ‘open ended’, as in focus

groups or in-depth interviews.

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A quantitative approach implies the search for knowledge that will

measure, describe, and explain the phenomena of our reality (Patel &

Tebelius, 2007). Quantitative research is often formalized and well structured.

Quantitative research is concerned with measurement of numbers, such as the

number of people who would buy a particular product, the percentage of

people who agree with a certain statement, or the satisfaction levels of your

customers. Online research is well-suited to this kind of work.

We are interested in knowing more about how different factors relate

to a customer value perception to an online auction portal; for example, if

different service or technique to adding customer loyalty to the service

provider ‘make any difference’. These ambitions may indicate that we should

use quantitative methods and address a larger population in order to compare

similarities and differences across different customer groups in different

geographic location.

In fact, many research projects start with quantities, and then dig a

little deeper by deploying a bit of quality. It is quite usual for a single study to

combine quantitative and qualitative methods and to use primary and

secondary data (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2010) There’re two major

advantages to employing multi-methods in the same study. First, different

methods can be used for different purposes in a study.

Second, multi-methods enable triangulation to take place.

Triangulation refers to the use of different data collection methods within one

study in order to ensure that the data are telling you what you think they are

telling you. In order to help us gain a deeper understanding of online auction

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customer perception phenomenon, quantative approach will also be adopted

throughout the research process.

3.3.1 Deductive vs. Inductive

According to Saunders(2010), The research should use the inductive

approach, where the author would collect data and develop theory as a result

of the data analysis; While the deductive approach where the authors develop

a theory and hypothesis(or hypertheses) and design a research strategy to test

the hypothesis. Deductive reasoning works from the more general to the more

specific. Sometimes this is informally called a “top-down” approach;

Inductive reasoning works the other way, moving from specific observations

to broader generalizations and theories. Informally, we sometimes call this a

“bottom up” approach (Trochim 2012).

In this study I begin with thinking up a theory about his topic of

interest. Then I try to narrow that down into more specific hypotheses that I

can test. I narrow down even further when I have collect related data to

address the hypotheses. This ultimately leads me to be able to test the

hypotheses with specific data — a confirmation or verification of my original

theories. So I draw on his research approach with deductive trait.

3.4 Research Strategy of Website

Research strategy will be a general plan of how you will go about

answering the research question(s) you have set(the importance of clearly

defining the research question cannot be over-emphasized)( Saunders et al.

2010) If you are not only interested in theoretical matters, you must select a

suitable empirical research strategy. I have in this section firstly show to

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which aspects Yin (2008) pays attention in selecting strategy. There after his

own classification will be derived.

Strategy

Form of research

questions

Requires control

of Behavioral

events?

Focuses on

contemporary

events

Experiment How, why?

Yes

Yes

Survey

Who, what, where,

how many, how

Much?

No Yes

Archival

analysis

Who, what, where,

how many, how

Much?

No Yes/No

History How, why? No No

Case study How, why? No Yes

Table 3.1: Relevant Situations for different Research Strategies

Source: (Yin, 2008).

Yin (2008) compares the case study with experiments, surveys,

histories, and the analysis of archival information. Each strategy has peculiar

advantages and disadvantages, depending on three conditions:

1) Type of research question.

2) Control an investigator has over actual behavioral events.

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3) Focus on contemporary as opposed to historical phenomena.

Since the aim of this study was to collect the answers form a large

scales of online auction user and formulate the best possible answers of the

investigated problems we have mainly chosen a comparison survey from two

user groups in two major online auction portals as our research strategy. This

choice is also partly determined by our research approach, which to most

extent is of quantitative nature. Furthermore, documentation, such as academic

articles and previous studies on the research area, has been used as a form of

secondary data. As stated by Yin (2008), documentation offers the advantage

of being static and thus may be re-examined when necessary, also,

documentation is exact, contains accurate references and other details, and has

a broad coverage over time.

3.4.1 Online vs “Traditional” E-Commerce

Users come to online E-commerce with some key experiential

understandings of the characteristics of traditional E-commerce.

1. Identity. Customers can easily authenticate the identity of a

merchant simply by walking into a bricks-and-mortar store. Stores can be

members of a community and neighborhood; they can be part of customers’

daily experience. There is concreteness about a physical store that no amount

of HTML will ever match.

2. Immediacy. Customers can touch and feel and hold the

merchandise. Tactile cues can drive the decision to buy. A transaction that is

face-to-face is usually unmediated: your communication with the merchant is

not in the hands of a third party or technology (as with ordering by phone).

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3. Value. The item at the center of the commerce transaction — the

product, service, or property that is to be sold/bought — has some kind of

value. Its price is determined and validated through the performance of the

transaction. The seller agrees to a selling price, and the buyer agrees to a

buying price. The value of an item, especially the relative value an item has

for the buyer, is much easier to appraise if that item is close at hand.

4. Discourse. Customers can converse with the merchant face-to-face;

unmediated conversation is basic to human communication. People want the

feedback available from non-verbal behavior, which forms a large part of our

judgment process.

5. Community. Customers can interact with other customers and gain

feedback about the merchant from other customers, as well as by observing

the merchant interacting with other customers.

6. Privacy. Customers can make purchases anonymously with cash;

they usually don’t have to give their name or address. They don’t usually have

to worry about what a store will do with their personal information, although

this is becoming more of an issue with various recent attempts by lawyers to

access private sales and rental records. Privacy is often a measure of how

much of his or her identity a buyer wants to invest in a transaction; sometimes,

we just want to quietly make our purchase and leave with it.

An online commerce customer faces mediation in every element and at

every stage of the commerce transaction. Customers can’t see the merchant,

only the merchant’s website; they can’t touch the merchandise, they can only

see a representation; they can’t wander a store and speak with employees, they

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can only browse HTML pages, read FAQs, and fire off email to nameless

customer service mailboxes; they can’t explore the store’s shelves and product

space, they can only search a digital catalog. A customer at an online

commerce site lacks the concrete cues to comfortably assess the

trustworthiness of the site, and so must rely on new kinds of cues. The

problem for the online customer is that the web is new — to a large sector of

the online audience — and online commerce seems like a step into an

unknown experience.

3.7 Trust & Trustworthiness of E-Commerce Website

Trust is a concept everybody understands at some personal level, but

most people will have trouble enunciating a specific definition of the concept.

Some people will have strict measures they use to evaluate their level of trust

in a person or company, while others rely on a more subjective “feel” for

determining whether to trust somebody.

Just as every person has his or her own way of deciding issues of trust,

every role a person plays will also have its own understanding of trust based

on the specific goals and priorities of that role. Empathy is great for times that

call for compassion and care, but in matters of trust it can be hard to see things

from another’s point of view. When you walk into a store that you have

patronized for years, you have a level or trust about handing over your money

in exchange for goods; the merchant may approach this transaction with an

entirely different level of anxiety about your ability to pay — maybe a new

employee is ringing you up — or your ownership of the credit card you

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proffer. Trust means different things to different people, to different roles, and

in different scenarios.

Trust can mean such things as the following:

Do I believe that what someone says is true and factual?

If you tell me that you will pay me back next week for what you

borrow today, do I believe you?

Do I agree with a person or company’s goal or what they stand for? Is

Microsoft’s dominance of the OS market really the best thing for me as

a computer and software consumer?

Do I believe that a person or company’s goals and/or priorities match

mine? If I registered at a commerce site, and the subsequently sent me

newsletters and notices, is that really a service to me?

Do I believe that a site’s presentation of its informational content is

objective?

Is a site mixing advertising into its supposed editorial content?

The path people take to a level of trust can vary greatly, because some people

work from the premise that trust must be earned, and some from the premise

that trust is assumed but can be lost.

3.7.1 Earning and Losing Trust of E-commerce Website

Trust plays an important part in any transaction, but it may not be a

conscious part. On a basic level, when we enter into a transaction, we make

decisions about our participation: do we complete the transaction, or do we

cancel the transaction?

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Trust is not a characteristic that inheres in an ecommerce site; trust is a

judgment made by the user, based on general experience learned from being a

consumer and from the perception of the particular merchant.

In every transaction, both roles of buyer and seller must make a

decision about trusting the other participant. Sometimes this decision is

conscious, sometimes it’s unconscious and relies on a person’s default beliefs

about trustworthiness in general. For example, some people I have talked with

for this essay approach commerce with a general level of trust; these people by

default trust merchants, but question a merchant’s trustworthiness if they

receive worrying feedback or negative cues. In contrast, many people don’t

especially trust any merchant, and must assemble much positive feedback and

encounter positive cues before deciding to trust a merchant.

Those users that look for signs that they should trust a commerce web

site are searching for the presence of “good” signs and the absence of “bad”

signs. Good signs include professionalism of design, longevity, service,

selection, positive anecdotal comments from other users, and even more points

derived from personal experience. Bad signs include anything that violates

expectations, as well as the obverse of the “good” points: amateurish design,

newness, difficult interface, difficulty finding product, bad anecdotal

comments, etc.

1. Trust. There is no oversight group that can objectively anoint a web

site as being completely trustworthy. Trust is a subjective judgment that must

be made by every user for any site, because individual goals vary and

definitions of trust are unlikely to be consistent.

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The merchants face the difficult task of selling themselves to the user

based on the web site interface and on the advertising of the brand. E-

Commerce sites must convince potential customers to trust the site; E-

commerce Websites have two critical messages for users, “buy from us” and

“trust us”. Without the user’s trust, the merchant can’t sell.

Users look for the presence of positive cues about a site’s general

trustworthiness, as well as for the absence of negative cues. E-Commerce

Websites can influence their impression of trustworthiness by carefully

designing their site to avoid amateurishness, set and meet reasonable user

expectations, and address common user concerns about privacy and security.

Some of the cues a user may look for while evaluating trustworthiness

in a commerce site:

1. Does the information architecture make sense?

If the organization of information doesn’t appear to have been

carefully designed, why expect the site designers to have thought much about

fulfillment and payment systems?

2. Is the site easy to navigate?

Can I find the product I want to buy? Is it easy for me to browser the

site looking for interesting things I might want to buy? If the designers can’t

make the site easy enough to navigate around, why would I trust them to have

made a backend that works?

3. Is the site easy to use?

Can I access and use the site and its offered functionality? Can I

search, browse, and purchase from the site? If I can’t, because of my browser

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and preferred browser configuration, then the site designers are telling me that

they don’t want my business.

4. Are my questions answered?

If I’m concerned about security or privacy, can I find information that

addresses these concerns without having to email a faceless answer-bot? If the

designers didn’t think about my possible needs before I made my purchase,

why expect them to handle my needs after they have my money?

5. Do other people trust this site?

What’s the word about this site? Have customers received their orders

correctly?

6. Am I familiar with this company?

Have I had good experiences with this company before, on or off the

web?

7. Are the prices reasonable?

Is the price realistic or just too cheap? Will they hit me with an

outrageous shipping charge to balance the low price?

Some users will react to a positive answer to these questions,

incrementally working towards a personal measurement of a passing score for

trustworthiness. Others will react to negative answers, presuming a site is

trustworthy but experiencing doubt when one of these issues suddenly appears

to be less than satisfactory. There are no uniform answers to these questions,

and no uniform attitudes of users towards these cues. The lesson for commerce

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sites is to understand their targeted audiences, and address their likely

concerns, and always pay attention to the implications of the site’s design.

3.8 E-Commerce Website Trust Study

The broken link eCommerce Trust Study from Studio

Archetype/Sapient and Cheskin Research presents some interesting analysis

on “the nature of those elements that communicate ‘trust’ in e-commerce sites

are they transactional or graphical.” According to this study:

The factors that produce a sense of trustworthiness need to be

identified, in their entirety. Their interactions need to be understood, and their

relative importance determined. Understanding the roles of these different

factors would allow online retailers to ease consumers’ concerns, and could

hasten the maturation of Web retailing.

The report describes 6 main components (along with a total of 28 sub-

components which I won’t mention here) of a commerce site that suggest

trustworthiness:

1. Seals of Approval —Symbols, like VeriSign and Visa, designed to

re-assure the visitor that security has been established. The companies that

provide these seals of approval are referred to in this report as “security

brands.

2. Brand — The corporation’s promise to deliver specific attributes

and its credibility based on reputation and the visitor’s possible previous

experience

3. Navigation — The ease of finding what the visitor seeks.

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4. Fulfillment — clearly indicates how orders will be processed, and

provides information on how to seek recourse if there are problems.

5. Presentation — Design attributes that connote quality and

professionalism.

6. Technology — State of the art connotes professionalism, even if it’s

difficult to use.

This study has some valuable insights into user attitudes towards trust

and ecommerce sites, and is clearly required reading for anyone interested in

understanding online commerce. I do, however, have some issues with the

report. First, this analysis seems to consider online commerce in isolation.

Ecommerce is a new kind of shopping experience in a new medium, but this

experience is still new enough that the vast majority of people who buy online

learned how to buy offline. Addressing ecommerce in isolation presumes that

it can be studied as its own phenomenon with no experiential antecedents,

which is unrealistic and will likely produce misunderstandings of ecommerce

and user behavior. If this study relies on an assumption that ecommerce is

simply a modal variation of traditional commerce, then any analysis will be

flawed. The fact is that the customer’s experience of the characteristics of

traditional commerce does not map to online commerce, forcing the customer

to seek imperfect analogs. The e-commerce Trust Study would be more

accurate if it had addressed the chasm between what customers understand

from traditional commerce, and what online commerce can possibly address.

Second, I think this report is a bit free in its lack of clear differentiation

between what the merchant can do — suggest that it is trustworthy — and

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what the user must do — decide whether or not to trust the merchant. Granted,

there is no checklist for commerce design that specifies everything that must

be done a certain way to be correct, and no checklist that has a test for

everything that might be done incorrectly. Commerce site designers, however,

must understand that they cannot code trust into a site, they can only suggest

trust. Trust is a property controlled by the customer.

3.9 Data Collection Methods in E-commerce Website

“If you wish to know the road up the mountain, you must ask the man

who goes back and forth on it.” –Zenrinkusi(2011)

3.9.1. Online Survey vs. Offline

A survey is an appropriate strategy due to the fact that the aim is to

answer who, where, how many, or how much questions. There is no faster,

more affordable way to conduct a survey irrespective of size. Furthermore,

due to the quantitative nature of this study, a survey is appropriate because of

its quantitative character.

When should I consider using online survey, and when are other

methods more appropriate? By this, I have consulted below the criteria

concluded by Suzi Bentley(2012) to ensure his decision of using online

survey(two online questionnaires) as his primary methods of data collection.

What are online questionnaires good for?

Measuring perception of different products or brands

Measuring satisfaction

Evaluating websites

Measuring awareness

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Obtaining feedback about future plans

Gathering thoughts on sensitive data

Gaining business-to-business feedback

When should the study be stuck to traditional methods?

When non-written feedback is required When conducting large-scale

national studies

For tracking market share or revenue data

When trying to reach older audiences

If audio or video stimuli are present

The advantages of online survey are that it is cost effective and great

for quantitative research, quick to deploy and can provide a good breadth of

responses. While it is not so good if one need to collect in-depth responses, or

conduct qualitative research. Since our research area is defined in E-commerce

Website online auction, and the primary data I have collected it is also from

online customers group, obviously the online questionnaire methods seems

more natural and effective to be adopted.

3.9.2 Using Secondary Data

As a supplementary of E-commerce website online questionnaires,

secondary data from websites and literatures is collected. As I have mentioned

before, the data collected from survey were quantitative. Secondary qualitative

data were used to present the companies within whose customer base I

conducted my empirical Examination research.

I have placed my study in both the positivist and the interpretive

camps, utilizing a mixture of survey, and secondary data. Previous literature

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describing survey is valuable in identifying the salient points of the survey

methodology, as well as illustrating the weaknesses associated with earlier

research. Rich materials concerning such research are readily available, thus

my research includes a substantial literature review, the enhancement of

earlier research models and the development of an instrument. Research

operations, means the instrument I have adopted on conducting the survey, I

will be discussed and explained in much greater detail in the data presentation

and analysis parts in the thesis.

3.10 Sample Selection of Website Research

For many research questions and objectives it will be impossible for

researcher either to collect or to analyze all the data available due to the time,

money and often access. Many researchers, for example Moster and

Kalton(2006) and Henry(2010), argue that using sampling enables a higher

overall accuracy than a census due to the time saving, designing According to

Saunders et al.(2010), Sampling techniques can be divided into two types:

Probability or representative sampling

Non-probability or judgmental sampling

Probability sampling is most commonly associated with survey-based

research where researcher needs to make inferences from the sample about a

population to answer the research questions or to meet the research objectives.

Based on our data collection methods, probability sampling is the most

suitable type of the subsequence when selecting research samples. In general,

the main criteria for the sample selection in this study are:

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Two major online website auction customer groups from North

America and india

Two major E-commercial Website online auction company Ebay and

Amazon, based in USA/UK

From the user/customer perspective

3.11 Data Analysis Methods

Here I have given detail the operationalization of the practical side of

the thesis – the survey - recounting how I have identified suitable groups for

study and detailing my detailed procedures for technique adoption and data

analysis.

To Judge the difference in service quality, an instrument called

SERVQUAL is used as a basis. User feedback is taken on five key categories

of customer perception, Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Credibility,

and Security. An Anova Single Factor Analysis is done to measure the

variances and to prove or disprove two hypothesis:

Ho (Null Hypothesis) = There is no significant difference between the

companies (grouped by individual components).

H1 = There is significant difference between the companies (grouped

by individual components).

3.11.1 Instrument for Data Analysis

1. SERVQUAL for electronic assistive technology services Quality

: The SERVQUAL instrument was developed by Parasuraman et al. in 2008 to

quantify the gap between customer expectations and perceptions. They define

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expectations as predictions made by consumers about what is likely to happen

during an impending transaction or exchange.

SERVQUAL is a 22-item Likert scale survey, which compares

customer expectations and perceptions regarding five attributes of service

quality:

1) Tangibles i.e. physical facilities, equipment and appearance of

personnel

2) Reliability i.e. the ability to perform the promised service dependably

and accurately

3) Responsiveness i.e. the willingness to help customers and provide a

prompt service

4) Assurance i.e. knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability

to inspire trust and confidence

5) Empathy i.e. caring, individualized attention provided to customers.

According to Parasuraman (2008), assurance and empathy contain

items representing other dimensions such as communication, credibility,

security, competence, courtesy and understanding / knowing customers. In this

study, credibility and security are selected as the core variables in B to C

setting measurement.

The idea of SERVQUAL is for the user of the service to complete the

questionnaire twice. The first version of the questionnaire would contain

questions that refer to the electronic assistive technology services in general in

order to measure the user´s expectations of the service. The second version of

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the questionnaire would contain questions that refer to the electronic assistive

technology services when, or after, the user has experienced the service.

Therefore a negative gap result in the SERVQUAL survey would

indicate that the user’s perceptions of the service is lower than his/her

expectations and would indicate a problem in that particular area.

2. Anova Single Factor Analysis : A factor is a categorical predictor

variable. Factors are composed of levels. For example, treatment is a factor

with the various types of treatments comprising the levels. The levels should

be exclusive, that is, a subject should appear under only one level which in this

case means given a single type of treatment (Gerard E. Dallal).

The term Single Factor ANOVA, One Way Analysis of Variance, and

One Way ANOVA are used interchangeably to describe the situation where a

contiuouse response is being described in terms of a single categorical variable

or factor composed of two or more categories. It is a generalization of the test

for independent samples to situations with more than two groups.

The detailed implementation of the SERVQUAL and ANOVA analysis

methods control and manipulations in my study it will be presented in the

following data presentation and analysis chapters.

3.12 Validity and Reliability of Research Findings

The table below demonstrates parallel concepts that come under the

general umbrella of reliability and validity for quantitative designs. (Guba, E.

& Y. Lincoln 2009) Common Understanding of this Concept Consistency

Quantitative methods Reliability - get the same results on repeated tries.

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(Consistency sets limits on the truth value and Types: applicability of

your research.)

stability over time

representativeness across samples

intercoder

Truth value

Applicability

Neutrality

Internal/Construct Validity - the items used to measure the concept form a

single, coherent whole.

Content validity - the measure covers the range of meaning included in the

concept.

External Validity/Generalizability - the measurement of the concept actually

measures what you intend it to. If you took this measurement or these findings

to another situation they would still apply.

Objectivity - the researcher maintains the proper distance from the subject to

avoid biasing the research.

Common

Understanding of

this

Quantitative methods

Concept Consistency

(Consistency sets

limits on the truth

Reliability - get the same results on repeated tries.

Types:

stability over time

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value and applicability

of your research.)

representativeness across samples

interceders

Truth value

Internal/Construct Validity - the items used to

measure the concept form a single, coherent whole.

Content validity - the measure covers the range of

meaning included in the concept.

Applicability

External Validity/Generalizability – the measurement

of the concept actually measures what you intend it

to. If you took this measurement or these findings to

another situation they would still apply.

Neutrality

Objectivity - the researcher maintains the proper

distance from the subject to avoid biasing the

research.

Table 3.2: Reliability and validity for quantitative designs

Validity measures if the information received is the information meant to be

received (Merriam, 2008). If a question can be misunderstood, the information

is said to be of low validity. In order to avoid this situation, the questions for

the online survey were planned carefully and optimized before putting onto

the web. In order to make sure the respondents gave the valid answers, the

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questions also have been reviewed and further clarified during a trial stage.

While the external validity can be low due to the limited research objectives

selections, my sampling groups are from two accredited online auction

websites in the world, this can guarantee to a great extent for the final

conclusion applicability.

Reliability is synonymous with the consistency of a test, survey,

observation, or other measuring device. Because my research is of quantitative

trait, the reliability of the findings can be ensured by ensuring the survey time

scale, stability, equalization questionnaires design and even the objectivity of

the measurement instrument itself.

3.13 Methodology Summary of E-commerce Website

When we talk about “studies,”I have actually be referring to any of a

number of different things, using such diverse techniques as surveys,

interviews, experiments, case studies, and field research. These different

techniques vary widely not only in the way they are conducted, but also what

their results mean, and especially what I can conclude from them. In

conclusion, my general methods of research and the corresponding

effectiveness comparing the other two research purpose categories are is

demonstrated in the table below.

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Table 3.3: Research Methods adopted

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