The Data Collection Procedure

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

According to (Walliman, 2005) there are two main categories of data for the purpose of the current research, the primary data and the secondary data. The current research adopted both primary and secondary data in order to address the primary research questions.

The specific area highlighting the procedures that took place in order to collect data from both the survey and the interviews.

The survey took place for the period of the month of September 2012. The delivery of questionnaires took place in Paphos Town. The particular city was selected to conduct the survey since four most important branches of the big four Cyprus banks are based and located. The distribution of the questionnaire method took place throughout days during banks' opening hours between 08:00 a.m. to 13:30 p.m.

Potential participants were initially approached in each bank’s branch and were asked whether they are familiar with the internet banking and for how long they have been using the internet banking process. If their answer where met the criterion set for sampling purposes, customers were then friendly asked to contribute in the examination. Also the purpose of the research was explained clearly to the participants. The purpose of the survey was also available in written on the questionnaire (Appendix IV) and participants could read it carefully. To certify the ethicality of the study, we were provided to the participants with an informed consent (Appendix II) in order to assure participants that research ethics have really considered in the research. Where respondents accepted to contribute, the questionnaire was given to them together with proper stationery. Contributors were escorted to an appropriate place so that the questionnaire completion process would be more easy and comfortable. Throughout the procedure, contributors were able to receive and provided any explanations of misunderstandings.

The Research Instrument

Considering Birmingham & Wilkinson a research instrument may be well-defined as "a device for obtaining information relevant to a research project" (Birmingham & Wilkinson, 2003, p. 3). Appendix IV shows clearly the structured questionnaire that was presented in the research. Firstly an explanation is given regarding the aim of the survey in order to help the contributors to have a more informed decision. The following part concentrates on collecting data for demographic and personal information of the contributors. The third part is the questionnaire of the current research consisting of completely twenty-four objects. All items were based on a five point Likert-scale, where responses were ranged from Strongly Disagree [1] to Strongly Agree [5]. Hence, the survey contributors could select one option from the five presented answers for each item. The option of "Neutral" was provided for cases where internet banking users had no experience with any item of the questionnaire.

Pilot Test

As Bickman & Rog mentioned "new flaws that were not noted by the researcher" (Bickman & Rog, 1998, p. 30) Pilot testing is a significant step in any study due to its potential of revealing. The current tool was first sent to three bank staffs that have a managerial position in the internet banking division of a specific bank. They all agreed that the scale was appropriate and suitable and the items selected were reflective to each dimension of internet service quality. On the other hand they recommended slight changes in the wording of current terms so that they become more understandable to the participants.

A second pilot test was similarly directed on a small group of five very experienced internet banking users. An explanation was given to them the concern of designing a well-understandable instrument without difficult wording that might not be understood by contributors, so they were asked to go through it and make proposals and recommendations for perfection and improvement. The recommendations made were very useful and taken into justification and account in completing the instrument. A common recommendation made by all pilot test contributors was that a brief explanation of each dimension should be provided in order for the research contributors to completely understand and realize the meaning of each dimension before answering the questions. Also after expression concern made by contributors in the pilot test regarding the language that the Cypriots may some of them won understand the English one questionnaire, a decision was conducted and a translation was made in order the contributors fully understand of the meaning of each question (Appendix V).

Linking the Questionnaire with Research Question Two and Three

The design of the questionnaire was mainly resulted from the findings of the secondary research and, particularly, from the theoretical framework of the study consisting of five dimensions - reliability, responsiveness, security, accessibility and quality of information. In designing the instrument, the author set certain items corresponding to each dimension to gather data on the level of customer satisfaction with and importance of each dimension according to the perspective of Cypriot internet banking users.

Research Question Two

Research question two seeks to gather information on "which dimensions of internet service quality satisfy and which dimensions dissatisfy Cypriot electronic banking users in the context electronic banking?" In the questionnaire, a total of four items were chosen to correspond to each dimension with exemption of the dimension of quality of information, which is corresponded by three items. Therefore, the level of the survey participants’ satisfaction with each service quality dimension was reflected by the total responses on the four items of each dimension. The choice of the questionnaire’s item was based on the definition of each service quality dimension and its conceptual meaning as provided in the literature. The following questions of the questionnaires are related to research question 1:

Items 1, 2, 3 and 4 correspond to the dimension of reliability and evaluate the levels of customer satisfaction with the particular dimension.

Items 6, 7, 8 and 9 correspond to the dimension of responsiveness and evaluate the levels of customer satisfaction with the particular dimension.

Items 11, 12, 13 and 14 correspond to the dimension of security and evaluate the levels of customer satisfaction with the particular dimension.

Items 16, 17, 18 and 19 correspond to the dimension of accessibility and evaluate the levels of customer satisfaction with the particular dimension.

Items 21, 22, 23 correspond to the dimension of quality of information and evaluate the levels of customer satisfaction with the particular dimension.

Table 3.1 indicates in detail the items that were selected to measure customer satisfaction with each internet service quality dimension:

Table 3.1: The Instrument’s Items related to Research Question Two

No

Items of the Scale

Corresponding Dimension

1

The service is provided as promised and advertised.

Reliability

2

The service delivery process involves no extra hidden costs

Reliability

3

Any sort of calculation automatically executed by the website is accurate.

Reliability

4

The website’s functioning is proper and web pages’ downloading is quick.

Reliability

6

The bank responds to any transaction by promptly providing a confirmation of the execution of that transaction.

Responsiveness

7

Bank’s responses are relevant to my enquiries and completely answer my questions.

Responsiveness

8

Call-centre staff is ready and willing to help when technical problems occur.

Responsiveness

9

Call-centre staff apologises and compensate when any sort of problem with service occurred.

Responsiveness

11

The bank follows a scholastic and careful procedure when receives and provides personal (ie username and password) or financial information (ie credit card number)

Security

12

I feel that the personal information I provide my bank are protected.

Security

13

I feel secured when executing internet banking transactions.

Security

14

The bank took measures to convince you that any provision of information, either personal or financial is protected and secured.

Security

16

Access to the website’s information and personal account is easy and simple.

Accessibility

17

It is easy to find the contact details of the bank from its website.

Accessibility

18

A variety of contact methods (ie e-mails, telephone, fax etc) to talk to a bank representative is provided.

Accessibility

19

I can easily have access to a bank representative without long waiting time.

Accessibility

21

Information contained on the website is current and timely.

Quality of Information

22

Information provided by emails or call-centre staff is accurate and relevant.

Quality of Information

23

Information contained on the website is rich in detail.

Quality of Information

Research Question Three

After the four questions of each dimension, an additional fifth question is followed asking the participants to specify the importance of each dimension in the level of their satisfaction. The total five questions intended to achieve the third objective of the study, which is "what do Cypriot electronic banking users consider to be the most significant internet service quality dimension or dimensions of those identified in the present study?" The following questions are related to research question 2:

Item 5 evaluates the levels of importance of reliability in the level of satisfaction of Cypriot internet banking users.

Item 10 evaluates the levels of importance of responsiveness in the level of satisfaction of Cypriot internet banking users.

Item 15 evaluates the levels of importance of security in the level of satisfaction of Cypriot internet banking users.

Item 20 evaluates the levels of importance of accessibility in the level of satisfaction of Cypriot internet banking users.

Item 24 evaluates the levels of importance of quality of information in the level of satisfaction of Cypriot internet banking users.

The following table reveals in detail the items of the questionnaire that were selected to gather data on the importance of each dimension in the level of customer satisfaction. Each item is placed in the questionnaire right after the four items of each corresponding dimension.

Table 3.2: The Instrument’s Items related to Research Question Three

Item

Corresponding Dimension

Definition

Secondary Sources Used

I consider reliability to play an important role in my satisfaction with the quality of the internet banking services I receive.

Reliability

The ability to provide an accurate service and keep promises as advertised.

Zeithaml et al. (2002)

Yang et al. (2004)

Parasuraman et al (1985)

Jun & Cai (2001)

Nantel (2000)

Santos (2003)

I consider responsiveness to play an important role in my satisfaction with the quality of the internet banking services I receive.

Responsiveness

The ability to provide a service accurately, consistently and timely.

Johnston (1997)

Jun & Cai (2001)

Santos (2003)

Yang et al. (2004)

Parasuraman et al (1985)

I consider security to play an important role in my satisfaction with the quality of the internet banking services I receive.

Security

The ability to make customers feel protected and secured when providing personal or financial information.

Johnston (1997)

Jun & Cai (2001)

Yang et al. (2004)

Zeithaml et al. (2002)

Song & Zinkhan (2003)

Parasuraman et al. (1985)

I consider accessibility to play an important role in my satisfaction with the quality of the internet banking services I receive.

Accessibility

The ability to provide a service that is approachable and easy and simple to access.

Jun & Cai (2001)

Yang et al. (2004)

Vriens (2000)

Parasuraman et al. (1985)

I consider quality of information to play an important role in my satisfaction with the quality of the internet banking services I receive.

Quality of Information

The ability to provide information that is current, timely, accurate, relevant and rich in detail.

Li et al. (2002)

Liu & Arnett (2000) Santourides et al. (2009)

Data Analysis

The current research, the collected data were analysed in a particular statistical software package, namely SPSS. Data analysis involves examining, categorizing, tabulating or otherwise recombining the collected data (Yin, 1994). The examination will contain general descriptive statistics regarding the level of agreement with different statements and they will be obtainable in the form of graphs, such as bar charts and pie charts. Similarly, tables of frequency distributions will be provided.

Secondary Research

Secondary sources may be well-defined as "data which has already been collected by someone else and the researcher needs only to extract the information required for the purpose of the study" (Kumar, 2005, p. 141). Separately from the main study, also used secondary sources to collect information for the determination of the study. Secondary data plays important role for the current study. For the aim of the secondary research, the majority of secondary data were collected from previous research that has by this time been carried out by others and connected to the aim of the current study. Above and beyond appropriate textbooks and published journals, several online sources such as that of World Stats and E-business forum were used to gather specific data regarding the levels of internet usage as well as internet banking usage in Cyprus.

Reliability and Validity

The concepts of validity and reliability are important considerations in any research in that they determine how compelling the results of the study are (Saunders et al, 2003). Reliability is demonstrated when measures are repeated under the same conditions and yield highly similar measurements each time (Case, 2007, p. 181). From the other hand, Validity refers to the extent to which the results of the survey are exactly about what they appear to be about (Saunders et al, 2003). The current study had followed some specific steps in order to ensure the validity and reliability:

Contributors were confirmed, verbally and in written, that their names and identities would not be made known so that they could feel free and protected to contribute in the study.

Data was collected from population with experience in internet banking usage, which could provide suitable data based on their previous experiences.

The strategy and the design of the survey questionnaire was based on present literature and, mostly, on popular studies on internet service quality.

A pilot test was conducted by three professionals working in the internet banking divisions of a major Cyprus banks and five experienced internet banking users. The pilot test contributed to the design of the actual survey tool that best fit the research objectives of the study.

The survey tool was translated into the Greek language in order for population who won understand in English so it would clearly understand each item of the questionnaire for them.

Ethical Issues

The Market Research Society Code

Many of the methods used in marketing research projects are subject to particular ethical concerns (Smith & Albaum, 2005). In ensuring the compliance of the project with particular ethical standards, the researcher followed the principles of the Market Research Society Code (Appendix VI). The purpose and nature of the research was completely described to contributors verbally and in written. The participants were ensured that the information provided by them would remain confidential and never be used for any purpose other than academic. The consideration and application of the market research ethical code enabled the researcher to fully respect the participant of the survey and treat all the data gathered in as a careful and sensitive way as possible.

Informed Consent

In order to better apply the code of Market Research Society, the researcher has considered the development of informed consent forms. Informed consent is widely being used in human research in order to fully inform participants the risks and benefits of participating in the research in order to make a more informed decision whether or not they are willing to participate (Morse, 1994). The researcher prepared a consent form that was given to questionnaire respondents before filling the survey questionnaire (Appendix II). As with the questionnaire, the consent from was translated in the Greek language (Appendix III) to enable participant to clearly understand the nature of the study and their rights during and after the survey. In the consent form, all the necessary information was enclosed, such as the name of the researcher, the purpose of the project, and assurance that none of their personal details will they be made known to any other person except for research purposes. Finally, respondents were given the opportunity to choose whether or not they wished to receive the outcome of the final project.

Chapter Four

PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

Overview

In the current chapter the data collected from the quantitative survey will be presented. The data were analysed using the descriptive statistics method, which contain detailed percentage and graphical analysis. Data analysis was conducted according to the research question and particularly with respect to satisfaction level of Cypriot internet Cypriot Internet banking for the dimensions of reliability, responsiveness, security, accessibility and quality of information. Additionally, each dimension in satisfaction levels is presented.

1 Demographic Characteristics of the Sample

The second part of the questionnaire aimed at gathering demographic data. Chart 1 shows that the percentage of males was totalled 56.70% of the total sample population, while the remaining of 43.30% were female respondents.

Chart 1: Gender Distribution of the Sample

Chart 2 shows that the larger age group was that of between the ages of 31 to 40 years old (28.3%). However, the age groups of 21 to 30 and 41 to 50 years old were also considerable in proportional terms (22.5% and 24.2% respectively). Finally, the age groups of 20 or below and 51 or above were the smaller groups in the survey (10% and 15% respectively)

Chart 3: Occupation Distribution of the Sample

The majority of the survey’s respondents are employees in the private sector (35.80% of the total sample population), while the 25% of the sample are employees in the public sector and government. Respondents currently being students totalled 17.50%, while respondents running their own business totalled almost 11.70% of the survey’s sample. Finally, the lower percentage was that of unemployed respondents totalling 10% of the whole sample.

Chart 4: Educational Distribution of the Sample

In terms of educational background, most of the respondents are holders of a bachelor degree (38.3%), while a considerable percentage of the sample are only educated to secondary level education. Lower percentages of the sample are holders of either a Masters degree or a PhD (15.80% and 5% respectively). Most of the respondents who selected the option of "other", they described their educational profile as being holders of professional certifications.

Chart 5: Internet Banking Experience Distribution of the Sample

Finally, with respect to the respondents’ levels of internet banking usage and length of experience, the overwhelming majority of respondents have only very recently started using the internet banking method. Particularly, 58% of total sample has only just one year experience with internet banking. This result justifies our initial prediction that Cypriot internet banking users are not expected to have extensive experience with internet banking. This also justifies statistics revealed by the E-business forum (2007) that due to the infancy stage at which internet banking activities in Cyprus is, the internet banking usage by Cypriot consumers is both low and not extensive in length.

Overall, the demographic data indicates that generally the respondents of the survey are younger in age and highly educated, mostly holding positions in either public or private sector, and having relatively low levels of experience with internet banking. Table 4.1 summarises the results associated with the demographic characteristics of respondents.

Customer Satisfaction with Internet Banking Service

Quality

In this section, the responses on satisfaction levels with each dimension of service quality are presented

Reliability

The first four questions of the survey tool were seeking to gather information on the satisfaction levels with regard to the dimension of reliability. Table 4.2 reveal the responses expressed both in numbers and percentage, for each item of reliability dimension.

As it is revealed by both Table 4.2 and Chart 6, the majority of internet banking users (33.3%) slightly agree on that service is delivered as promised and advertised. The 30% of the customers strongly agree on the reliability of the service in that there no extra hidden costs throughout the delivery process. A high percentage of the sample of about 39% strongly agree on the reliability of transactions and, particularly, on the accuracy of calculations when they are automatically executed by the website. Finally, almost 30% of the total sample slightly agrees that the website’s functioning is proper and web pages’ downloading is quick.

Overall, the above results indicate that the survey sample strongly agree with the reliability of internet banking services in terms of, no extra hidden cost on delivery process, and accurate execution of automatic calculation by website and slightly agree on promises given, website’s functioning is proper and web pages’ downloading is quick. Chart 7 shows in percentage the total number of responses associated with reliability.

Responsiveness

The second set of four items was seeking to gather information on the satisfaction levels with regard to the dimension of responsiveness. Table 4.3 reveal the responses expressed both in numbers and percentage, for each item of responsiveness dimension.

Responsiveness

The second set of four items was seeking to gather information on the satisfaction levels with regard to the dimension of responsiveness. Table 4.3 reveal the responses expressed both in numbers and percentage, for each item of responsiveness dimension.

The responses on the levels of satisfaction with the dimension of responsiveness reveal that Cypriot internet banking customers are generally not satisfied with the quality of banks’ responsiveness. Even though the majority of respondents (30.0%) are satisfied with the prompt receipt of confirmation of transactions, they seem to disagree with the remaining corresponding items. Particularly, 32.5% of total responses slightly disagree on that banks’ responses are relevant to their enquiries and completely answer their questions. Moreover, the 30% of customers are strongly disagreed with the readiness and willingness of call-centre staff to help when technical problems occur. Finally, the majority of respondents seem to be dissatisfied with the way in which banks deal with problems with service occurred, since call-centre staff do not apologise or compensate for problematic services. Overall, therefore, respondents seem to be dissatisfied with the dimension of responsiveness. Chart 9 shows in percentage the total number of responses associated with responsiveness.

Security

Items numbered as 11, 12, 13 and 14 were included to gather information on the satisfaction levels with regard to the dimension of security. Table 4.4 summarises the responses expressed both in numbers and percentage, for each item of security dimension.

The above table and chart indicate that 35% of respondents strongly agree with the scholastic and careful procedures followed by banks when they receive and provide personal and financial information. Most respondents believe that the Cypriot internet banking providers are careful about the personal or financial information of the customers. The 32.5% of the sampled population also show strong agreement with statement regarding their feelings of security when executing internet banking transactions. Finally, the majority of respondents are slightly agreed with the measures taken by internet banking providers to ensure that that any provision of information, either personal or financial is protected and secured. Based on the above results, it is obvious that the overwhelming majority of respondents (almost 66%) either slightly or strongly agree with the corresponding items of security dimension and this is a clear indication of high levels of satisfaction with the quoted dimension. Chart11 shows in percentage the total number of responses associated with security.

Accessibility

The fourth dimension of the survey questionnaires was that accessibility and it was assessed by items 16, 17, 18 and 19. Table 4.5 reveal the responses expressed both in numbers and percentage, for each item of accessibility dimension.

The above table and chart of frequency analysis indicate that the 35.8% of respondents are slightly disagreed with the ease and simplicity to access website’s information and personal account. Added to this, 29.2% of customers are slightly opposed to the ease to find the contact details of the bank from its website. There have also been found considerable disagreements with the existence of variety of contact methods (ie e-mails, telephone, fax etc) to talk to a bank representative. A total of 57.5% are either slightly or strongly disagreed with the accessibility to bank representatives. Finally, the majority of customers feel that the waiting time to access a bank representative is long. The results show a general disagreement with the corresponding items of accessibility, which, in turn, reveal low levels of satisfaction with the quoted dimension. Chart13 shows in percentage the total number of responses related to the dimension of accessibility.