Marketing Information And Research

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Nestle Ghana limited is a fast moving consumer goods producer which started business in Ghana in the year 1957 as a Nestle product (Ghana) .The Company was then solely importing Nestle products such as milk, chocolate etc. Until 1986 when it was incorporated as food specialties (Ghana) limited producers and marketers of the locally well known Nestle brands. The company name change to Nestle Ghana limited in 1987.

Nestle Ghana limited operations has created positive impact on the economy through their corporate Social responsibility activities relating to countries economy. Nestle Ghana effect on the Ghanaian society has led to the recognition of the government.

Nestle has commitment to business principles which take into consideration the laws of the community in which they operate.

Nestle recruit appropriate people and they are given training on how to work with them. Training is valuable at nestle because of it awareness that business success is effectiveness and the efficiency of it management and workers.

1.2 MISSION

Nestle is producing healthy and nutritious food beverages to the people in the country. Through research, they are able to know the right ingredients to be used in the production. They also educate the public on health issues and how important it is to them.

1.3 VISSION

Nestle wants to be the number one producer when it comes to food beverages and baby foods not only in Ghana but worldwide by delighting all customers with superior and new products.

1.4 PRODUCTS

Nestle Ghana manufactures and markets well known brands such as

- Ideal full cream evaporated milk

- Ideal low cholesterol milk

- carnation filled milk

- carnation tea creamer milk

- Milo

- chocomilo

- ceralac

Nestle also imports and distribute brands such as

- Nido powered milk

-Lactogen infant formula

- Non infant formula

- Maggi Bouillons

1.5 COMPETITORS

Nestle Ghana competitors with competitors

- Cadbury

- Promasidor

- PZ limited

- Friesland foods

- Vega foods

1.6 POSITION IN THE INDUSTRY

Nestle is the leading producer of food beverages and baby foods in the Ghanaian market with a corporate image.

1.7 Our Customer Base

The company's customers range from corporate customers and the general Ghanaian publics.

Our corporate customers range from retail and wholesalers food beverage shops, restaurants, hotels etc.

2.0 Research Rationale:

Nestlé has over the years been able to maintain it position in the dairy industry by using its company to communicate and receive information from its target customers.

The company will like to develop a new website due to changes in their business and to respond to the complaints of its customers, but before this is done the company will like to do research on the existing website to determine how profitable it has been and to know whether it was able to achieve its objectives. This is why Caesar Research institute has decided to do research in relation to the objectives quoted in the research brief to gather reliable information that will guide the company in developing their new website.

3.0 Research Objectives

The research which we are to conduct is to achieve the underlisted objectives that have been quoted in the research brief. This is to help the company to know the profitability of the previous website and also to identify whether there was anything about the website that customers did not like about the site, in order to guide us in developing a new company website that will meet expectations the users of the site.

In order to understand the quoted research objectives better, each objective have been broken down into more detail as follows;

1. To examine the attitudes of a range of current users towards the existing website

• What are the purposes upon which they browse Nestlé's current website?
• Do they use the website for any other purpose?
• Do they spend time to read information provided on the website?
• How often do they visit the website?
• Do they compare our website to that of our competitors?
• How do they rate our website in comparison with that of competitors?

Addressing the objective this way can produce useful data as to the attitude towards the company's website

2. To determine how current users navigate through the existing website

• How are they able to navigate for information?
• How often do they use the search engine on the website?
• And do they get the information they want?
• Do they use the hyperlinks that link them to other pages?
• And do the hyperlinks direct them to the right destinations?

Addressing the objective this way will help HFC to know how the users of company's website navigate through the existing website.

3. To compare perceptions of the organisation's website relative to the websites of its competitors

• What do users think about the quality of Nestlé's website to that of competitors?
• Do they find Nestlé's website colourful than that of competitors?
• How resourceful do they find Nestlé's website in comparison with that of competitors?
• How easily are they able to navigate through the current website in comparison with that of Nestlé's competitors?
• What do they find interesting about competitor's website that cannot be found on Nestlé's website?
• How do they rate Nestlé's website and that of Nestlé's competitors?

4. To identify the potentials for enhanced features on the website

• Is the website user friendly?
• How do they find Nestlé's new homepage?
• How fast or slow does it open when they click?
• How do they see Nestlé's new E-commerce shopping cart provided on the website?
• How helpful do they find Nestlé's new auto response help feature?
• How do they see Nestlé's new 24x7 chart support feature?
• How do they see Nestlé's new Flip catalogue/interactive e-catalogue?

5. To assist in the selection of the overall design or the website

• What do they think are the gaps in our existing website?
• What pictures do they wish to see in the new website to be developed? Do they wish to see animated images or still pictures?
• What is the reason for the choice?
• What feature on the website will they suggest to be improved upon?
• Any suggestion to what feature to be repositioned on the website? And why?

4.0Research Methodologies:

In carrying out our research, we will make use both secondary and primary research methodologies to collect data that will guide us in the development o the new company website.

4.1.1Secondary/ Desk Research:

Secondary research is defined as ‘information compiled inside or outside the organisation for some purpose other than the current investigation' (Dibb et al... 2001).

However, this type tends to have been collected for other purposes other than for the current research objectives at hand.

Purpose:

In conducting the research, we will start with secondary research in order to know what information is available to us before we carry out primary research.

This is to make use of the already stored data in the company database.

This will give us insights of how and what to investigate further.

Because the data already exist it saves time and money and also serves as a guide for primary research.

However, this type tends to have been collected for other purposes other than for the problem or objective at hand. For this reason we will carefully examine the data in order to choose the relevant one. In order to collect relevant and concrete data for the research, we will set a criteria to guide us in screening the secondary data.

The following questions will help us to do the screening:

1. How relevant, accurate, and valid is the data?
2. How current and reliable is the information?
3. What is the cost involved in acquiring the information?
4. How long does it take to quire the information?
5. What was the purpose for which the data was collected?
6. Is the data collected bias?

Procedure:

We will conduct a comprehensive research on both internal and external data sources pertaining to the website of Nestlé for the purpose of this project.

Having done that, we will give an interim report base on the research findings

4.1.2Internal Secondary Data:

Internal secondary data is ‘data that have already been generated and/or collected by a business during its normal course of activity' (www.esomar.org/../glossary-i.html).

The internal secondary data of Nestlé are the data that have already been collected and exist inside the company database which references could be made whenever the need arises.

We will need to be provided with some data from the database to help us in the research.

We will need data like;

• Data collected on complaints about the current website
• Data collected on the number of views by browsers per day
• We will need to be provided with ‘FAQ' about the site
• We will need to be provided with previous expenditure made on web designs

The reason for this is to have some facts pertaining to the existing website of the company to guide us in our research.

4.1.3External Secondary Data:

The external secondary data are the ‘existing data that have already been collected by other organizations. (www.esomar.org/index.php/glossary-e.html). Data from outside Nestle which has been collected by individuals, or agencies for other purposes pertaining to Nestle will be referred to for information for the sake of this research.

4.1.4Justifications of Secondary Research

• The information already exist in one form or another, therefore it is relatively cheap
• It can be conducted quite quickly to provide marketing information where primary data is not yet available or not sufficient
• Secondary research can serve as a guide for primary research

Although secondary research is important, it is not as accurate, or as useful, as specific and customized as primary research.

4.2Primary Research

Primary research is defined (also called field research) involves the collection of data that does not already exist (wikipedia.org).

We will conduct primary research to collect data specifically to help us achieve the set objectives in the project brief. There is the need to conduct a primary research for this project because;

• The secondary data collected might not reflect the research objectives at hand
• The data may be bias depending on who collected it

In other to have a reliable and relevant data that corresponds with the current research objectives at hand, we will conduct a primary research.

For this research we will address both qualitative and quantitative primary research methods to gather information.

4.2.1Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is a body of research techniques which seeks insights through loosely structured, mainly verbal data rather than measurements (MRS, 2007).

The qualitative research is extremely useful due to the research objectives at hand.

We will start with exploratory research by using focus group discussion to tap data from browsers to guide us in developing a new website.

Purpose:

The purpose of the qualitative research is to help us gather in-depth information.

We will undertake the research by taking a sample size of browsers of our existing website since we can not generalize to the whole population of browsers of the website.

The respondents recruited will meet to discuss the following objectives as quoted in the research brief;

• To examine the attitudes of a range of current users towards the existing website
• To determine how current users navigate through the existing website
• To compare perceptions of the organisation's website relative to the websites of its competitors
• To identify the potentials for enhanced features on the website
• To assist in the selection of the overall design or the website

METHODOLOGY - Focus group discussions

A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, beliefs, opinions, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea or packaging, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/focus_group).

By using this method, we will use a moderator who will preside over the group discussions and will ask questions to seek their opinions, ideas or perceptions concerning the website of Nestlé Ghana as stated in the project brief. The moderator will do this in an interactive group setting where group members discus the research topic freely among themselves.

We will use focus group discussions because,

• It will help us to acquire live feedback through direct interactions with participants.
• It will generate quick results from a group of people
• It provides in-depth information to the research and provides rich data in participants own words

Sampling

We will use a quota sample approach to recruit participants from the lots of browsers that visit the current website. In doing this we will create criteria that will aid us to select participants and we will abide or adhere to the 1998 Data Protection Act and the MRS Code of conducts.

Focus Group - Browsers

Groups	Number of Participants	Category
Group 1	8	Working staff
Group 2	10	Customers (users of the website)

Recruitment of group participants:

We will set criteria with which browsers of the site will be selected as participants of the focus group discussions. Participants will be selected by screening with short questionnaires through emails. We will do this by taking the email addresses of browsers of the website that have been stored in Nestlé's database made possible by their invisible web tracker code on the existing website. The selected participants will then be sent e-mail invitations in two weeks advance of the focus group discussions. The participants who meet the criteria (quota) for selection will be promised incentives. Participants from working staff will be given products from the company and cash incentive of £50 and participants from customers who browse the website will be given the same products from the company and cash incentive of £50.

Procedure

Two focus groups will be undertaken, the first group will be a group for working staff of the company, and the second customers who browse the company's website.

Eighteen respondents will be recruited, of which group one consisting of working staff will be made up of eight participants, and the second group consists of customers that browse the company's website with a sample size of ten.

An interviewer will be used who will preside over the group discussions, and will be well briefed with the research objectives so that what ever question he/she will ask will be centered around the project brief. All group discussions will be completed in two days.

The discussions will take place at the conference center at Golden Tulip, adjacent the company on the airport street.

The location will make it convenient for participants to commute and flexible for staff who are taking part in the research.

Caesar Research Agency will alert participants that they are recording participants for further study of the focus group discussions by the marketing team of Nestlé.

The session will be observed by four members of Nestlé's marketing team behind one-way mirror, and will be provided with concealed microphones to enable the observers to hear the discussions.

The discussion guide that will be use will follow the following sequence;

PHASE ONE

The Introduction Phase- 30 minutes

PHASE TWO

The Discussion Phase - 1hour

a. Discussion Phase 1- (30 minutes)

• To examine the attitudes of a range of current users towards the existing website
• To determine how current users navigate through the existing website
• To compare perceptions of the organisation's website relative to the websites of its competitors
• To identify the potentials for enhanced features on the website
• To assist in the selection of the overall design or the website

b. Discussion Phase 2- (30 minutes)

Projective Techniques to adopt

Word Association Test and Brand Mapping

PHASE THREE

Summary Phase - 30 minutes

Recap of key points

Delivery of incentives

Acknowledgements

Data Analysis

After collecting all the data which takes the form of video, and text, it will be edited and stored on CD's to be analyzed by the marketing team of Nestlé in order to aid them in creating of the their website. Data from transcripts will be simplified, data in graph, charts form will be followed with notes for better understanding.

4.2.2Quantitative Research:

Quantitative research is a ‘research that is undertaken using a structured research approach with a sample of the population to produce quantifiable insights into behaviour motivations and attitutes' (Wilson, 2006).

Here we will base our research on quantifiable models, theories and hypothesis.

The research will cover a wide range of users of the company's website to examine the attitudes of a range of current users towards the existing website, to determine how current users navigate through the existing website, to compare perceptions of the organisation's website relative to the websites of its competitors, and to identify the potentials for enhanced features on the website.

We will use Face-to-face interviews and E-mail Survey to tap data to enable us meet the research objectives.

Methodology Part 1

Face-to-face Interviews:

We will use face-to-face interviews due to the nature of the research objectives we wish to achieve. Despite possible interviewer bias, it can improve the quality and rate of responses. The face-to-face will enable us to meet directly with participants to tap information from them.

The face-to-face interview will be advantageous in the following ways;

• it will ensure full and accurate data to be collected
• it is quick and easy to collect data
• the personal feeling attached to it will encourage high response from respondents
• It enable the interviewer to pick up nonverbal cues from respondents

PROCEDURE

The interview will take place at the Aseda Nestlé Depot. The reason for this location is that, most of the people who come to purchase at the depot are mainly retailers and wholesalers, and they normally make use of our site from time to time to seek information before coming over to purchase. The interviewers will meet customers on the compound of the Aseda Nestlé Depot to interview them in order to tap information from them concerning the research brief at hand.

We will make use of three interviewers who will be trained to be prepared to handle a wide variety of potential questions and responses from the customers.

Interviewers will warmly welcome the customers and ask them to spare him/her two minutes of their time to answer some few questions to help the research agency to conduct a research.

The questions that will be asked will take the form of the under listed questions:

• How often do you visit our website?
• For what purpose do you use the site?
• Do you spend time to read information provided on the website?
• How often do you use the search engine on the website?
• How often do you use our online chat feature provided on the website
• What do you think about the quality of our website as compared to that of competitors?
• What can you find on competitor's website that cannot be found on our website?
• What do you think are the gaps in our existing website?
• What images do you wish to see in the new website to be developed? Do they wish to see animated images or still pictures?
• What is the reason the choice?

The interviewer will thank the customer for his or her time and contribution to the survey, and then give him or her some products from Nestlé, and then move on to interview another customer.

Methodology Part 2

E-Mail Survey:

E-mail survey is 'a research technique in which questionnaires are sent and returned by mail' (www. Bnet.com).

An e-mail survey will be conducted to reach a large number of people at different geographical locations. Here there will not be any strict criteria for selection of respondents. The population of interest will be customers who use the Nestlé website, and our sample size will be 200 people. The use of the e-mail survey could be advantageous in the various ways;

• It is cost effective
• It is quick or less time consuming to conduct
• It reach number of respondents within a short period of time

It yields rapid response

Methodology

A quota sample will be used where 200 participants will be selected from the population of interest (customers who use the Nestlé website).

Respondents will fall into these categories.

Categories	Sample size
Customers	150
Working staff	50

We will refer to the database of Nestlé to get e-mail addresses of some customers ie; hotels, restaurants, wholesale shops and retail shops. We will then send questionnaires to them through emails. We will send the mail to about 350 customers, so that we can get our sample size incase of low turn up. The questionnaire will cover the following objectives;

• To examine the attitudes of a range of current users towards the existing website
• To determine how current users navigate through the existing website
• To compare perceptions of the organisation's website relative to the websites of its competitors
• To identify the potentials for enhanced features on the website
• To assist in the selection of the overall design or the website

Participants will fill out the questionnaire by using check boxes and use the ‘reply' feature on their mail software to return the completed form. To entice customers, we will assure them of a handsome package of Nestlé products to the first 100 participants whose questionnaire will be received well answered. This is to generate a large number of responses from participants.

5.0Budget:

PHASE	DESCRIPTIVE	COST (£)
Staff	Moderators	20,000
Secondary research	Purchase of relevant research paper	12,000
Qualitative research	Focus group discussions	7,000
Quantitative research	Face-to-face, and E-mail survey	6,000
Miscellaneous Expenses	Transportation, refreshments, stationery purchase	5,000
		TOTAL=50,000

6.0Reporting of Research Findings:

Reports on findings and observations generated from the research will be prepared and submitted to the Marketing Department of Nestlé Ghana.

The report will include conclusions and observations of qualitative and quantitative research.

A meeting between Caesar Research agency and Nestlé Ghana Ltd will be held to review the previous report before the next stage of the research starts.

A one hour oral presentation on analysis of the research data and recommendations on training areas will be presented.

An electronic copy and hard copies of final reports which include detailed research findings and conclusion drawn from each stage of the research, tabulated results and fund allocation at each stage will be made recorded.

7.0Time:

TASKS	Weeks
Project planning	1
Secondary research	2
Secondary reporting	3
Training of moderator for qualitative report	4
Recruitment of respondents	5
Qualitative Research	6
Qualitative report	7
Training of interviewers for quantitative report	8
Recruitment of respondents	9
Quantitative analysis	10
Quantitative report	11
Presentation	12
Final Report	13

8.0CV:

Caesar Research agency is one of Ghana's fastest growing research agencies, using innovation research solutions to help clients develop and launch world beating products/services.

We utilize the latest approaches to help our clients, and also we have extensive experience of implementing and managing quantitative and qualitative research projects within various industry sectors.

Mr. Kwaku Barko is the Managing Director of Sky Research Agency.

Mr. Kwaku Barko studied marketing in the University of Ghana and afterwards established his research company in the year 2002, and from then the company has enjoyed rapid growth to be among the top market leader in the industry.

Caesar Research Agency has Mr. Jude Rockson as Deputy Managing Director, a top ranked marketer in Ghana. His duty is to oversee both the junior and senior staff of the company.

His contributions have been of great help to the success of the company.

We guarantee that all of our market research projects receive the close personal attention of a Senior Market Research Director and are undertaken according to the strict rules and standards of MRS code of conduct, the Data Protection Act of 1998 and the Esomar codes of conducts.

If you are looking for advice or help with a market research project, please contact us through our online site Caesarresearchghana.com or phone us on +2330246059267.

Task One (13 Sides of A4 sheets)

TASK TWO

(DISCUSSION GUIDE AND MODERATOR GUIDELINES)

DISCUSSION GUIDE:

A discussion guide is the guide prepared by a depth interviewer or focus group moderator to guide the topics under discussion (www.aqr.org.uk).

The discussion guide will be prepared to help the moderator during the focus group discussions. We will use focus groups for the discussion. This is because,

• Focus groups allow the researcher to interact directly therefore, allows for the collection of rich data in participants own words
• They provide data from a group of people more quickly than interviewing people
• They are less expensive as compared to other methods

A trained moderator will preside over the group discussion. Proceedings of the discussions will take the form of the followings;

1. The introduction Phase
2. The Discussion Phase
3. The summary phase

The Introduction Phase (30 minutes)

The introduction phase for the discussion will be very brief and this will take about thirty minutes

• The moderator will welcome the participants to the group session,
• Introductions ;

The moderator will briefly introduce him/herself.

Any assistants to the group discussions will introduce themselves and explain their roles

Participants will be asked to introduce themselves to the house

• The moderator will explain the purpose of the focus groups
• The time and rules for the discussions will be mentioned to participants
• Ethical clarifications; Participants will be informed that the MRS Code of conduct will be abided by and that their individual responses will be anonymised before being reported back
• The moderator will explain how the discussions session will operate

- It will begin with open discussion;

- The session will focusing on certain questions, and ideally

- Finish with suggestions for action/improvement

• The moderator will inform participants that the session is being watched by the marketing team of Nesle Ghana Ltd behind a one-way mirror.
• The moderator will ask if participants will need further clarifications.

THE DISCUSSION PHASE - (1Hour)

a. The Discussion Phase1 - (30 minutes)

At this point of the discussions, we will tackle the research objectives as stated in the project brief and give an appropriate projective technique that will be used.

v To examine the attitudes of a range of current users towards the existing website and to determine how current users navigate through the existing website

We will tackle the first two objectives provided in the research brief that states;

To examine the attitudes of a range of current users towards the existing website and to determine how current users navigate through the existing website.

We will address this objective by putting questions to the participants.

The questions that will be asked will take the following form;

• What are the purposes upon which you browse our current website?
• Do you use the website for any other purpose?
• Do you spend time to read information provided on the website?
• How often do you visit the website?
• Do you compare our website to that of our competitors?
• How do you rate our website in comparison with that of competitors?
• How often do you use the search engine on the website?
• How often do you use our online chat feature provided on the website?
• Are you satisfied with the information we provide you on our site?
• Do you use the hyperlinks provided?
• And do the hyperlinks direct you to the right HTML page?

Projective Technique 1 - Sentence Completion

Sentence completion tests typically provide respondents with beginnings of sentences, referred to as ‘stems' and respondents then complete the sentences in ways that are meaningful to them.

In using this technique, we will provide uncompleted sentences with blank spaces to be filled by the participants this is to get responses from participants in their own words.

Their response will provide indications of attitudes, motivations, or any other mental states expressing their feelings and opinions.

The sentence completion is shown below;

• The purpose upon which i normally visit the site is to.......................
• Apart from................................. I sometimes visit the site to find...........................
• How often do you visit the site....................................................
• I normally............(do/do not) spent time to read the information provided on the website
• I ......................(enjoy/do not enjoy) browsing the Nestlé website
• I think your site is.........................as compared to that of.......................
• I........( do/do not) normally use the search engine
• I find your search engine to be .....................................
• I think your online chat is ................................

I think the hyper links are.............................. and they....... (do/do not) direct me to the right HTML page

b. The Discussion Phase 2 -(30 minutes)

The second phase of the discussion will be to address the following research objectives;

To compare perceptions of the organisation's website relative to the websites of its competitors

The following questions will be addressed;

• What do you think about the quality of Nussle's website to that of competitors?
• Do you find Nestlé's website colourful than that of competitors?
• How resourceful do you find Nestlé's website in comparison with that of competitors?
• How easily are you able to navigate through the current website as compared to that of our competitors?
• What can you find on competitor's website that cannot be found on Nestlé's website?
• How do you rate our website and that of our competitors?

Project Technique - 2 Brand Mapping

This technique will use a grid to position the website of Nestle and its competitors.

Here perceptions of the company website with regards to that of competitors will be raised by respondents and this will assist the moderator to do the mapping.

The mapping will show the moderator where gaps exist in the existing website, so that it will help Nestlé Ghana in developing the new website.

The following coordinates and plotting will be recommended as follows:

• Attractive / Unattractive
• Rational / Emotional

Attractive

Rationale Emotional

Unattractive

Summary 10 minutes

• Summarize of discussion proceedings and key points that have emerged from the discussion.
• Appreciate and acknowledge respondents for their time and contribution in discussion.
• Reception
• Thank all respondents and resource persons.
• Offer them the promised incentives.
• Close and Dismiss.

SUMMARY PHASE (30minutes)

This phase of the discussion guide will be addressed as shown below;

• The moderator will check to see to it that all research objectives have been discussed
• The main research objectives will be summarized to the group members
• Participant will be given chance to give their suggestions and comments
• Acknowledgement of participants
• The promised incentives will be given to respondents, and dispersion of respondents will follow to bring the session to a close

MODERATOR GUIDELINES:

Recommendations for Participants Recruitment

Moderator will send e-mails to invite participants two weeks advance of the focus group discussions. Such invitations should include a briefing note that:

• Explains the purpose of the focus groups;
• Describes what benefits they will enjoy in taking part in the focus group discussions
• Describes how results will be analyzed and reported;
• Emphasizes that individual responses will not be attributable;
• Describes what will be done with outputs, suggestions for action etc;
• Offers a contact point for further information; and
• Is signed by an appropriate member of senior management to demonstrate

organisational commitment.

Participants will be given prompt calls from time to time to ensure that they are still able to participate.

Three days to the discussions, a final call will be given to participants to confirm their inclusion, and also replace those who can not make it.

Moderators at this stage will adhere to the MRS Code of Conducts and also the 1998 Data Protection Act.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MODERATING GROUP

The moderator is tasked with the duty of presiding over the group discussion towards the attainment of the research objective. The following list is a guide to help moderators know what is expected of them at the group discussions:

• Setting the scene and explaining the purpose of the focus group discursions;
• It is helpful for the moderator to outline the purpose and format of the discussion at the beginning of the session, and set the group at ease.
• The moderator must encourage participants to feel free to talk to each other and not necessarily to him/her alone
• Proper monitoring of session; The moderator must monitor the discussion flow to keep it focussed on the project brief any time it is going out of context, so as to meet the objectives of the group discussion.
• The moderators must respect all participants by believing that all participants have something to contribute to the discussion, regardless of their education levels, experiences, or backgrounds.
• Avoiding being bias; the moderator must be impartial and be supportive to the session and avoid imposing his personal views and attitudes on the group members.
• The moderator must see to it that all group members feel valued; The moderator needs to watch straight into the eyes of respondents when they are making their points , this is to show that he/she respects the respondent's offerings.
• Keeping the group on time and focussed on the topics; the participants should be reminded that sometimes there may be the need to cut off the conversation and move onto another topic in the interest of time
• Encouraging participation from all the group members; the moderator must see to it that all participants give their maximum contribution and that only one or few should not dominate the discussion.
• The moderator should ask questions that will challenge participants to give further clarifications to their points when their points are unclear to get more substantial answers
• The moderator must summarise discussions from time to time to check appropriate understanding of participants' comments.
• The moderator should be aware of the mood of the respondents and interfere whenever a fluctuation is noticed.
• It is the moderator's task to ensuring that all the key issues are addressed
• The moderator must make participants feel valued by paying attentive to them while they make comments
• The moderator must ensure that participant do not take things too personal so that the discussion session does not come to a halt

Code of Conduct Issues

In every phase of the focus groups, from the recruitment of the participants to the actual discussion, Nestlé Ghana will adhere to the MRS Code of Conduct, and assures participants of data safety. The main relevant rules of the Code to be taken into consideration are listed below in the order used in the MRS Qualitative Research Guidelines.

The Recruitment Level

Respondent will be informed that the current research project strictly adhere to the MRS Code of Conduct rules and the Data Protection Act 1998.

At the time of recruitment, the interviewers will communicate to the respondents the following details (Ref: Rules B21-B34);

1. Name of the interviewer
2. The conformity of the interview to the MRS Code of Conduct rules
3. The main topic of the interview
4. The purpose of the interview
5. The expected duration of the interview (if asked)
6. All the potential costs for the respondent
7. The place where the focus group will take place
8. The expected duration of the discussion
9. The company, the moderator and the research agency that are carrying out the research project
10. The interviewers will also have to clearly state that no observers will be used for the proposed focus groups and that the discussion is to be recorded on audio tape.
11. Permission from the respondents must be gained for potential follow-up contact, specifying when the re-contact will take place, for what reason and by whom this will be executed (Ref: Rules B11-B12).
12. Since the client database was the source for the names and the contact details of the respondents, this will have to be revealed if requested, even if the client organisation requested anonymity (Ref: Rule B7).

The Group Discussion Level

• Any potential harm to the respondents must be appropriately prevented during the progress of the session (Ref: Rule A10).
• The respondents will have to be communicated at the beginning of the session that the discussion will be recorded on audio tape (Ref: Role B15).
• A respondent can stop his/her collaboration and leave at anytime during the discussion (Ref: Rule B18).

TASK TWO:

Discussion Guide: 4 sides of A4 sheets

Moderator Guidelines: 949 words

TASK THREE

TO : Marketing manager of Nestlé Ghana, Mr. Johnson Owusu

FROM : Research Executive of Caesar Research Agency, Mr. Robert Wilson

DATE : 20th February, 2011

SUBJECT: Establishing customer satisfaction research programme through online questionnaire

Summary of content

1.0 Explanation of online questionnaire and reasons for their increase

2.0 Sampling issues in using the website for customer satisfaction survey

3.0 Likely response rates and challenges of an online questionnaire with an offlinequestionnaire and suggested approaches to address the challenge

4.0 Argument for and against adopting an online questionnaire for measuring customer. Satisfaction

1.0 Explanation of online questionnaire and reasons for their increase

Online questionnaire is an electronic means of collecting primary quantitative data with the use of questionnaires via the internet.

Online surveys is a field with rapid changes as different segments of the population accesses the Internet and technological innovations are coming up.

The reason for their increase is that online questionnaire offers important advantages over the traditional modes of surveying;

• Requires little preparation
• speed in collecting and analyzing data
• questionnaire design with functionalities impossible to achieve with traditional mode
• Very large samplings are possible
• It is able to reach remote locations
• Sent directly to respondent ensuring delivery to recipient.
• Easy to design and answer.
• Easy for respondent to return via email 'reply' button.
• Few technical skills required.

2.0 Sampling Issues in using the website for customer satisfaction survey.

Recruitment

Accessing respondents is a key concern in online questionnaires,, and is becoming increasingly important. As the use of the internet increases in the general population, and the novelty of responding to online questionnaires is wearing off, getting online users to complete online questionnaires is becoming more problematic. Online users are becoming wise to the fact that they are paying for the privilege of being 'over-surveyed' and becoming intolerant of online questionnaires and sometimes considers it to be 'spamming'. As a result online questionnaires are having lower response rates than offline questionnaires.

Sampling

A further issue of concern when using online questionnaires is that they present serious sampling problems for a study based on the quantitative tradition. There is no access to a central registry, or master database, from which to create an accurate sampling frame, nor is there any way of discerning how many users are logging on from a particular computer or how many accounts/memberships a particular individual might have. This means random sampling or gaining a representative sample is not possible, and therefore, attempts at non-probability sampling, or through self-selection.

Identity verification

A further issue relating to online questionnaires involves verifying the identity of the participants and the reliability of their responses. Its not possible to verify the identity of respondents so there is the possibility that some respondents may be 'spoofs' or indeed may play with their online identity in completing the research.

Questionable Results

Online research does not enable the researcher to assess the reliability of responses.

When materials are administered via a computer terminal rather than in person, the researcher is less able to judge the extent to which the responses are sincere and genuine, the conditions under which the questionnaire was answered and the state of the participants at the time of participation, for example, intoxicated, distracted, and so on.

Response rates

Response rates show no relationship to gender, age or education level, and also response rates do drop off rapidly to online questionnaires, and also has response rate a compared to offline questionnaire. Therefore increasing response rates can be achieved by follow-up reminders since a single reminder email can double the number of respondents (Crawford et al (2001).

To improve response rates online questionnaire formats should be simple since complex graphics, grid questions, open-ended questions and requests to supply email addresses all reduce response rates.

3.0Likely response rates and challenges of an online questionnaire with an offline questionnaire and suggested approaches to address the challenge

Low Response Rates

An online questionnaire has low response rate as compared to offline questionnaire. It may have a good coverage and a good sample design but with a poor response rate.

This is a consequence of being a self-administered mode of data collection.

One of the strategies for getting high response rates is multiple contacts.

Firstly, a pre-notice message can be sent 2-3 days before sending the questionnaire.

After sending the questionnaire one can expect the majority of responses (60-70%) are received from respondents within the first 48-72 hours.

SPAM

Normally online questionnaire are mistaken for ‘spam' hence people do not respond to online questionnaire as compared to offline questionnaire.

To avoid this confusion it is recommended to use a text email instead of an html-format and send the invitations from a domain that will be recognized by the recipient.

Researchers shall avoid sending e-mails from domain names with elements known to cause spam filters to prevent their delivery; some spam filters look for domain names with key words such as: offer, free, private, daily, shop, marketing, rewards, value, buy and other “salesy” come-ons. Java scripts or other advanced programming techniques must also be avoided to protect survey credibility.

Length, response and drop out rates

Response rates for online questionnaires drop off after 10-15 questions and are directly and negatively correlated with questionnaire length (Harris 1997). It is also reported that online surveys have lower overall response rates than onsite surveys. Additionally, it has been suggested that drop out from online questionnaires is much more likely than offline questionnaires. This may be because individual questions regarding the completion of the online questionnaires are usually not possible, which can increase drop out rates. In order to his challenge under control, online questionnaires must have to be shorter than those conducted offline.

Technical Problems

Various technical problems can occur with online questionnaires, and such challenges do not pertain to offline questionnaire. A computer or server may crash, for example, especially if the questionnaire is very long. There is also great technical variance in computers, monitors, browsers and internet connections which may have design implications - what works on a high-spec system may be impossible to read on a low-spec system. Specific technical problems for example, a pop-up box implemented using JavaScript if failed to appear when the respondent pressed the 'submit' button, will resume in multiple submissions of the same data being sent as the user tried repeated submission.

A final challenge is that a certain level of technical expertise is required to administer an online questionnaire. Therefore to bring all these under control, if a researcher does not have this knowledge, they must take time and effort to obtain it or they must rely on a programmer to provide it.

Ethical issues

Protecting respondent privacy and confidentiality is a significant ethical issue that needs to be addressed in the online questionnaire survey. Spamming which is rarely seen with the offline questionnaire can be considered an invasion of privacy under the online questionnaire survey. Therefore researchers must be very careful not to unwittingly collect information without respondent permission. Data security is also important to protect the anonymity and confidentiality of the respondent.

4.0Argument for and against adopting an online questionnaire for measuring customer satisfaction

Adopting an online questionnaire by Nestlé Ghana for monitoring customer satisfaction is supported by the following arguments;

Speed and volume of data collection

Although offline questionnaire has high response rate, online questionnaires is able to collect large volume size of data at the shortest possible time. Usually most completed online surveys are returned within 48-72 hours, making turnaround incredibly fast compared to onsite methods. Data can also be analysed continuously and directly imported into statistical tools and databases, increasing the speed and accuracy of analysis.

Savings in costs

Costs associated with online questionnaires can be substantially lower than those associated with onsite surveys. Paperwork, telephone, postage and printing that is associated with offline questionnaire can be cut when undertaking an online questionnaire.

Travel costs may be reduced and time may be saved by not having to travel to fieldwork sites. No costs are incurred for organising or hiring an interview venue.

The software used to conduct online questionnaires is now often free on the net, and savings may also be made on the costs associated with importing data for analysis.

Flexible design

It is generally agreed that online questionnaires can provide a superior questionnaire interface compared to offline questionnaire surveys. Such features are possible to make them more user friendly and attractive, thus encouraging higher response rates.

Questions can also be ordered randomly and a dynamic interface can be provided with pop-up instructions and drop down boxes Skip patterns may be built in for ease of navigation, but on the other hand such feature may not be possible with offline questionnaire.

Data accuracy

Responses from online questionnaires can also be automatically inserted into spreadsheets, databases or statistical packages, such as Microsoft Access and SPSS. This not only saves time and costs in the analysis phase but also ensures that data processing is automated, reducing human error in data entry and coding. Data can be automatically validated because if a data value is entered in an incorrect format, the web-based program can return an error message requesting the respondent to enter the data correctly and resubmit the questionnaire, whiles such mechanisms to ensure this accuracy will be impossible under the offline questionnaire.

Access to research populations

Online questionnaires can be useful in providing direct access to research populations without the need of any 'cultural gatekeepers' who might restrict access to such groups. They also enable greater potential access to small specific population sub-groups, such as people with specific illnesses, family structures, particular ethnicities, as the potential population one can draw on is generally larger than that of most offline questionnaire surveys.

Anonymity

The level of anonymity that the online questionnaire provides is very high as compared to the offline questionnaire. Respondents are more likely to answer socially threatening questions in online questionnaires compared to offline questionnaire. This is because during online questionnaires the tangible presence of the researcher is removed, so bodily presence become invisible.