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Word-of-Mouth

To what extent influences Word-of-Mouth, in the field of music, the receiver's purchase intentions?

Word-of-Mouth wisdom:

4.2 Questionnaire Development

Now I have chosen what design I will use for the research there also needs to be determined which and what kind of questionnaire will be put to practice. Cooper et al. (2003) utilizes a well-developed diagram in which a questionnaire method and other options are described. In this research the individual plays an important role. Therefore, the survey method is the best option. Within survey method there are a couple options:

  1. Mailed, faxed, or couriered to be self-administered with return mechanism generally included;
  2. Computer-delivered via intranet, Internet, and online services-computer stores/for-wards completed instruments automatically;
  3. People intercepted/studied via paper or computerized instrument in central location-without interviewer assistance.

A minimal amount of 100 respondents is necessary for this kind of research. This is a fairly high amount so I will need to try to reach them so efficiently as possible. An personal survey is time-consuming because of the fact you will need to visit each person individually. An personal surveys main advantage is that you can get deeper into particular items. I need another option for quantitative research. The personal survey is obviously not suited for our research. Surveys by phone are oral too and very time-consuming. The fact that I need to research online users, which I have no details of like a phone number, is not exactly efficiently. The same reason is apply able for survey by letter. The only research which is efficient for a research on the Internet is on the web.

The web based questionnaire is not exactly free. Web hosting has to be paid and the software needs to be configured and installed. However this will be worth it because the web-based questionnaire is the most efficient tool to reach web users. Web users, who are experienced users and therefore have knowledge about the Internet, will be able to fill in the survey much better.

According to Cooper et al. (2003) the survey is a well suited instrument for the determination of observations, attitudes, feelings, wishes, knowledge but also for the determination of facts and behaviour. An advantage of a survey is that a large population can be reached. The population is able to keep their anonymity which will increase the chance on a honest answer. Another advantage of a web-based questionnaire is that all data will automatically be collected in a database. This entails we can easily use the data in other tools. A disadvantage is that figures do not tell the whole story. Another disadvantage is that only a particular part of users will be reached and therefore it will be possible to have a bias for the entire population. A couple of procedures I entailed during the design of the survey:

  1. is easy to read;
  2. offer clear response directions;
  3. include personalized communication;
  4. provide information about the survey in an advance notification;
  5. is followed by researcher contacts to encourage response.

At the beginning of the survey I introduce myself and the reason why I am doing this survey. By doing this I want to create more understanding in the survey so their chance of filling in the survey will be higher. I will also give away three prize packages of music albums to the respondents. The winners will be picked randomly.

In the middle of the survey the respondent has to read an review of a pop artist. I have chosen for the artist Madonna because she is a very popular artist among a wide range of fans (young, old, black, white, etc...). She started in the 1980s and still tops the charts with new songs. Making the survey more consistent, I will use Madonna for other questions in the survey too.

The final questionnaire consists of 39 multi-item constructs that were operationalized with Likert's five point rating scales. The survey concluded with a “thank-you” note and a link to the contest on MusicRemedy. The complete, original survey is reported in Appendix A. The measurements are discussed in Chapter 5.