Research Instrumentation

Instrumentation

The survey instrument will measure brand loyalty on four dimensions as explained in the study. These dimensions are   (1) Attitude/Behavior of customer,  ( 2) Product    ( 3) Reputation   ( 4) Customer Experience. 

The respondents will be asked to indicate the degree to which they agree or disagree with a statement on a Likert scale so that a range of responses could be obtained. The scale will range from 5 (Strongly Agree), to 4 (Agree), to 3 (Neither Agree nor Disagree), to 2 (Disagree), to 1 (Strongly Disagree).

The Survey questionnaire is divided into the following two sections:

1.    Profile: This part contains questions that render demographic information about the sample population. Questions in this section will focus on age, gender, level of education, income level, and ethnicity.

2.    Brand loyalty: this section consists of questions that will measure the dependent variable, brand loyalty, on the four (4) dimensions of Attitude/Behavior of customer, Product, Reputation, and Customer experience.  The two (2) sets of questions will be used to measure customer brand loyalty and manager perception separately.

There are many advantages in choosing this particular research instrument. This survey instrument has previously been used in various studies that measured customer brand loyalty and was found to be valid in measuring loyalty and reliable as it was used in a number of significant research studies to measure loyalty. The questionnaire allows the respondents a range of answers that would be a more accurate measurement of their responses. The instrument is relatively easy to use and respondents are only required to answer some questions.

Summary

            The present section discussed the research methodology formulated for the study. The descriptive survey design is the research method that will be used to test the hypothesis to determine correlations among the chosen variables. The research instrument will be a survey questionnaire, identified as SERVQUAL, a reliable instrument that will test the null and alternate hypothesis drawn for the study. The sample will be identified as customers and managers of fifty retail stores in the United States. These fifty retail will be categorized as mass retail stores that offer both store level and national level products.

            The current study will be longidutional multi time measurement of data, that will be completed within twelve month period. The survey will use two customized questionnaires to measure customer brand loyalty and manager perception.

            Collected data will be analyzed using the statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. The null hypothesis will be examined using descriptive and inferential statistical tests. The data will be subjected to factor analysis as well as t-testing and ANOVA tests to compare means between and among demographic, independent, and dependent variables. If the null hypothesis is rejected, the alternate hypothesis will be accepted, based on the statistical analyses to determine the significant effect of the independent variables, price of products and quality of products on the dependent variable customer brand loyalty.