CHAPTERTHREE:

1 Methodology
InthefollowingchapterIwillpresenttheselectedresearchmethodologyusedinmy
study and explain the reasons behind this choice. Furthermore it will be explained
how the research methods have been implemented in order to answer the research
objectives, as finally will be discussed my concerns about the limitations and
potential problems of this research, as well as any validity and reliability issues
faced.

The principles and the appropriate choice of the research methodology have been
discussedbyanumberofauthorsasakeydecisionfortheresearchproject(Bryman
&Bell,2007;andSaundersetal.,2009).Biggam(2008)liststhefollowingkeytopics
thatshouldbediscussedintheresearchmethodologychapter:
Figure1.1ResearchMethodology

Source:AdaptedfromBiggam,2008

1.1 Researchapproach
Saundersetal.(2009)pointedoutthatfirsttheresearchershouldselectbetweentwo
main researchapproaches:deductive, whichidea isto createtheoryon the basis of
the available literature, as well as existing findings and test it through observation
andinductive,wherefirstyoumaketheobservation,thendevisetheoryasaresultof
thedataanalysis.
However, the methodological approach that I am using in order to answer my
research questions and achieve the purpose of this research project is deductive
researchmethod(Bryman&Bell,2007).
Although Blaxter et al. (2006) advocate that adopting the inductive approach
involves depth understanding and competent knowledge about the research idea,
which allows the researcher to reveal different alternative explanations of the
problem,Ivechosendeductive,becauseasSaundersetal.(2009)arguetheinductive
approachinvolveshigherdegreeofuncertaintyduetothefactthattheresearcheris
movingfromspecificobservationstoabroadertheoriesandconclusions.
Another motive for my choice is that deductive process is organized in a more
consistentway,aseachnewstepfollowsthepreviousinalogicalsequenceandthe
conclusionsaredrawnthroughlogicalreasoning(BrymanandBell,2007).
I have decided to adopt deductive approach because the idea of my research is
initiatedbythetheoryforrelationshipmarketinganditsconsequences.Throughthe
findingsthatIwouldcometoinmyresearchIwouldrejectorconfirmthepositive
correlation, obtained in the previous theories and researches, between the
relationship marketing tactics and customer satisfaction and retention (Ghauri &
Gronhaug,2005).
The limited time is another reason to apply a deductive approach, because the
inductivestudyismoreexploratoryandisconnectedwithlongprocessofcollecting
andanalyzingdatainordertodevelopatheoryfromit,whiledeductiveapproachis
morenarrowanditinvestigatesspecifictheoryorhypothesis(Bryman&Bell,2007).

1.2 Researchstrategy
Many authors (Bryman & Bell, 2007; Biggam, 2008; Saunders et al., 2009;) review
someoftheavailablestrategiesthatcouldbeconsideredforaprojectdependingof
their ability to answer the research questions and meet the objectives of the study:
survey,casestudy,experiment,ethnography,actionresearchandsoon.Allofthem
agreethatnoresearchstrategyissuperiortotheother,butitshouldbeselectedthe
onethatbestsuitstheresearch.
1.2.1

CaseStudy

Due to the reason that I am going to examine the characteristics of a particular

industryinmycountry,Ihavedecidedtoimplementcasestudy,seeingitasthemost
appropriate research strategy for my study. Gummesson (2000) also advocates that
an examination of a certain field, in my case relationship marketing, conducted on
variousorganizationsinanindustryshouldbedoneusingcasestudy.
Althoughsomeauthors(Biggam,2008;Collis&Hussey,2009)criticizethecasestudy
methodbecauseoftheinabilitysometimestoprovidereliableandgeneralfindings,
focusingonasingleindustrycasewillhelpmetoinvestigateeasierthisphenomenon
inareallifecontextandtochallengetheexistingtheorythroughreallifesituations
andissues.
1.2.2 QualitativeversusQuantitativeMethod
Anotheressentialissuethatshouldbeclearedoutwhenstartinguparesearchisto
choose also appropriate method for collecting the data. According to Bryman and
Bell(2007)therecouldbedifferentiatedtwodatacollectiontechniquesusedinmost
scientific research: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research is focused on
collectionofmorevariableinformationfromtheindividualandisusuallyconnected
withusingofnonnumericaldatafordeeperunderstandingofthecharacteristicsof
the researched area (Gummeson, 2000). On the contrary quantitative research is,

according to Collis & Hussey (2009), concerned with numbers, which means that it
emphasizesquantificationindatacollectionandanalysisthereforethemeasuresare
often standardized. Biggam (2008) argues that in reality it is very popular for the
researchers to mix and match both quantitative and qualitative approach, as
sometimesitcouldprovidesbetteropportunitiestoanswertheresearchquestions.
FormystudyIapplyquantitativeresearchmethod,sinceIbelievethatthismethodis
themostappropriatewaytomeasurecustomersattitudesandbehaviortowardsthe
relationship marketing tactics. I have created a model for reviewing of the existing
knowledgeandtherebybuildinghypothesis,thereforethequantitativeapproachwill
enable me to test my hypothesis through more reliable, accurate and objective
statistically analyzed data. Moreover, my choice is supported by Saunders et al.
(2009), as well as Bryman & Bell (2007), who stress that adopting a deductive
approach usually is more often related with the quantitative research strategy and
presume the conceptions to be organized in a way which allows the facts to be
measuredquantitatively.
1.2.3

Sampling

The available sampling techniques provide the researcher the possibility to reduce
the amount of collected data through focusing on a subgroup than on the whole
population(Ghauri&Gronhaug,2005).Inthisresearchthecaseselectionisfocused
on the Bulgarian steel distribution industry, so due to the nature of my research
questions andobjectives, as wellaschoiceofresearchstrategy,I would apply non
probability sampling. My research is focused on customers point of view, so the
sample frame includes representatives of companies, using different steel products,
who are involved in purchasing decisionmaking process. According to the central
limittheorem,reviewedbySaundersetal.(2009),inthiscasethesampleshouldbe
morethan50inordertobringgoodresults.ThereforeIusedourcompanydatabase
to reach asample size of 100 respondents in order to besure that my research will

meet the minimum required participation, as I have received 87 responses from

which86reliabletouseand1poorlycompleted.
Once I have chosen the research approach and research strategy, my focus moves
towardsthemethodsthatwillbeusedinordertoclarifyhowtheempiricaldatawill
becollectedandanalyzed.

1.3 Datacollection
Asweknow(Ghauri&Gronhaug,2005;Bryman&Bell,2007;Saundersetal.,2009)
datacollectioncouldbedividedintwotypesprimaryandsecondary.Theobjective
of the study has been achieved by using both components of the research
methodology:reviewingoftheliterature,primaryandsecondarysources,containing
informationthatisrelevanttotheproblemaswellasprimarydatacollectionthrough
consistentcustomersperceptionorientedquestionnaire.
1.3.1

SecondaryDataCollection

Due to the fact that my study is based on the existing theories, the literature was
reviewed in depth in order to be achieved good understanding of the researched
field. The secondary data, already collected and studied from other researchers,
includes different sources of literature like books, journals, industry reports and
statistics,differentsurveys,etc.(Saundersetal.,2009).Bydefaultthesecondarydata
should be examined before any primary research is done, because we need to
examinewhathasalreadybeengeneratedaboutthetopicandifitwillbesuitableto
meetourobjectives(Blaxteretal.,2006).Ialsoconsideredthefollowingadvantages
ofthesecondarydata:itisnotasexpensiveandtimeconsumingasprimarydataand
usuallyitiseasytobeverified.InordertocollectthisdataIhaverevieweddifferent
scholar databases like Emerald, Science Direct, EBSCO, etc. as the most relevant I
found the customer satisfaction reports of Jacobson & Associates, available at their
website:www.jacobsonsteel.com.

1.3.2

PrimaryDataCollection

Concerningtheprimarydata,itisessentialtochoosethemostappropriateresearch
method, because the reliability and validity of the empirical findings may differ
depending on the methodology applied. Brymen & Bell (2007) state that
standardized questionnaire is quite reliable tool that could be utilized for
quantitativemethodprojects.Therefore,formystudy,Ihavedecidedtodevelopself
administrated questionnaire, mainly internet mediated, organized via online
surveytooleSurveysPro.comanddistributedmainlyviaemailstotherespondents
(Saundersetal.,2009).

Questionnaire
My choice of shortly structuredquestionnaire including multiple choice and closed
questions was defined from the fact that people are more likely to respond if it
doesntengagealotoftimeandefforts,sofromonesideIhadtodesignitsuitableto
collect valuable information for testing my hypothesis and from another easy to
follow and answer from the respondents, as well as easy for me to process and
comparethedata.
In order to be able to identify if the developed questions will bring the required
information, as well as to design the right answers for multiple choice questions, I
didaquickpilottestingonasampleof10respondentswithdifferentactivitychosen
frommyfocusgroup.
Using the guideline of Thomas and Burgess (2001) I have created a questionnaire
involvingvariousquestionsdevelopedaccordingtotherelevantliterature.Firstpart
is focused on obtaining general information for the company, its buying behavior
andtheimportanceofdifferentpurchasingfactors.Secondpartofthequestionnaire

aims to evaluate the importance of different services and conditions, as well as to

measureandinvestigatethecustomerspurchaseintention,perceptionsandattitude
intermsofcommitment,loyalty,overallsatisfaction,trustinthesupplier,etc.Finally
I have included different statements presenting different aspects of buyerseller
relationships,usingfivepointLikerttyperesponsescales.

1.4 Dataanalysis
Once I have the data collected, my research proceeds to its interpretation and
analysis.Itisveryimportantthedatatobepresentedinawellstructuredandeasyto
understandway(Biggam,2008).
AsIamcarryingoutaquantitativeresearchquantitativetechniquesforthecollected
data analysis has been applied. For the analysis of the data I used descriptive
statistics. The information has been input in Excel tables, graphics and charts and
calculatedsomestatisticalindexestoalloweasiercomparisons(Saundersetal.,2009).
Furthermore a regression analysis has been employed as a statistical tool for this
study. A regression analysis helps to understand relationship between various
relationships.AccordingtoChatterjeeandHadi(2006)regressionisoneofthemost
effective tools to analyze the data obtained through quantitative methods. In this
study,itwasusedbecausetherewere3variableswithrelationshipmarketingbeing
an independent variable and customer satisfaction and customer retention as
dependentvariablesonrelationshipmarketing.

1.5 Limitationsandpotentialproblems
Some of the limitations were mentioned also in the introduction chapter, as here I
wouldstressmoreonthetechnicalandethicalissuesthatconcernmyresearch.
One of the limitations of the current study is that, although the sample includes
almost all of the active customers of my company and is representative for our
branch, the scope of this research is limited to the steel distribution industry in
Bulgaria, so I could not guarantee that the findings have high generalisability and

thissampleisrepresentativeenoughtoinvestigatetherelationshipmarketingissues
withinthewholebusinesstobusinessarea.
1.5.1

Reliabilityandvalidity

The validity and reliability of the collected data depends very much on the
questionnairestructureandquestionsdesign,asthisaimstoreducethepossibilityof
beingsubjectiveincreatingthequestionsandconsequentlytoreceivewronganswers
(Saunders et al., 2009). According to Bryman and Bell (2007) validity is connected
withtheaccuracyandtruthfulnessofthefindings,whilereliabilityisconcernedwith
theconsistencyofthetoolformeasuring.Inordertoachievevalidityandreliability
of the data I have applied controls on each step of the research process
identification of the research population, data collection and interpretation and
conclusions development. One important tool used to maximize the validity and
reliabilityisthepilottestofthequestionnaire.Alsotheselectedmethodsforanalysis
oftherawdata,descriptivestatisticsandregressionanalysishelpedtobeincreased
transparencyofthefindingsanddecreasedthepossibilityforsubjectivehunches.

1.5.2

Ethicalproblems

Saundersetal.(2009)discussthatitisveryimportanttoconsideralsothefollowing
potentialethicalissuesthatcouldoccurduringthedatacollectionprocess:

Privacy during my data collection I considered the rights of the people to

refuseparticipationinmyresearch,soIlimitedmyemailremindersuptotwo.

Confidentiality is another ethical issue, concerned that sharing of the

informationwithouttheparticipantpermissionwillbeavoided.

Anonymityformyon line organizedquestionnairethereis an optionfor

the companies to choose whether they prefer to participate anonymously, as this is

statedbeforethequestions.

Misuseofthefindingstheresearchisbasedontheethicalstandardsandthe

information obtained will not be misused from the interested party in a way that
couldaffectthem.