The Survey and Its objective


            Every organization needs to have a survey to determine the customers’ impressions to the products and services they are acquiring. This is also applicable in connection to the maximization of the profit as well as improving the services and to alleviate the cost. In line with this, doing the survey is a long process; therefore it required sufficient time and proper methods and interpretations.


            To the University of NT; who wants to have a survey for the betterment of its foods and services. Then, it requires proper techniques and objectives so that the survey can be properly done. The major objective of the canteen manager in doing the survey is to investigate the operational practices and the canteen management of its business. It has an aim also of informing to the future intervention strategies. Parts of the objectives of the manager also are:


Ø  Provide information to canteen management


Ø  Discover the role of the canteen in the school, to the students and to the staff that needs further improvement regarding the rules and the policies that they are doing


Ø  Provide a proper record on the canteen process that is currently happening in the school including the products, the promotions, the sales and the competition


Ø  Understanding the enablers and the barriers for promoting a healthy and nutritious canteen food choices


Ø  Gives idea in introducing a promos if needed


 


 


1. Target Population


            The target population is the researcher’s plan to study so that it can draw conclusion which includes the entire group of population. (Godwin, Steinhart, & Fulton, 1997). This is important to the establishment of proper canteen management through their response. In the case of the canteen of the University of NT, the target populations are all the students and all the staffs within the school. This had been the target population because they are the consumers that support the canteen. In connection to this, they are the one who has the knowledge and idea on the services that the canteen is offering. As a suggestion, in order to have solutions to the survey objectives, the suggested target population will be the regular students or staff customer and the potential one. In this regard, it can determine the improvement of the services through the potential customers that will encourage them to support the canteen and the maintenance of the good services that the regular customers likely most.


2. Selection Bias and Rate of the Response


            The selection bias arises for the methods or to the procedures wherein the subjects of the study are being chosen from the whole population that could be studied theoretically (Rothman, 1986). This is therefore implies that the data are being distorted that may lead to the incorrect drawing of conclusion. Accordingly, there are two kinds of selections bias which are the self-selection of the respondents for the participation in the survey or to the activity or simply being forced to be the subject in the study. It is also direct selection of the samples in order to support it hypothesis. On the other hand, the response rate is the total number of the interviews or the respondent’s responses which are being interviewed divided by the total numbers who are eligible units in the sample or the total people in the sample. This rate is normally expressed in the form of percentage (American Association for Public opinion Research, 2004). These two factors are being avoided in any research and in any survey because this may lead to the bias and incorrect findings as well as to the improper way of computation. This simply reveals of improper result and may lead into nothing.


            Relating these factors to the suggested method in the survey of eth canteen signifies that:


     a. leaving questionnaires near the pay desk may not lead to the lack or low response rate due to the attention low attention rate and to the improper way of giving survey wherein the people who has interest are the only one can get it. Though, it saves money.


     b. Allowing a certain staff to do the survey will be a hard time for him to do that and it’s economically unadvisable. In this manner the surveyor will going to ask a\only what he saw that will lead to the bias of selection. Though, it has proper response rate.


     c. The email questionnaire, though save time, will be appropriate but not advisable due to the low response rate that may arise because technologically not all has the assurance to receive the mail and not everyone will response for that.


     d. The selection bias will also be acquired in the displaying the questionnaire to the main entrance due to the fact that the person who wants to pick can only be ask. This means that result will not be acceptable. Though, it saves time and money.


     e. The stratified sample selection I advisable just have an assurance that it can also get back the exact number of response from the respondents.


 


3. Proportional Allocation


            The stratified random sampling is the way of choosing the respondents in the study by dividing the whole population into homogeneous category or subgroup. By then, every subgroup will take the random sampling. This is advisable because it will represent not just the whole population but every subgroup of the entire population. This has also more precise than any other sampling techniques (Trochim, 2006). This is also more efficient compare to the simple random sampling. It also focuses on the use and the importance of the subgroup while refusing the irrelevant factors. It improves also the accuracy of the estimation. In the population of the University of NT, to have a random sample of 450 the population were divided which are being shown in the table below:


Department


Number of Staff


Stratified Sample


Education


1100 x 15%


165


Business Studies


900 x 15%


135


Chief Executive’s


320 x 15%


48


Statistics


680 x 15%


102


Total


3000


450


Table 1.


4. Factors that Affect the Decision of the Survey


            The cost is the primary factor to this survey because this is the foundation fro every move that the researcher have to do. The speed of the completion of the survey and the respondents feeling of consultations are also the factors that needs should give solution by the researcher. The other factors that would enter in deciding on the sampling method to be use are the availability of the respondents or the time wherein they can answer the questionnaire, because they are students and staff which have many things to do as assignments and others. The availability of the questionnaire also is the factors to consider. The interest of the respondents towards answering the questionnaire is also a key issue decision making and in the outcome of the survey.


5. Multi-Stage Survey and Its Relevance


            The multi-stage survey is one of the sampling methods wherein the population is being divided into several numbers of groups or the major samples are being subdivided into minors and so on. This is also form of a complex cluster sampling and it is applicable when there is no complete list of the entire population.


            The example of the survey which used the Multi-Stage kind of survey is the study done by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This is made by the series of the complex samples as the non-institutionalized populations of U.S. and the civilians. These were divided into sizes and geographic strata. The secondary sampling had been done according to the area segments made by the census. The third sampling had made is through the households and therefore carefully enumerated. The fourth and the final sampling is the moment whereas the participants are being chosen within the households.


            This is somehow relevant in the today’s worlds as the canteen survey to be done, wherein the stratified random sampling can be break down into multi-stage random sampling. This can be done when the division of the factors as educations can be divided into year level, into gender and so on. In this manner, the survey can get much precise and more accurate form of outcome. Therefore, it will result to more customer and more target customers to use the service.


6. Recommendations


            In applying an appropriate survey technique, one must determine the factors he must consider so that the sampling method relevant and proper. In the improvement of the services and by continues support of the existing clients. The researcher must use the email method of survey because in this way, the cost will be economical and can save more time. The results of the questionnaire also get immediately through the fast transaction made by the technology. In this technique also, all the staffs can be emailed and can give answers to the questionnaires whether they are existing customers or potential one. This may give solutions to the aim of the study wherein to maintain the existing customers and to encourage the potential one by the service improvement of the canteen.


7. Sample Questionnaire


            The sample questions in the sample questionnaire are being chosen because they will answer the aims of the study and to give the researcher or the manager an idea on the service improvement and the promotions of the canteen. Moreover, these questions will be the use for the proper evaluation of the study and will seek answers to the entire aims of the study. The sample questionnaire is written below:


1. Are you a regular customer of the University canteen? ______________________


2. Do you want the foods that are currently offering by the university canteen? _______


3. Are you satisfied to the services that the university is offering? ________________


4. What foods do you most likely you want to eat when you are at the canteen? ______


5.  What can you say about the services (prices, utensils, materials, equipments, etc) that the university canteen is offering? _______________


6. What other services you need which are not currently found at the university canteen? ___________


 


 


Bibliography


Checkoway, H, Pearce, N, and Crawford-Brown, D, 1989, Research Methods in Occupational Epidemiology, Oxford University Press, US


Godwin, T, Steinhart, D, and Fulton, B 1997, Peer Justice and Youth Empowerment, DIANE Publishing


Mertens, D 2004, Research and Evaluation In Education and Psychology, SAGE


Vittinghoff, E 2005, Regression Methods in Biostatistics: Linear, Logistics, Survival, and Repeated Measures Models, Springer 


Trochim, W. (2006). Probability Sampling, Social Research Methods, Retrieved January 7, 2008, from <http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampprob.php>


 



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