3.

0 Methodology

3.1 Research design

The target population of this study was employees and customers of several construction
companies Germany who were contacted by the researcher by email. The sample for this
survey was comprised of one hundred and three (103) respondents who are employees
and customers of several construction companies Germany who were randomly selected.
A structured questionnaire was used in gathering relevant data from the respondents. A
questionnaire is a group or sequence of questions designed to elicit information from an
informant or respondent when asked by an interviewer or completed unaided by the
respondent. When an interviewer is involved, the questionnaire is sometimes referred to as
an interview. A structured questionnaire, on the other hand, is one in which the questions
asked are precisely decided in advance. When used as an interviewing method, the questions
are asked exactly as they are written, in the same sequence, using the same style, for all
interviews. Nonetheless, the structured questionnaire can sometimes be left a bit open for the
interviewer to amend to suit a specific context.

3.1 Data collection

For this dissertation work, both the primary and secondary and observation source of
collecting data or acquiring data are used. While background and literature review parts
contain information from secondary sources, the research analysis are based on the primary
data (survey among employees and customers of construction companies in Germany).

Primary data source

Primary data is a raw data that is basically collected directly from the area of research
concern and it is also called as first hand data. This is collected specifically to direct the issue
and address it in question and is collected personally by the researcher. Questionnaires
including structured questions were used, thus letting the respondents the altitude to answer
freely and fully.

Secondary data source

This is data which was collected by some other person used by the researcher for the purpose
of this work. Secondary data is collected through the reading of books, journal articles, World
Wide Web resources, newspapers, publication, and companys’ reports. The secondary data is
the already available data that was collected by someone else than the user (Finn, 2011).
Generally, the sources for secondarily collected data include the information collected by
government organizations, censuses, the records of companies and the other record which
were originally collected for other research studies to meet different purposes. Generally, the
secondary data can be collected very easily where researchers have to find the source of that
data and then collect it at all. Besides, the time and cost required to collect this type of data is
very lesser as compared to that of primary data. Hence, it can be said that it is primary
advantage of secondary data (Sparrow, 2012). This thing helps the researchers to collect the
data easily and without spending much time and financial resources.

3.2 Questionnaire design

There are two parts in questionnaire -the first part includes questions about the respondent’s
personal information and the second part made up of questions relating to the issue being
investigated. Some of the questions were structured in closed end type when others were
open questions (which require respondents to give full answers) or scaled questions. 127
questionnaires were sent out for reliable information and 103 were collected back meeting all
the criterions. The questionnaire is designed with the following characteristics:
Wording in the questions were simple
The questions were relevant to the subject and not too personal
The questions were unambiguous
Some questions had pre-printed answers allowing to be ticked easily.

3.3Measuring instrument

The measurement used in this paper is the Likert Scale Method of summated ratings.
It consists of statements where respondents indicate their degree of agreement or
disagreement on a five- point scale -Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and
Strongly Agree.In respect to measuring the reliability of the scale, the reliability
coefficients of the product, promotion, place, price, customer service and after sales
service were 0.76, 0.85, 0.82, 0.72, 0.80 and 0.77 respectively. Business performance scale
was used to assess respondents level of their organizational profitability, market share,
and return on investment and expansion compare with their competitors. The scale was
subjected to item analysis in order to ensure it is valid and reliable and it yielded reliability
alpha of .76.

3.4 Reasons for data collection method used

There are several reasons why the researcher decided to choose the primary and secondary
methods of data collection. The researcher used secondary data to be able to identify similar
studies conducted before and take them as a background of this work. Secondary data was
also used to answer sub-questions of this research. Primary data is important to get reliable
information relevant to the problem of investigation from the first hand. Respondents,
professionals in the field of investment, could answer questions either on their own or to
appoint meeting with the researcher which allowed them to make a choice which was
convenient to them. This method is relatively fast and may collect large quantity of
information at once and questions are easily answerable. During the testing of this method the
researcher realized this method works well in terms of high speed. Out of 103 respondents
127 of them returned answer sheets on time. Thereby, this method was one of the most
suitable making it possible to obtain both qualitative and quantitative collection of
information fast and easy.

3.5 Problems and difficulties encountered

It is not surprising for work of this nature to be conducted with some difficulties or problems.
The researcher faced several problems during this research. It was hard to find German
construction companies and their customers who would like to fill up the questionnaires. The
researcher spent much time online sending requesting participation of respondents. Out of
360 potential participants only 127 responded back out of which only 107 answered to
questions desirable quality to use in this research. Big companies did not wish to be
investigated. During observation of the organizations owners were sometimes irresponsible
for online appointment and some of the respondents were not open and this restricted and
scared the ability of the researcher to ask questions. The communication was sometimes hard
to reach because some of the respondents did not quite comprehend the questions they were
asked. It was obvious that some of them were not good at the subject parts- marketing of their
company.