Primary and Secondary Data Collection Methods

Discuss about the Project Management for Systems Approach To Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling?

All data and information obtained by the researcher himself in for some specific reason is known as primary data. Primary data is collected by surveys, interviews or by focusing on groups and discussing the research topic (Burke 2013). The advantage of primary data is that the researcher can focus on both the qualitative and the quantitative issue of the research. Primary research can be very expensive, as the researcher has to develop and execute a research plan. This can also be time consuming and low response rate has to be expected from primary research.

Secondary data is the data that is collected from the primary data. Someone else already collected this data, previously. The common methods of secondary data collection are census, organisational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research. Secondary data collection techniques save time and are less costly than the primary data.

Creating plan for data collection (Primary and Secondary)

Quantitative and qualitative data are the two types of data that are available where data can be in the form of photographs, charts and images, verses, details, statistics, etc. (Pawar 2004) stated that quantitative data are the data that can be expressed in numbers and are gathered from surveys, questionnaires, trails, etc. Qualitative data are those that cannot be expressed in numbers and they represent the nominal scale data like socio economic data, gender, etc. It is necessary for the researcher to gather data to carry out the research and generate a better output. Though primary data can be collected in various ways of research, interviews or observation, interviews are the important ways to get the data as customer’s feedback are very important. To collect primary data, a company can use their sites, ecommerce link for survey by adding short questionnaire (Van De Walle Turoff and Hiltz 2014). To collect secondary data, they are collected from the already-existed data and this makes the data collection easier. Primary data collection is a tougher task, which begins with proper planning of the survey, developing of questionnaire, interviews of various kinds, customers’ observation and other available methods.  

The methodology is considered as a tool for collecting data for a particular research. This case deals with collection of important information about the requirements, likings and disliking, product’s knowledge, additional values needed, improved ideas for invention , etc., of cyclists. For this, closed questions and open questions are used to make survey question list. Curwin and Burke (2013) stated that questionnaire and surveys are the two ways to conduct the survey. Qualitative assessment and quantitative design are the two other ways to do the survey. Probability sampling and non-probability sampling are the two types of sampling that have different approaches in sampling techniques. “Cluster sampling, simple random sampling, stratified sampling and systematic sampling” methods are probability-sampling methods. “Snowball sample method, quota sampling and judgmental sample” methods are the non-probability sampling methods. For this survey, open-end questions and close end questions, both are appropriate for survey and non-probability sampling technique is the appropriate to carry out data sampling.

Creating Plan for Data Collection

Dear Customer,

A2Delicios Ltd group have many “restaurants” around London. With customer-oriented services, we are always eager to fill the expectations of the customers by offering a range of customer oriented services. We would like you to answer few questions to regarding clients’ expectation and help us to know your views.

We thank you in advance for giving your precious time to answer the questions and fill up the questionnaire.

We are looking forward to serve you better in the near future.

Best regards,

To,

The manager,

A2Delicious Ltd

Name:

Age:

Gender: –       Male –               Female –

Address:

Are you satisfied with the dealing process of A2Ltd: – Yes –

No               

Please specify the reason if your answer is no:-

Please mark within the marking range of 1-5 (“1-Unsatisfied, 2-Good, 3-Very Good, 4-Satisfied, 5-Exceed expectation”)

The questionnaire

Do you think that the price charged for the foods and the drinks is reasonable – Yes –          No –        

Kindly state the reason if your answer is No:

Is the restaurant recommendable to others – Yes                No

Your comments for us to carry out constant development process

The attached envelop should be used for dispatching your survey answer

“Mean” is defined as the average value derived from a set of collected data. In the given example, the average demand is known as the arithmetic mean of the problem. The average represents the mean size of the population.

The total advertising expenditure turned out to be 183 (£’000).

There are 7 consecutive years from 2007 to 2013.

The average advertising expenditure for these 7 years is 183/7 = 26.14 (£’000).

The total food sales (£’000) was 1270.

There were 7 consecutive years from 2007 to 2013.

Therefore, the mean food sales for the 7 years was 1270/7 = 181.429 (£’00).

The company, A2D, had less expenditure for advertising. However, the advertising expenditure was less than the average, but the sales of the food increased in every year. This hinted at the fact that though the amount spent on advertising was less, but the selling of food had increased over the years, which was due to the previous advertisements (Anderson et al. 2014). The customers had faith on the products of the company and thus they were loyal toward the company. AD2 performed well during the year 2011, 2012 compared to the previous years, though there was a slight decrease in food sales during 2013.

Mode is that measure that gives the most frequently occurring value of the data set. Modal value can be easily found out.

From the given surveyed values, it was found that the modal value of Advertising expenditure (£’000) was 25 while the modal value of Food sales (£’000) was 0. Thus, there was a repeat value for Advertising expenditure but there was no repeat value for Food sales.

Median is the measure when the data are ordered. Median is the middle most number of an ordered data set. Median for Advertising expenditure was found out to be 26 and the median for Food sales was 190.

The data set of Advertising expenditure (£’000) follows a uniform distribution as the mean, median and mode are nearly equal. They also follow a symmetrical pattern.

Sampling Frame and Methodology Used in the Research

The above table highlights that the advertising expenditure in the year 2009, 30000pounds, was maximum. The advertising expenditure was increasing from the year 2007 and it reached its maximum of 30000 pounds in the year 2009. This expenditure was beyond the average expenditure of 26000 pounds. Therefore, the company spent lots of money on advertising during this period. The advertising expenditure started decreasing from the year 2010 and reached its minimum of 22000 pounds in the year 2013. Thus, the advertising expenditure was below the average expenditure of 26000 pounds by 2013.

It was also seen from the above chart that the food sales were increasing from 2007 to 2012 steadily. However, in 2013, the food sale decreased by 30000 pound from 2012. In 2013, though the food sale was above average of 181000 pounds, but there was a decrease in the sale. The reason may be due to the decrease in advertising expenditure or may be the customers had lost faith in A2D limited. From the year 2007 to 2009, the food sale of A2D limited was below the average of 181000 pounds.

There were no extreme values for food sales or advertising expenditure. There can be an improvement in the organization in the near future by not letting the advertisement expenditure cross the average of 26140 pounds per year and to check that the average food sale do not fall below the average sale of 181000 pounds per year. There must be a constant growth in the food sale keeping the advertisement cost below the average.

The company must target in long-term achievements in food sales. It was seen that the business increased as the food sales increased on an average of 20000 pounds every year. This increase in food sale must be increased more in order to flourish the business. They must also reach to more customers by various other means other than advertisement by keeping the advertisement expenditure below the average.

Table 1: Measures of dispersion

(Source: created by author)

The difference between the maximum and minimum values of a data set is known as range which tells us about the spread of the data. The range is a poor measure of dispersion as it gets highly influenced by the extreme values.

From the given figures, the range for advertising expenditure is 8000 pounds and that of food sale is 110000 pounds. A2D limited can make this range smaller and they could keep it near the averages during the forward movement of the business.

Inter-quartile range is the difference between the 3^rd quartile and the 1^st quartile. This shows the distribution of the middle part of the data set.

“Standard deviation” is the systematic measure of dispersion that is the average measurement of distance of data values from the mean of the data. Lower the standard deviation, higher is the accuracy of the data. Standard deviation does not depend upon the sample size. The standard deviation for the advertising expenditure is 2.54, which is less. This is because the company wanted to reduce the advertising expenditure while the standard deviation of foods sales is 37.61. This is because the company was steadily increasing its sales over the last 7 years. Thus, it could be seen that there was a steady increase in the business and there was development in the business (Gravetter and Wallnau 2016).

Questionnaire for the Specified Issues of the Business

The correlation coefficient between the two data sets shows -0.2463. The correlation coefficient here is negative which indicates that the increase in one variable led to the decrease in another variable. Here, decrease in advertising cost led to the increase in food sales. However, the correlation coefficient is very weak, 0.2463, which concluded that advertising actually had not helped A2D in increase in its food sales (Anderson et al. 2014).

However, the reality is different as we can see that when A2D first opened, its advertising cost was 25000 pounds and the foods sale was 120000 pounds. As years passed by, the advertising cost decreased while the food sale increased, though there was an increase in advertising expenditure from 2007 to 2009 and it decreased thereafter. The food sale, though, continued to increase until 2012 and there was a slight decrease in 2013.

Few recommendations are required for further increase in business and better business. Attracting more customers would indirectly lead to the promotion of A2D, as these customers would recommend the restaurant to other customers as well. The restaurant does not have to pay for the promotion and it would be promoted without the knowledge of the customers. The restaurant must also provide discounts on bills or free first drinks, etc. to its customers in order to attract more of them.

Quartiles and percentiles are other measures of analysis. The Q1 and Q3 of advertising expenditure is 25 and 160, while that of food sales is 27.5 and 205. The first 25% of data for advertising expenditure lies within the values of 25 and the last 25% beyond 160. For, food sales, the first 25% data lie within 27.5 while the last 25% is beyond 205.

Percentiles are almost same as quartiles where Q1 is the 25^th percentile, Q2 is the 50^th percentile, and i.e. the “median of the data” and Q3 is the 75^th “percentile of the data”. The results of the percentile can be explained in the same manner as quartiles.

Graphical representation for deriving Business Conclusion (Bar, Pie and Line Charts)

Chart 1: pie chart of advertising expenditure

(Source: created by author)

This shows that the advertising expenditure increased over 1^st 4 years and then it decreased for the next 3 years. A2D had been trying to modify their expenditures before and the expenditures started decreasing from 2010.

Chart 2: pie chart of food sales

(Source: created by author)

The food sales steadily increased till 2012 and then it decreased a little on 2013. There could be different offers that came up which increased the sale of A2D. Also, increase in population and tourists might lead to increase in the sale of A2D as years passed by.

Chart 3: line chart of food sales and advertising expenditure

(Source: created by author)

Line chart shows that the business of A2D was low during 2007. This was the beginning year of A2D. So this could be the reason for its low business. The food sales increased as year passed by and 2012 saw the maximum sales which could be the effect of London Olympics or the well advertising effects.

Creating Information Aid for A2D Limited by Data Summarization Using Mean, Median and Mode

Chart 4: bar graph of food sales and advertising expenditure

(Source: created by author)

The bar graph shows that the advertising cost was lower than the food sale which was good business. It also shows that there was a steady increase in the food sale though there ws a decrease in it in 2013 which may be due to recession.

Chart 5: scatter plot of advertising expenditure

(Source: created by author)

Chart 6: scatter plot of food sales

(Source: created by author)

The scatter plot along with the trend lines shows that the food sale of A2D is increasing every year and the predicted value of it by 2015 is 270,000 pound. The scatter plot also shows that the advertising expenditure is showing a downward trend and it is getting minimised every year. The expected advertising cost by 2015 is 24,000 pound.

A2D started its business in 2007. This chain of restaurant is famous for its “African and European dishes”. It has 20 restaurants in London (South) and wants to increase its business in west London. For this the company is conducting a survey to forecast the business know the destiny of the organisation.

The relationship between the sales and advertising is seen as a positive relationship that will help the business to grow in the near future. Once the restaurant is famous, its growth in the business is obvious even if the advertising cost decreases.

Conclusion and Recommendation

A2D has potential in performing well in the business. It can be recommended that strong promotional words could be used to promote the restaurant which will also decrease the cost of advertising as these words will spread by the customers itself. The business could be expanded not only in the west London, but also in the other parts of London, though research and survey must be conducted well before the onset of the business. The forecast of the business is pretty well. Predictions must be done carefully so as to avoid troubles and loss in the near future and changes can be made if problem arises.

The study of people, technology, organization and the relationships between them is known as management information systems (MIS) which helps a firm to know the maximum profit from the investments and services using the technologies. These are typically computer systems used for managing data and analyze the market to help he firm know about their future growth (Walle et al. 2014.).

This term , academically, means the study of individuals and organizations and how they evaluate their plans , designs , and manage and implement their systems for generating information regarding the maximum profit from the investments.

A2d could manage their orders by using different methods such as card scheme. They can also keep a track of the orders and manage them accordingly. The inventory department of the restaurant could keep a track of the preferred orders and they can suggest the restaurant for the dishes that are preferred by the costumers. Thus the organization could have a proper arrangement of orders that are preferred by its customers. They can also ask for feed backs from the customers.

The process in which the project is planned, organized, motivated and the resources are controlled to achieved the desired goals is known as project management(Burke, 2013.). Here, various constraints are figured out and work is done upon them to minimise the constraints and maximize the profit of the organisation. Various technical skills and managerial skills are used to make the project management a successful one so that the business has a profit for it(Kerzner, 2013).

References

Kerzner, H.R., 2013. Project Management: A Systems Approach To Planning, Scheduling, And Controlling. John Wiley & Sons

Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques New Jersey, USA.

Van De Walle, B., Turoff, M. and Hiltz, S.R., 2014 Information systems for emergency management. Routledge.

Anderson, D., Sweeney, D., Williams, T., Camm, J. and Cochran, J., 2014. Essentials of statistics for business and economics Cengage Learning

Gravetter, F. and Wallnau, L., 2016. Statistics for the behavioral sciences. Cengage Learning.