QUANTITATIVE REPORT

AMB201- Marketing Audience & Research

Semester 1

Student Name: Molly Crank

Student Number: n9586636
Tutor: Georgia Swalwell, Tutorial: Tuesday 3pm-4pm
Word Count: 2192
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Table of Contents
Participation Reflection ........................................................................................................................... 2
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ 3
1.0 Introduction and Background ...................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Importance of Research ........................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Scope of the Report ................................................................................................................. 4
1.3 Research Problem .................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Aim and Objectives ................................................................................................................. 4
2.0 Method .......................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Methodological Considerations and Assumptions ........................................................................ 5
2.2 Sample Considerations .................................................................................................................. 5
2.3 Data collection and framework, and analytical considerations ..................................................... 6
3.0 Ethics ................................................................................................................................................. 6
4.0 Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 7
4.1 Data Cleaning and Editing ............................................................................................................ 7
4.2 Descriptives ................................................................................................................................... 7
4.2.1 Descriptive Frequencies ......................................................................................................... 8
4.2.2 Descriptive Statistics .............................................................................................................. 9
4.3 Age and Gender Analysis (Objective One) ................................................................................... 9
Table 1: Analysis Results for Objective 1 t-tests ......................................................................... 10
4.4 Individual Characteristics Analysis (Objective 2) ....................................................................... 10
4.5 Predictors of Online Shopping (Objective 3) .............................................................................. 10
Table 2: Regression Results for Objective 3 ................................................................................ 11
5.0 Discussion and Recommendations .................................................................................................. 12
5.1 Objective 1 (Age and Gender)..................................................................................................... 12
5.2 Objectives 2 & 3 (Individual Characteristics) ............................................................................. 12
6.0 Limitations ...................................................................................................................................... 13
7.0 References ....................................................................................................................................... 14
8.0 Appendix ......................................................................................................................................... 15
Appendix 1: Survey 1 ........................................................................................................................ 15
Appendix 2: Survey 2 ........................................................................................................................ 18

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Participation Reflection
As a part of AMB201, it was recommended to take part in two quantitative studies.
Participating in these research studies allows me as the participant to be informed on how to
conduct my own future research.

The first study I took part in was the Employee Gratitude Survey. This study examines
employee gratitude. The survey involved answering a series of questions relating to my
perceptions of employment. The researchers purpose of this study is to understand the
perceptions of the participants employment along with their attitude to their work
environment. In my workplace they also conduct surveys examining similar concepts. I chose
this study as it was an online study. This was convenient as it allowed me to complete it from
home online at any time, rather than having to make a time to come to a class. A series of
questions were asked by the researcher about employee gratitude. These questions measured
the attitudes by asking the participant to respond to a series of statements using a Likert scale.
This scale measures levels of agreement/disagreement to a specific statement. Completing this
survey has enabled me to inform my own research. I am now able to report on my
understanding of the scaling method. This project uses this method to describe data for
quantitative research.

The second study I completed was to understand peoples attitudes toward television
advertisements. I chose this study as I was interested in the types of research questions
regarding TV advertisements and my opinions on them. During this study, a series of TV
advertisements were shown to the participant. There were then a series of questions related
thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards the advertisement. Once again this study used the
Likert scaling method.

Both of these studies allowed me to gain an understanding of the data gathering method
(scaling) used in questionaries. This was of great assistance when undertaking and analysing
future quantitative research. For the purpose of this assignment, the survey design for the
project used the scaling method (Likert Scale).

It is important as a researcher to take part in research as a participant. This allows the

researcher to gain an insight on how improvements can be made to their own research.

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Executive Summary

This report explores the relationships between attitudes to online shopping with respect to
firstly age and gender. The Individual Characteristics of Risk Aversion and Materialism were
then compared to an individuals attitude toward online shopping.

The research indicated that whilst age was significant when looking at an individuals attitude
to online shopping, gender had no impact.

The research went on to link a positive attitude to online shopping to people who are
materialistic, shoppers who demonstrate traits of being risk averse do not have such a positive
attitude to online shopping.

Whilst these results are limited by the sample size (885), broad age group descriptors and
possible errors in data transfer, there are implications for those retailers who involved with
online retail and those who market to shoppers in the online space.

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1.0 Introduction and Background

1.1 Importance of Research
Quantitative Research aims to explain the causes of changes in social facts, this is done
through objective analysis of data. This research is mainly concerned with developing and
testing hypotheses (Pizam, 2010). Primary research from original sources such as surveys,
face-to-face interviews and questionnaires forms the basis of such research. The types of
information gathered from surveys for example, may be quantitative and as such the data may
be used to develop or test a certain hypothesis.

This quantitative research will further explore data gathered from previous qualitative
research to ensure a complete understanding of consumers online retail shopping behaviour.

1.2 Scope of the Report

The overall aim of this project involves a quantitative research approach to understanding
Australian consumers online retail shopping behaviour. This project discusses many
techniques to analyse the given data derived from surveys including male and female
respondents over the ages of 18. The project is envisioned to support the development of well-
rounded researchers and informed consumers of research.

1.3 Research Problem

With the continual growth in online shopping in Australia, it is important for marketers and
researchers to understand the consumers behaviours and attitudes with respect to this mode
of retail purchasing. The research question for this report is as follows:

What are the determinants of Australian consumers attitudes toward online retail
shopping?

From this report it is hoped that researchers and marketers will gain a better understanding of
the individual consumers attitudes toward online shopping.

1.4 Aim and Objectives

It is important to clearly define specific objectives in order to achieve useful results from a
research project. The aim of this research project is to quantitatively examine Australian
consumers attitudes toward online retail shopping. The specific objectives include:

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i. To examine if attitudes toward online retail shopping differ across population

segments;
ii. To understand the relationship between individual characteristics and attitudes
toward online retail shopping;
iii. To determine which individual characteristics can be used to predict attitudes
toward online retail shopping.

2.0 Method
2.1 Methodological Considerations and Assumptions
The research conducted in this project can be defined as descriptive research. Descriptive
research involves collecting data to characterise a group, concept or phenomenon.
(Fitzpatrick, J., & Kazer, M. , 2011) For the purpose of this report, it was most appropriate to
use descriptive data. This data characterises the information into a group or concept. This
allows the objectives of the report which focus on descriptions of participants attitudes
toward online shopping, to be achieved.

2.2 Sample Considerations

Convenience sampling is a method of data gathering that is easily available to the researcher
with its ease of accessibility (Umar Sultan, 2011). As time and resources are one of many
constraints to a researcher, convenience sampling was chosen to collect all data used to
present the findings. The data collection process for this quantitative research included
gathering information from participants, based around age and gender. Each researcher was
given instructions on whether to survey males or females and were asked to survey two
subjects. In this researchers case, both participants were males, one aged between 18 and 40
whilst the other was in the age bracket of 41 plus. The total number of participants across the
researcher group was 885. If all researchers followed their guidelines, there should be data
from a range of ages with no gender bias.

The limitations of this data include a relatively small sample size of 885 respondents. These
respondents were drawn mainly from an urban setting where a wide range of retail
experiences are widely available. Participants from regional areas would have given greater
depth to the data. Moreover, there was limited opportunity for respondents to make personal
comment with respect to the overall question. A greater sample size with a more diverse
demographic would be required to draw more accurate conclusions from the data.

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2.3 Data collection and framework, and analytical considerations

The data collection process for this quantitative research, is commonly used in many research
tasks and is known as a survey. Hardcopy surveys were given to participants. The surveys
were sourced by all students studying AMB201 via Blackboard. Each student was
responsible for 2 surveys from a specified demographic. The survey used a 7-point Likert
scale, consisting of questions relating to the over-arching research question as well as to each
specific objective and aim. The respondents were asked to rate a statement on a sliding scale
from seven (strongly agree) to one (strongly disagree). Each student entered their data onto an
online database. This type of data is easily analysed.

3.0 Ethics
When conducting market research, engaging in ethical practices is a necessity. Research
depends on the willingness of individuals, the public and the business community. It is
important to treat respondents in an ethical manner. Industry-based codes of conduct for
marketing researchers in Australia include Australian Market and Social Research Society
(AMSRS) and Association of Market and Social Research Organisations (AMSRO). For the
purpose of AMB201 a signed participant consent form was a part of the ethical
considerations. All responses were anonymous and were treated confidentially. De-
identification is part of the ethical considerations at QUT, therefore the names of the
participants were not entered into the class database. According to the QUT Data
Management, research projects completed by undergraduate students as part of course
assessment are retained for 12 months after the completion of the assessment.

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4.0 Analysis
4.1 Data Cleaning and Editing
Data cleaning and editing refers to checking the data for responses that might need to be
deleted or altered to make them useable. Uninterpretable responses were deleted to ensure
data error did not occur. For example when asked in the survey to indicate hours online -
always - is not answering the question properly and was therefore deleted from the data. To
ensure this does not occur a visual inspection of the data was completed.

Assigning numerical codes to non-numerical data had to be done to allow data entry into the
software, and also for easier reference. For example single was assigned to the number one
and partnered was assigned to the number two. This is because only numerical data could be
entered into the SPSS Software.

The coding stage involved reversing negatively scaled items, this is done by rephrasing a
positive item in a negative way. This technique can be done to then check if respondents
are giving consistent answers throughout the survey.

4.2 Descriptives
After the process of Data Cleaning and Editing was completed, there were 885 cleaned
samples. The descriptive frequencies in the data provide the percent of each group in the
different categories such as, age cohort, gender, relationship status and online communication
method. In this section there is also the descriptive statistics of the construct means.

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4.2.1 Descriptive Frequencies

Age Cohort
Percent
Younger 49.8
Older 50.2
Total 100.0

Gender
Percent
Male 53.2
Female 46.8
Total 100.0

Relationship status
Percent
Single 34.9
Partnered 65.1
Total 100.0

Preferred method of online communication

Percent
Email 46.3
Instant Messaging (online chat) 53.7
Total 100.0

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4.2.2 Descriptive Statistics

Construct Mean
ATTA 4.3062
Variety Seeking 4.5038
Risk Aversion 4.6105
Price Consciousness 4.8912
Impulsiveness 3.7155
Convenience Seeking 4.7430
Materialism 4.3162

4.3 Age and Gender Analysis (Objective One)

To examine if attitudes toward online retail shopping differ across population segments, t tests
were conducted. Table 1 shows both gender and age cohort. Within this table is each groups
mean, t-value and significance level.

With respect to Gender, the mean attitude rating for females looks slightly higher than the
mean attitude rating for males. Although the means are slightly different, the results of the t-
test shows the significance (2-tailed) value is not less than 0.05, therefore there is not a
statistically significant difference between the two groups, regardless of how the means look.
This means males and females have similar attitudes toward online shopping.

When considering Age, the mean attitude rating for the younger group looks a little higher
than the mean attitude rating for the older group. With this difference, it is important to check
if these means are statistically different. This can be done by looking at the t-test statistics.
The significance (2-tailed) value is less than 0.05, so it can be concluded that there is a
statistically significant difference between the two age groups. These statistics imply that
younger people seem to have a more favourable attitude toward online shopping. Conversely,
there appears to be little difference when it comes to gender.

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Table 1: Analysis Results for Objective 1 t-tests

Mean T-value Sig
Gender Male 4.2426 -1.425 154
Female 4.3786
Age Cohort Older 4.8764 13.009 .000
Younger 3.7399

4.4 Individual Characteristics Analysis (Objective 2)

To understand the relationship between individual characteristics and attitudes toward online
retail shopping, a correlation analysis was conducted. The two individual characteristics
chosen were Risk Aversion and Materialism.

The results showed moderate (-0.439) correlation between the characteristic of Risk Aversion
and an individuals attitude toward online retail shopping. This negative (0.439) correlation
indicates that the more risk averse an individual is, then the less inclined they will be to
engage in online shopping. To conclude, the more risk averse a person is, the less they will be
inclined to be involved in online shopping.

With respect to the characteristic of Materialism, the results showed a moderate (0.440)
correlation. This correlation however, is positive, indicating that the more materialistic an
individual is, the more likely they are to engage in online shopping. The significance level of
0.000 in this instance is not significant indicating that the correlation occurred by chance.
These results indicate, individuals who are more materialistic have a greater propensity to
shop online.

4.5 Predictors of Online Shopping (Objective 3)

To determine which individual characteristics can be used to predict attitudes toward online
retail shopping, bivariate regression analysis was conducted. The individual characteristics
considered were Risk Aversion and Materialism.

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Table 2: Regression Results for Objective 3

Adjusted R Squared Standardised Sig.
Value Coefficients
Risk Aversion .192 -.439 .000

Materialism .193 .440 .000

Regarding the Significant value for Risk Aversion and Materialism, the value for both
characteristics is less than 0.05, therefore the regression equation does a good job at
explaining the variation in the dependent variable: ATTA.

ATTA prediction= -.668* (Risk Aversion Score) + 7.384

In equation above, it can be seen that the predicted score for ATTA will be -.668 multiplied
by a persons Risk Aversion score, plus 7.384.

ATTA prediction= .586* (Materialism Score) + 1.777

In equation above, it can be seen that the predicted score for ATTA will be .586 multiplied by
a persons Materialism score, plus 1.777.

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5.0 Discussion and Recommendations

5.1 Objective 1 (Age and Gender)
For this objective t-tests were conducted to show results. For the group of Gender, the mean
attitude rating for females was slightly higher than the mean attitude rating for males.
Although results from the t-tests show that there is not a statistically significant difference
between the two groups, regardless of the results of the mean. Therefore males and females
have the same attitude and same favourability toward online shopping. These results proved
to be a surprise as previous research indicated that there were significant gender differences.
National Australian Bank chief economist Alan Oster remarked, Fashion is one of the
fastest-growing online categories and women have grown their spending online twice as fast
as men over the last year. (McMahon, 2012)

With respect to age differences and attitudes toward online shopping, it is no surprise to see
that the younger respondents have a more positive attitude. Often referred to as digital natives,
respondents in the younger demographic have grown up with and trust technology. Older
people tend to have less trust in the security of the digital space and are more likely to prefer a
more traditional retail experience. Globally, Generation X (age 35-49) respondents comprise
about 28% of those willing to make a purchase online, and Baby Boomers (age 50-64) make
up about 10%. The Silent Generation (age 65+) contributes roughly 2%. The youngest age
group, Generation Z (under age 20), represents about 7% of those who intend to purchase
online. (Age Matters with Digital Shoppers, 2014).

5.2 Objectives 2 & 3 (Individual Characteristics)

To understand the relationship between individual characteristics (Risk Aversion and
Materialism) and attitudes toward online retail shopping, a correlation analysis was
conducted. The results from the correlation analysis showed a moderate correlation for both
characteristics of Risk Aversion and Materialism. Objective two looks at correlation analysis
of results, whilst objective three, bivariate regression builds on ideas from correlation. The
correlation analysis is generally about the nature of the relationship between the two
variables, and regression goes that one step further to allow prediction from the regression
equation. Findings in these results are not surprising as I would expect if someone is Risk
Averse, they would not have a favourable attitude toward shopping online. Conversely, a
person who is highly materialistic, their attitude toward online shopping may be more
favourable and may find themselves looking online.

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The findings from this research have implications for future marketing opportunities. An
opportunity exists for advertisers to target in the 20 40 years age bracket. This age group
whilst engaging in online shopping represents the area for potential growth. More marketing
via web applications and popular websites would be appropriate. It appears that people who
are less risk averse may be inclined to shop online. Targeting websites and recreational
activities popular in this domain may prove to be successful.

It would seem from the research also that targeting a particular gender would not be
appropriate as both males and females appear to have similar attitudes towards online
shopping.

For future research into individuals attitudes toward online shopping, researchers could
explore other demographic variables such as disposable income, education levels and
location. The researcher could also potentially investigate one of the particular findings
further. For the purposes of this project, an individuals behavioural intent was in focus,
meaning the research aimed at understanding the perceived likelihood or subjective
probability that an individual would engage in online shopping. Future research could explore
an individuals actual shopping behaviours.

6.0 Limitations
One of the limitations in this research is time limit. At the same time cost is also another
limitation. The convenience approach was limited with respect to the age groups which were
targeted. They were extremely broad. Perhaps smaller representative groups may have
produced more finely tuned data. In such a study there is potential for errors due to the
transfer of information from hard copy to a digital form. An online survey would eliminate
this error. As already discussed, the sample size, broad age groupings and the lack of any
personal comment facility may also limit the effectiveness of the information.

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7.0 References
(2014). Retrieved from Age Matters with Digital Shoppers:
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/age-matters-with-digital-shoppers.html

Fitzpatrick, J., & Kazer, M. . (2011). Encyclopedia of Nursing Research . New York : Springer Publishing
Company.

Hair, J. F., Lukas, B., Miller, K. E., Bush, R. P., Ortinau, D. J., Roberts. (2014). Marketing Research.
Sydney: McGraw- Hill Education.

McMahon, S. (2012). Women are spending online at almost twice the pace of men, NAB research
says. Retrieved from news.com.au: http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/women-are-
spending-online-at-almost-twice-the-pace-of-men-nab-research-says/news-
story/a3fe6b7f4ca66165d30768ebdc474907

Pizam, A. (2010). Retrieved from Qualitative versus quantitative research:

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/science/article/pii/B9781856177146
100170

Umar Sultan, M. (2011). Consumers Attitudes Toward Online Shopping.

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8.0 Appendix
Appendix 1: Survey 1

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Appendix 2: Survey 2

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