Research Project Proposal

Service Quality in Private Medical Centers ‘Working on

Cardiac Diseases’ from Customers’ Point of View in
Bangladesh

Marketing Research
(MKT 414)

Prepared For
Mujahid Mohiuddin
Course Instructor
Marketing Research
Department of Business Administration
East West University, Dhaka

Proposed By
TAZKIRUT TAHLEEL

S. M. BENZIR AHMED

MD. MOHAIMAN KHAN CHOWDHURY

JOYNAL ABEDIN

Spring 2008

Report Submission
May 2008

Date of Proposal Submission: 2 March 2008

EAST WEST UNIVERSITY
Contents
Executive Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------- 02
Research Problem ------------------------------------------------------------------- 03
Objectives and Goal ------------------------------------------------------------------- 03
Broad Objective ----------------------------------------------------------- 03
Goal --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03
Research Aim --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03
Technical Proposal ------------------------------------------------------------------- 04
Methodology ------------------------------------------------------------------- 04
Project Time Schedule --------------------------------------------------- 05
Benefits --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 05
Project Management ------------------------------------------------------------------- 06
Deliverables --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 06
Project Budget ------------------------------------------------------------------- 07
Project Time Scale ------------------------------------------------------------------- 07
Project Team --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 08
References --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09
Contact Details ------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

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Executive Summary
Most of the cardiac patients of our country have no faith on our health sector. There
is still great concern about the quality of health care service centre in Bangladesh.
There are many private health care service centers working on cardiac diseases, i.e.
private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers. This research document will lead to
discovery of “Why people are loosing their faith from private health care centers”,
“Their service quality” and “How the service quality can be improved”. This research
work will help the researchers, also for further research work and the marketer of
private medical center to improve their service quality and to satisfy their customers.

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Research Problem
This proposal outlines a research project that will provide a better analytical
approach covering current need about health care for cardiac diseases only to find
how to satisfy the customers of private health care centers. Some limitations:

• Focusing on cardiac diseases only.

• We will collect data from the customers of Dhaka city only.
• The time we are getting to conduct the research work and analyzing the
customers’ satisfying factors are not enough.

Objectives and Goal

Broad Objective: Finding how to satisfy the customers/patients of cardiac diseases
in private medical centers.

Goal: Finding what are customers’ needs & wants and the current situation of
private health care centers in consumers’ point of view.

Research Aim
• Consumers’ needs and wants
• Present situation of the private health care centers in consumer point of view.
• Finding the reason(s) why the patients are going abroad for the treatment of
cardiac diseases.
• Finding the current trend of private medical centers for the treatment of
cardiac diseases in the country.

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Technical Proposal

Methodology
Secondary research
While some research is now available on Bangladesh's health care system, patient
satisfaction issues have barely been examined. Thus, additional secondary sources
were consulted from the developed world and some research work of Bangladeshi
teachers and students also. We feel more research is needed to analyze Bangladeshi
patients’ satisfaction on private medical centers level in a comprehensive manner in
different FGD (e.g. Cardiac, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Psychiatry etc.

Qualitative research
The research team initially conducted in-depth discussions with patients (covering
three types of hospitals) about the entire process that they underwent to obtain the
necessary care when afflicted. These discussions revealed a variety of factors that
were grouped under the above nine constructs of the model, i.e. reliability,
responsiveness, assurance, tangibles, communication, empathy, process, cost and
access.

Questionnaire design
A preliminary questionnaire will develop in English using Likert scales, then
translated into Bengali and retranslated several times until it was user friendly and
captured the desired constructs by taking help from our course instructor. The
questionnaire will test several times to arrive at appropriate wording, format, length
and sequencing of the questions. Pre-test feedback was used to refine the
questionnaire until it will ready for data collection.

Data collection
A 4-member team of 2008 students of East West University were recruited for data
collection. They will briefed about the objective of the study and the questionnaire.
They will also trained rigorously to collect unbiased and meaningful data.

A permission letter from the East West University will be forwarded to the respective
hospitals so they would provide the necessary help and cooperation to the data
collectors. Researchers supervised the data collecting teams at different hospitals
and assisted with obtaining the list of patients to be released, as well as with data
collection.

Sampling method
The population of the research was defined as Bangladeshis who have been
inpatients in private hospitals and clinics in Dhaka City or in hospitals in a foreign
country within the past year. The focus on Dhaka's hospitals was deemed
appropriate as Dhaka has the greatest number of hospitals of varying quality that
attend to a diverse set of patient needs. Due to resource and time constraints, a
sample size will fixed by our instructor.

Analysis
Data will be analyzed using the software MS-Excel and SPSS.

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Project Time Schedule
Phase-1: Background Research (2 weeks)
It is divided into 2 parts.

Phase-1(a): Data collection from internet, Dhaka Medical College Hospital,

ICDDR,B, Ministry of Health of Bangladesh and Anovatech.

Phase-1(b): Developing hypothesis and conducting qualitative research.

Phase-2: Primary Data Collection (2 weeks)

We need to collect primary data using a structured questionnaire from consumers
and experts.

Phase-3: Data Input (1 week)

The collected primary data will be imputed to SPSS and MS-Excel software.

Phase-4: Analysis & Interpretation (2 weeks)

The inputted data in SPSS will be analyzed and interpreted.

Phase-5: Report Preparation & Presentation (2 weeks)

The report will be presented to related course instructor(s) and industry experts.

Benefits
This report will give benefit to

• The researchers who will work in this area.

• Private medical centers.
• Ultimately the consumers will get benefit.
• Saving Bangladeshi currency by developing a better service i.e. world class
service; and this will decrease the number of abroad going cardiac patients
for treatment purpose.

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Project Management
The management team is well organized. Each member will co-operate in each part,
but there is a formal classification of work. The progress will be regularly monitored.

Data
Analysis &
Interpretati
on (1)

Data
Data Research Analysis &
Coordinator
Collection Interpretati
on (2)

Data
Input

Deliverables
• MS-Power Point Presentation Slide on this report
• A soft copy of the report in PDF format
• One printed copy of the report (hard copy)
• Collected primary data sheets (100 sheets)

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Project Budget
The approximate cost of the whole project is 2,50,000 BDT. Detailed costing . . .

Salary
Research Assistant 20,000 X 2 X 4* 1,60,000 BDT
Data Entry Operator 5,000 X 2 X 4 40,000 BDT
Data Collection 10,000 BDT
Domain Registration (for hosting and web based tool) 10,000 BDT
Miscellaneous (includes print & traveling cost) 10,000 BDT

Total 2,30,000 BDT

The project will be financially supported by East-West University.

* 4 researchers working in 2 months

Project Time Scale

The project will take 2 months and a week. The significant findings are expected to
emerge before May 2008.

1 4 5 6

Meaning…
1 = Background Research
2 = Secondary Data Collection and Qualitative Research
3 = Primary Data Collection
4 = Primary Data Input
5 = Data Analysis & Interpretation
6 = Report Preparation and Presentation

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Project Team
The whole team is a well organized and well coordinated one, the whole task is
cooperated by everyone. But there is a formal classification of “Research Team
Responsibility”, and here it is:

MUJAHID MOHIUDIN
Research Team Responsibility: Research Coordination
Course Instructor, Marketing Research, Department of Business Administration
East West University, Dhaka

TAZKIRUT TAHLEEL
Research Team Responsibility: Data Analysis & Interpretation
Undergraduate Student, Department of Business
East West University, Dhaka

S. M. BENZIR AHMED
Research Team Responsibility: Data Analysis & Interpretation
Undergraduate Student, Department of Business
East West University, Dhaka

MD. MOHAIMAN KHAN CHOWDHURY

Research Team Responsibility: Data Collection
Undergraduate Student, Department of Business
East West University, Dhaka

JOYNAL ABEDIN
Research Team Responsibility: Data Input
Undergraduate Student, Department of Business
East West University, Dhaka

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References
• WHO Bangladesh
<http://www.whoban.org/health_system_bangladesh.html,
http://www.whoban.org/country_health_profile.html,
http://www.whoban.org/upcoming_event.html>

• Andaleeb Syed Saad, Siddiqui Nazlee and Khandakar Shahjahan, 2007.

Patient Satisfaction with Health Services in Bangladesh
<http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/czm017v2>

• Andaleeb, Syed Saad, 2000. Public and Private Hospitals in Bangladesh:

Service Quality and Predictors of Hospital Choice

• World Health Report 2006

• WHO Report 2004

• ADB Quarterly Economic Update March 2003

• News from ADB Bangladesh, June 2002

• Belayet Hossain M.D., Khaleda Begum M.D. Survey of the Existing Health
Workforce of Ministry of Health, Bangladesh (Original article)

• USAID Bangladesh IT Enabled Services Project. Elements of a National

Strategy for Development of An Information Technology Enabled Services
Sector in Bangladesh

• Siddiqui Nazlee and Khandaker Shahjahan Ali, 2007. Comparison of Services

of Public, Private and Foreign Hospitals from the Perspective of Bangladeshi
Patients

• Raihan Dr. Ananya & Hasan Mahmud, 2005. Peoples’ Report on MDG:
Bangladesh: Information and Communication Technology

• Parliamentarian’s Call for Action, 2000. Report of The Regional Conference of

Parliamentarians on Impact of Tuberculosis and Malaria on Poverty, Dhaka,
Bangladesh 27-29 November 2000

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Contact Details
MUJAHID MOHIUDIN
Course Instructor, Marketing Research, Department of Business Administration
East West University, Dhaka
Ph # 01716473993
eMail # [email protected]

TAZKIRUT TAHLEEL
Ph # 01726058003
eMail # [email protected]

S. M. BENZIR AHMED
Ph # 01911449242
eMail # [email protected]
Web # www.shaon.net.tc

MD. MOHAIMAN KHAN CHOWDHURY

Ph # 01671952634, 01735035211, 01916156835, (02) 9002330
eMail # [email protected]

JOYNAL ABEDIN
Ph # 01913468440, 01670046740
eMail # [email protected]

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