Introduction
In all sectors of the service industry, it is paramount that the needs of the customer be met to the utmost. In the hospitality industry, where one has to constantly deal with what a client wants, and with no two clients having the same exact needs, understanding how to satisfy these diverse needs is key to achieving any level of success.
Of course, there are the every day practices that are taken as a given in the hospitality sector to have a satisfied clientele such as prompt service, courtesy, hygiene and taking note of customer feedback (Mieyal, 2005). However, to stay ahead of the game one must have a better understanding of what the customer needs by conducting thorough, in-depth research.
When setting out to conduct any type of research, it is important to identify the most effective form of research in terms of expense, resources available, relevance and accuracy. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in marketing research, specifically in the hospitality industry (Reuland, Choudry et al, pg 143).
Quantitative research methods
In quantitative marketing research, the primary focus remains on the contemporary view taken of marketing; that it should be highly interactive for both the consumer and the provider of the product with the two come to an agreement of sorts (Weinrich, 2006). It is a social research method and can be conducted with questionnaires or scales where the respondents are expected to complete a survey (Witt, 1989 pg 154).
The strength and weaknesses of quantitative research methods in the hospitality industry
The main strength of questionnaires as a way of conducting market research in the hospitality industry is that it is cost effective (Witt & Moutinho, 1989 pg 244).
Unlike the qualitative approach of in-depth interviews, where a third party has to be involved-such as a firm to provide professional interviewers- questionnaires can be handed out by hotel personnel who have no specialized experience. The management can also work at compiling and interpreting the data gotten once the survey has been conducted (Witt & Moutinho, 1989 pg 244).
Another advantage of questionnaires as a research method is that it is less time consuming. A guest, signing out of a hotel can fill in a five question survey at the checkout counter. In a restaurant, a maitre de can hand over the bill along with a concise questionnaire which the diners can opt to fill or not (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008 pg 56).
Questionnaires are also not as involving as in-depth interviews. An in-depth interview requires one to make ample preparation; one, by getting a suitable place to conduct the interview, getting a willing interviewee to participate and then completing the scenario with the professional interviewer (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008 pg 56).
Since quantitative research methods are not as highly interactive as qualitative research, with the participants only filling in a questionnaire, it has its own drawbacks namely, errors. Errors arising when this research method is applied can be from a wide variety of sources.
There are errors made on the part of the respondent; the respondent may lie on the questionnaire so that the answers suite what is his/her perception of what is true. In multiple answers questions, the respondent without meaning to may cross out the wrong answer. There may be cases where the respondent does not fill in the interview sheet at all. The respondent may not clearly understand the questions if they are vague or not well phrased (Reuland, Choudry et al, 1985 pg 148).
Errors may also occur when the interviewer, at the time of combining and tabulating the data makes mistakes in his/her calculations. Hypothesis errors may also occur; a type I error or a beta error may occur when at the end of the research the surveys done lead to the refutation of the null hypothesis though it is the truth. The type II or the beta error on the other hand, leads to acceptance of the null hypothesis despite the fact that it might be wrong on principal (Reuland, Choudry et al, 1985 pg 149).
Qualitative marketing research methods
Qualitative marketing research is research done within a narrower scope and applies either to in-depth interviews of between thirty to sixty minutes, or focus groups where people who have shared the same experience are brought together to relate their valuation of this experience (Witt &Moutinho, 1989 pg 371).
The strength and weaknesses of qualitative research methods in the hospitality industry
The chief advantage of in-depth interviews as a method of qualitative research in the hospitality industry is that a lot of hidden issues that cannot be uncovered with simple ‘yes’ ‘no’ responses are uncovered during the interviewer-interviewee one on one session (Weinreich, 2006).
The flexibility accommodates for the interviewee to stray from fixed responses and on this way, highlight issues that even the interviewer might have overlooked. Questionnaires on the other hand, delve on a narrow set of questions that do not allow the respondent to give a truly independent opinion (Weinreich, 2006).
A drawback to using qualitative approach into researching customer needs is that it can be very time consuming. It has already been mentioned that an in-depth interview can last between thirty minutes to an hour. And that is just one interview, which has to be carefully set up. This means that information will be gathered more slowly as compared to using questionnaires which are more easily filled (Weinreich, 2006).
Another drawback is that getting experienced interviewees who will draw the most information out of the respondent can be expensive. Furthermore, when conducting this kind or research, the person being interviewed will not feel any social pressures to perform and thus might not answer questions according to his/her real perceptions as reflected around peers (Neill, 2007).
There are also ethical issues that arise when it comes to in-depth interviews since the interviewee is not to be alerted that it is an interview, it is questionable how appropriate it is to get information from an individual under false pretenses. There is also the question of protecting the identity of the interviewee when what she/he has said is presented as a report (Neill, 2007).
Comparing and contrasting quantitative and qualitative research methods
While the aim of conducting quantitative research is to use statistics and figures to try and explain observations already made, that of qualitative research is to present a full description of what is being observed in a bid to understand it (Reuland, Choudry et al, 1985 pg 259).
With the quantitative approach, the researcher knows in advance what he/she is on the lookout for, while the with the qualitative approach the researcher is out to find out what to look for. In qualitative research, the researcher goes into the field without a solid plan of execution, preferring to shape his/her plan according to findings (Goelldner &Brent, 2006 pg 150). On the other hand, quantitative research calls for a solid plan and a hypothesis that is either to be proved wrong or right (Reuland, Choudry et al 1985, pg 372).
For example, if the number of bookings in a hotel is dropping alarmingly, a quantitative approach would call for a hypothesis that stated why the numbers are dropping, say because of the economic downturn, then going ahead to prove or disprove this hypothesis. The qualitative approach would take the angle of investigating why the numbers are dropping- it could be the economic downturn, or a lax in hotel management, or an extremely cold winter.
Conclusion
Quantitative and qualitative marketing research methods both have their advantages and drawbacks as a way of finding out customer needs in the hospitality industry. With the quantitative approach, one must be ready to accommodate the errors made on the part of the respondent or the interviewers, or on missing the point all together because of the inflexibility of the questionnaire.
However, this approach is more discreet, time saving, and cost effective. Given that customers also visit hotels and restaurants to relax and enjoy, they would not want to be hounded about their stay or the cuisine.
Since efficiency is the name of the game, the quantitative methods of research would be more applicable because in the hospitality industry one has to deal with a large number of clients whose needs cut across the spectrum and by listening to all of them, or at least as many as possible, patterns begin to emerge that help service providers with a firm idea on how best to make their clients happy.
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