Introduction
The dissertation to be critiqued herein compares trustworthiness in e-commerce arrangements in the United Kingdom and China, the emphasis being on the customer to customer relations. This critic is meant to investigate whether the writer reached the intended goals and whether the right procedures were followed.
Aims
The researcher clearly states the goals of the research in several parts of the beginning sections.
Are these clearly spelt out? Beginning with the abstract, the researcher clearly states that the aim of the study is to understand the distrust between customers on their Internet dealings. This is repeated and emphasised ate the report’s introduction section. In addition to the two sections, the researcher has gone to the extent of dedicating an entire section to the project’s scope and aims. In this section, the objects of the project well lie in a bullet format. The scope is also well stipulated in this section. The background section of the dissertation stipulates the main research problem, which is the persisting distrust between consumers in cyberspace. Though well laid out, the researcher could have used some examples of existing distrust in customer to customer relationships. This would have aided quicker understanding. The use of dry theory literature sources, however, helps grasp the concepts being explained. The researcher has gone to the extent of providing factors that lead to the persisting distrusts among the participating parties—this provides a clear view of understanding of the topic and depth of research (Poon 1999).
Research context
The project has borrowed extensively from literature sources in different disciplines depending on the concept being detailed. For instance, the researcher has ensured citing business ethics literature when talking about ethical issues, technological literature when discussing measures taken to decrease trust among stakeholders. Such a combination of literature has helped illustrate how wide the research was undertaken as well as improving its authority (Srikonda 2005). Fact that the literature used discusses different viewpoints has also brought out the point that the researcher stuck to the scholastic approach throughout the project. This has further increased the authority of the project and its results in academia. In addition, the broad scope of the project would also increase interest outside academia. A greater deal of organisational environment has been brought out in the project. The researcher provides several vivid descriptions of the environment that players in the e-commerce industry operate. The description leaves readers that are not well conversant with Internet technology with a better understanding of the e-commerce environment. Fact that this happens from the initial sections of the dissertation helps readers to understand the environment from the onset and therefore avoid confusion in later stages (Heimsoeth 1999).
Methodology
Considering that the study requires a great deal of primary data collection, the researcher has relied on questionnaires to collect data from respondents in both the UK and China. This is mentioned as the most appropriate method in several areas of the methodology section. In order to justify the reasons for using the methods, the researcher has explained various advantages and disadvantages. A full account of using questionnaires has been provided and a conclusion reached as being the most applicable method in the project. The sample size for the UK is reported is 53 and that of China 79. The difference in sample size is supposed to reflect the population sizes (China is bigger than the UK). The number represents respondents from different categories. The researcher has also explained why the number was chosen, which readers with a better understanding of the representation. The data collected through questionnaires were analysed through SurveyMonkey and my3q, both of which are some of the most used in this kind of data analysis (Dancy 1993). The researcher has at the end of the report listed some limitations of the study, which enables the readers to judge by themselves the legitimacy of the project (Symonds 1999). Providing a sample questionnaire at the end of the dissertation and some explanations is a good idea that provides readers with a better understanding of the questions asked. In this regard, readers willing to dig for more could check the answers and compare them with the most probable answers. The questionnaire and their answers could also be compared with other similar studies in order to learn of a trend or in the development of other questionnaires for concurrent studies.
Results and findings
Results and findings of the study are represented in several forms. Graphical representations have been well utilised throughout the report. This makes the reader interpret information for themselves and thus increase understanding, which means that they cannot be affected by the reader’s bias (Brandt 2003), though none appears in the project. Each aspect of the study is well captured in graphs and charts, both of which aid in the understanding of the concepts contained in the project. In addition to the graphs, and charts, the researcher has ensured explaining each and every one of them to the fullest. It, therefore, becomes possible for individuals reading the report to deal with issues pertaining to complicated information in the graphs. Readers can embark on looking for clarifications on the graphs in the explanations. The data captured by the graphs are in line with the explanations. Despite the help that the graphs provided, one can easily get an impression that the researcher has over-utilised these important visual aids. This develops from fact that some information could have just been provided in the text and avoid the graphs altogether. However, having the graphs immediately follow explanations in the text helps the reader to choose either to ignore or use them in the interpretation. Supporting information is further provided in the appendix that aids readers when looking for further explanations
Conclusions
The researcher has provided conclusions that are well connected to the objectives listed in the initial sections of the paper. These conclusions include the reasons for customers to develop distrust among other participants in e-commerce. First is that people fear for their security, especially due to the rising identity theft. Second, people suffer from an inferiority complex; they, therefore, feel that not being well known to the e-commerce community would lead to being losers instead of beneficiaries. Third, a significant number of participants develop distrust because they do not know how to use the Internet. Fourth, people fear the security of their hardware and software while dealing with e-commerce platforms. Fourth, most e-commerce sites have poor payment systems, insufficient customer service and poor delivery service. The last is the difficulty in justifying the quality of goods or services being source through e-commerce. Though the conclusions are collated with objectives made at the beginnings stages of the report, the researcher does not specify which of the just mentioned reasons apply to China and which ones apply to the UK. This is a drawback considering that the dissertation’s title is a comparison between the two countries. Other than that, the dissertation report meets project goals.
The recommendations provided by the researcher include. First, merchants should enlarge their store collections to increase legitimacy and trust. Second, merchants and their consumers should develop a good reputation for their establishments and activities. Third, webmasters should simplify operations of respective websites, that is, websites should be more customer-friendly. Fourth, the same webmasters should enhance the security features of their websites in order for customers to have the confidence of uploading private information. Fifth, customer privacy should be a priority. Sixth, merchants should improve delivery, payment and customer service. Seventh, merchants should improve the usability of different payment options. All of these recommendations are perfectly achievable in both the short and long run. By collating them with the worries listed in the dissertation, the recommendations are all vital and should become the focus of establishments and individuals participating in e-commerce.
Presentation
The quality of the dissertation’s presentation equals that of research: both themes are of top quality. Readers are left with an impression that the reader took time to undertake the due research, compile findings and present in a clear and concise manner. The writing style is very engaging as the reader feel encouraged to keep reading the work. This is achieved by the style of introducing readers to the next chapter before concluding. The integration of statistics in the work has been done in a very elaborative manner. Despite incorporating a loss of statistics in the main body, the researcher’s style still manages to keep the reader glued to the work. As mentioned earlier, the use of graphical representation of the data helps the reader to understand concepts and the information contained herein. Presenting data in the intent and graphs, the researcher succeeds in having readers analyse information for themselves, which helps in escaping bias. The writing flows well and shows sights of being edited several times. Indeed, errors do not occur in the work. Again, it shows the researcher’s seriousness in dealing with the project. The abstract has a wealth of information that says all that is contained in the dissertation. Everything from the aims of the study, scope, research methods as well as findings are contained in the abstract. The researcher has done a good job of placing all that information in such a small section, which is done through a clever selection of words and writing style. Text citations are all placed in the right way. The researcher has done a great job of finding a way of incorporating a wide selection of literature in the dissertation and still afford to maintain authority. Indeed, despite the wider use of supportive literature, the reader is left convinced that it was the researcher controlling the tone and not the supporting works. This is repeated in the literature review. The researcher analysis a wide body of literature in such a scholastic manner that leaver readers well informed about the topic. The literature used in the text is also well-referenced, further showing the diligence that went into preparing the dissertation. Overall: the high degrees of presentation matches the in-depth research that the researcher performed.
References
Brandt, R. 2003, Table of Judgements, Sage, London.
Dancy, R. 1993, Critiquing Techniques, McMillan, London.
Heimsoeth, H. 1999, Critical Idealism, Quadrangle, Chicago.
Poon, A. 1999, Exploratory Study Academic Criticism, Information Management, Vol. 35, no. 19, pp 7- 21.
Srikonda, P. 2005. Embracing Criticism, Industrial Distribution, Vol. 98, no. 20, pp. 22.
Symonds, M. 1999. Imperatives, The Economist.