QUALITATIVE METHOD
Students’ access to advanced learning and their levels of satisfactions.
Student’s Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Instructor’s Name:
Course Name:
Date:
Introduction
The landscape of advance learning is changing. This changes are brought by the advanced in learning systems, driven by forces such as the reactions of students and how popular does the universities uses the online programs. This online programs can be viewed as the process of having different students, interacting together via different computer programs to achieve the educational goals (Eom, S. B., et al (2006). The effectiveness of this online programs can be measured by factors such as; the perceived learning outcomes and the students’ satisfactions. Advance learning opportunities may bring upon, advance learners or slow learners. This equally depends on how each student understand the different course contents. The steady growth of technology, leads to rise of learning materials such as cellphones, which allows a student to access many services ranging from receiving and sending emails, to internet searches, that can be accessed anywhere at any time.
Different number of students can have access to such, also the online programs. The main objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between the students’ access to the advanced learning opportunities and their overall levels of satisfaction at a university in South East of England. Using an extant literature advanced learning opportunities will be discussed, their effects and the feedbacks from different students. With support from different authorities many campuses have develop the e-learning programs. Even though the online learning programs at the universities have increased rapidly, there is still few knowledge on the students’ expectations and experiences (Paechter, M., et al (2010). This research will base on access to e-learning programs as a test for advanced learning opportunity.
With an aim of getting the general views, expectations and experiences of various students concerning the e-learning. By using regression analysis, the expectations, experiences of the students relating to how satisfy they are in different courses (Paechter, M., et al (2010). The objective based on a large sample of student across the institution. In order to get the wider picture of the program in the institution. A research model that explains the factors that affects the e-learning systems was also discussed.
Literature review
When designing the e-learning systems. The lecturers may consider many factors thus coming up with different decisions which may affect the student’s understanding of the instructions and also the knowledge (Paechter, M., et al (2010). Design factors such as the technology used, the contents of the course, the control of learners, and how they can interact with the programs. The online education conceptual framework, is composed of; the teachers support, teacher-student interactions, relationship between students, the structure and the contents of the course and the technology in relaying the messages. Individual learning processes and course outcomes. The emotional and intellectual are all variables of the course outcomes. In the cognitive parts the learning activities are considered. Personal competences, individual skills and also the theory and practical knowledge. The emotional part consists of how satisfy the student is. This factor may either encourage a student to continue or drop a course.
The individual generated energy towards a certain goal. The self-motivation of different learners may be affected by different, self-regulatory attributes and the self-regulatory processes. The choices and the self-confidences in one’s abilities (Eom, S. B., et al . (2006). This aspect may result to either accretion or attrition rates in the online courses, lack of high self-motivation will result to a high number of online courses dropouts. Hence the null hypothesis= Ha: students with high level of self-motivation, will have a high level of user satisfaction. The alternative hypothesis= Hb: students with a higher level of self-motivation in the online classes, will agree highly that the outcomes are better than the face-face learning. A hypothesis according to the learning habits and styles of the students can be equated as; the null hypothesis, Ho: students with high visual and writing styles, has a high levels of satisfactions. While H1: students with high visual and writing styles with strongly agree that the online classes are better compared to the face-face learning.
Research Designs
The above hypothesis was tested by a survey quantitative of satisfaction and the outcomes from the active students. To determine the determinants of the above outcomes and the students’ satisfactions, the structural equation modelling was used. The problem in making a decision of which is the best design, was trying to minimize how complex the research object was, without wrecking on a pardoned simplification, or an unimaginable research project. Discussion on how the survey tool was developed, and the sample subjects is provided. Identification of the rightful measures in variable assessment, the scale reliability and the validity of data are also reported (Eom, S. B., et al. (2006). The survey tool was based on generated questions, which were somehow associated with the factors in the model. It was extracted from the Individual Development and Educational Assessment (IDEA). The email addresses of all the students in the online learning program was collected from the students’ files, so as to ascertain the students who have access to the technology enhanced e-learning systems.
Every individual with a valid email address was requested for a consent to perform the research. The front page 2000 was used to generate 42 research questions. Which were sent together with the instructions to all the email addresses collected. The research yielded around 400 responses.
Research methods and findings
Due to the suitability of the PLS method in testing and building the theory, and also its reliability in areas where theory is not developed well, as by the linear structural relationship. It is also appropriate when the researcher wants to predict the dependent variable. All this make the structural equation based the PLS method suitable for this research. PLS do not make any distributional assumptions in estimating its parameters hence making it inappropriate to use the traditional parameter based-techniques. The problem associated with difference in objectives, leads to no appropriate goodness of fit for the PLS method. The R squared for dependent variables, shows that 69.2% in the user satisfaction and 62.8% in the learning outcomes. The Q squared is also used to measure how best the real values are produced from the parameters in PLS. All the Q squared values were greater than zero when looking at the redundancy. Indicating that satisfactions and also the learning outcomes had a positive redundancy.
It was found that all the above hypothesized antecedents, affecting the satisfactions rate of students are significant. Hence the Motivation, the individual learning styles, ease access to this online materials, affects the satisfaction levels of the students.
Discussions
In the above study, three aspects contributed to the satisfactions and learning achievements of the students. The three are the self-motivation aspect, the access to advance learning materials, and the students’ reading styles are all vital in the satisfaction levels of students regarding the university. As need for enhancing and giving advance learning opportunities to students’ rise, it is also important to consider the perspectives of individual students, regarding the same. Thus result may be as a result of omission of quality and purposes of the interactions between the students and the e-learning systems. Self-motivation, encourages learning even if there are more external factors that may hinder the process, or less access to the advanced learning systems. This research stresses the need to justify the conditions under which self-motivation, less access to the advanced learning systems and the satisfaction levels are related.
2: Quantitative Method
Consumers satisfactions and its relation to quality and costs of a product
Introduction
In today’s markets. The quality of services, costs are vital assets to companies trying to succeed and survive in the markets. How capable an organization is able to market their products is also another important component (Vorhies, D. W., et al (2011). Due to the rapid changes, the researchers saw the need to create a more domain of customers’ satisfactions where aspects such as; the service qualities and the prices in different organizations. The primary concern of this research is to determine whether the high quality and the high prices of the product is associated to the customers’ satisfactions. Service quality has either a positive or negative impact on the financial performances of an organization. More organizational structures do not support the relational processes with their customers. Which includes concentrating in not only suppling the goods and services but also enhancing the quality, the value and the prices of the goods (Brashear, T., et al. (2012).
Scholars argues that integrating the customer satisfactions, feedbacks, the product and services is determinant for success and moves towards a more customer-centric-organizational approach. It is clear that companies and firms which can manage to satisfy their customers fully tends to remain on top always. Many consumers purchase goods that meets their expectations, in terms of finances. Hence an organization should determine their pricing merging them with the quality of products thus attracting the customers and maintaining the long-term affiliation (Brashear, T., et al. (2012). In order to get the right link between the customers’ satisfaction and the prices of an organization, there is need for further investigations. The relationship between customer satisfactions includes many intermediate links such as their behaviors. The study involves a whole clothing industry.
Literature Review
The quality of services provided to the level of customers’ satisfactions. The quality of services, is related to costs, the financial performances of an organization, and the customer satisfactions. This roles of quality of services in business has brought up big debates, relating to how to define the quality of services and also how it can be measured (Athanassopoulos, et al (2001). Previous researches defines it at the overall excellence or superiority of the services. Overall service performances can be measured by a five dimensional construct, a SERVQUAL tool. However, the tool was found to be industry specific. Furthermore, another performance based tool was developed, the (SERVPERF) which was more convenient that the SERVQUAL and it also provides better results than the SERVQUAL regarding performances. It is important to note that the customers also consider the process of service delivery.
The prices of commodities are also related to customers’ satisfactions, as the organizations try to improve customer satisfactions through the quality services, the cost is also another issue. Low prices with high qualities will attract customers, and hence the succeed of an organization. (Kim, Y. K., & Lee, H. R. (2011). In order for a company to maximize its profits it’s important for it to consider zero defection through customer satisfaction and also to strive to retain their customers through all means possible, other than attracting new ones. There are many compelling arguments of how superior the defensive effects of service quality to the corresponding offensive one. As in the case of lowering customers’ defections. This has a great impact on the profits of a company.
The hypothesis can be equated as Ho: High customer satisfaction, is related positively to high quality provided. Although many customers may perceive the service performance to be inferior but this are one of the main reasons that may motivate many customers to decline many products. H1: High customer satisfaction is negatively related with the quality of services of the organization.
Research Design
The samples of the research were drawn from the customers, located around the company in Brighton, and also the online customers, located in different locations. We use personal interviews to collect data, and phone interviews for the online customers. The persons conducting the process were highly trained on the matter, for the them to increase the validity and reliability of the responses from the customers. There were 800 customers, with 700 being around the location of the organization and 100 from different locations. The respondents were randomly selected from the streets and shopping centers, the research also achieved the respondents from the contacts of previous customers that were in the systems. Although it is a convenience study, the interviews were conducted in different location and on different days but with a uniformly distributed time intervals. In order to reduce date, location and time biasness. The analysis of the respondent’s demographical data was also recorded.
The research tools included the, items that represented the five dimensional of service quality as discussed by (Athanassopoulos, A., et al (2001). And other subjects that captures different dimensions of customers’ satisfactions, specific to the clothing industry, the different items came from the management discussions on the pricing factors and their relationship to customers. A seven-item battery was developed to gauge the range of customers’ satisfaction regarding to their responses as examined in the study. Were categories into three; that is the communication, reactions, word of mouth. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was deployed to examine the dimensionality of the satisfactions and their reactions as far as cost and quality is concerned. The test statistics favored the dimensions, using chi-square statistics it was concluded that an inadequate fit occurs when values greater than 3 are obtained. Which was not the case in the model selected. Using the goodness of fit test statistics, and the comparative fit index both models yields adequate estimates.
Research Findings
After rightful test of the measurement models. Now the information is to be linked via the development of a structural equation regression model. Where the statistical association between customer satisfactions and quality, prices of the products will be sorted. Ho: predicted that cloth customers will react to high prices of the high quality products, through the word to mouth communication, and also the means of mobile phones. H1: when cloth customers have inferior knowledge about the customers’ satisfactions, they engage in negative support of the quality and prices of the commodities. It was also seen that the manager’s competences will affect the rate of customer satisfactions.
Discussion
Over a long time, customer satisfaction has played an essential role for the success, survival and attrition of a business in the modern’s competitive markets. It has also recognized the important bond between the customers’ satisfactions and the financial outcome s and profits of the business. In particular, the purpose of this research was to examine the impact of customer satisfactions in price and quality services. To sum up the results provided above supports the notion of direct effect of customer satisfactions on the financial levels and quality of an organization. The findings states that when more customers find the customer satisfaction of an organization is high they decide to stay in the organization. The study had no limitation, but the behavioral responses battery required further developments. The study also investigated only two aspects and consequences of consumer satisfaction, hence need for more researches to include other consumers’ effects to an organization.
References
Eom, S. B., Wen, H. J., & Ashill, N. (2006). The determinants of students’ perceived learning outcomes and satisfaction in university online education: An empirical investigation. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 4(2), 215-235.
Paechter, M., Maier, B., & Macher, D. (2010). Students’ expectations of, and experiences in e-learning: Their relation to learning achievements and course satisfaction. Computers & education, 54(1), 222-229.
Vorhies, D. W., Orr, L. M., & Bush, V. D. (2011). Improving customer-focused marketing capabilities and firm financial performance via marketing exploration and exploitation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(5), 736-756.
Brashear, T., Gebauer, H., & Kowalkowski, C. (2012). Customer‐focused and service‐focused orientation in organizational structures. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.
Athanassopoulos, A., Gounaris, S., & Stathakopoulos, V. (2001). Behavioural responses to customer satisfaction: an empirical study. European journal of marketing.
Kim, Y. K., & Lee, H. R. (2011). Customer satisfaction using low cost carriers. Tourism Management, 32(2), 235-243.