TSM211 Tourism Leisure- Mystery Shopping Survey

You will be using to undertake a Mystery Shopping Survey in a TLE-related activity of your choice.This instrument must be well thought out as it will impact not only Task.

Answer

Mystery Shopping Questionnaire

I am a student pursuing a course in MS program and this is my research on mystery shopping at Brisbane Museum. The research is an important activity in my project and your views will be of great assistance. The questionnaires are easy and needs simple answers that do not need time to refer or study. The language used in the questionnaire is English as I believe it is the most common used language in this state. Please take a while to fill put the respective questionnaire. It is an important exercise in my data collection activity for the purpose of the research. Kindly tick the relevant options and return back the copy. I would really appreciate your help and time in this as it will aid in my investigations.

Questionnaire 

Application of Mystery Shopping 

Mystery shopping is a technique used by the market research companies or within a firm by a company to measure the value and quality of service, compliance with the law and for gathering accurate information regarding products and services. For some time now, the field of mystery shopping has been in the spotlight for marketing analysts. Research has pointed out that it is a sector that needs thorough inspection and comprehension (Agorastos et al., 2013). There have been significant research efforts on mystery shopping because of its broad coverage, and its evaluation has been found to be eminent. Many types of studies in the field of mystery shopping have been done and have predicted that in the future, the sector will have considerable influence on the general business environment and the consumers in the market. Various studies by Agorastos et al., (2013), Tarantola, Vicard & Ntzoufras (2012) and have been used as a tool to developing the instrument.

Mystery shopping has been recognized and appreciated widely by the technical and marketing analysts following the contexts that it is associated with expansive views in the process of evaluating the benefits and limitations of an industry. The case has been typical in the customer circumstances for a considerable time now. Predictions have been made that mystery shopper's usually evaluated the types of products and services a firm is offering. Attaining satisfaction in the major issue of concern and it can only be the case when there are no inductions that the people coming in are mystery shoppers (Tarantola, Vicard & Ntzoufras, 2012). The endeavors have had prevalent roles at high levels more so in the developed countries while the established giants usually carry out the plan on scheduled basis. Mystery shopping has been associated with insights on the stands of a firm and the areas that are not as desired. As such, it is always recommended to make precise measures and fix the issues promptly (Liu, Gan & Chou, 2014).

Reasons for the Questions

The developed questionnaire has been reviewed at many levels confirming their validity and reliability. The items entailed in the questionnaire have been adopted from studies of Bhatia (2013) and Dillip et al., (2012). The authors distributed various tools depending on the nature and the level of influence of the survey. The notified items in the questionnaire have been accompanied by numerous debates and discussions. The study took a turn of longitudinal studies in its development. Occasionally, reviews are often adopted based on the condition. In the particular phenomena, the items were adapted, and it is equally important to note that adaptation usually alters the questions depending on the type of study (Bhatia, 2013).

The context of validity comes in various kinds; the face validity, validity regarding the context and construct validity. Face validity is known for presenting the idea that the questionnaires can be understood by the common man or may not be appreciated. In this case, there is an implication that there is no reason using ambiguous language or tone or words as it has to be understood by the audience Van der Zee et al., (2013). In the process of adapting the questionnaires, the component usually needs to be fixed accordingly. The surveys are often designed with the concept that the respondents would comprehend it. The face validity is as such assessed in the initial place where some interviewees are asked to fill out the questionnaire, and they then present their views on whether the questionnaires have difficult words or it is fine. The second part is content validity that has to be assessed by the analysts and researchers in the industry (Dillip et al., 2012). It gives the image that the questions reported in the questionnaire are addressing the topic or concern of not (Ogle, Rowe & Coates-Erkan, 2012). It is recommended to have construct validity confirmed even prior all others. Researchers of the respective course of study are usually asked to provide their thoughts regarding the questionnaires and amend then where necessary. The market analysts are as well invited to present their stance on the same. After the sample data has been collected, the content validity is checked. SPSS statistics can be used in the case to examine the data. Also, KMO and Bartlett’s examinations have to be active. According to past studies, the factor loadings has to be not less than 0.40 and KMO, and Bartlett’s evaluations are greater than 0.60 and less than 1 (Katz & Melzack, 2011).

Impacts of Mystery Shopping

The studies conducted in the business and management sector are usually qualitative and quantitative in nature. The achievement of the responses can easily be done through quantitative research rather than the use of qualitative research. Mystery shopping has been hosted and nurtured by industrial researchers. Many companies have been hiring third-party auditors to become their mystery shoppers. Their roles have been critical as they usually evaluate and change the situation. Mystery shoppers have been known for offering the actual image of the situation or the circumstances as they enter blindly and the never have any hidden thoughts. The mystery shoppers usually measure and assess and also develop their ideas depending on the attained services. Their activities are always done within the firms. One of the leading market research corporations in the world is AC Nielsen (Mattsson, 2012). The company has had its operations in close to all the businesses, and it usually gives them insights on the state of the art of the market through qualitative and quantitative data (Pam, 2009). Considering the case of companies such as IBM, Apple, and General Motors, they always rely on the figures and statistics by AC Nielsen. The company has been well-known for its services in mystery shopping. AC Nielsen is at the top dominating the market as it trends for market shares, wise penetration for SKU, and the impacts it has on the minds of its customers.  As such, it is easier for the company to deploy the mystery shoppers and attain market insights for the companies. Most of the MNCs have been taking an instance from AC Nielsen regarding the matter, and as it is today, there are positive responses (Latham, Ford & Tzabbar, 2012). 

References

Agorastos, A., Nash, W. P., Nunnink, S., Yurgil, K. A., Goldsmith, A., Litz, B. T., ...& Baker, D. G. (2013). The Peritraumatic Behavior Questionnaire: development and initial validation of a new measure for combat-related peritraumatic reactions. BMC psychiatry, 13(1), 9

Bhatia, S. (2013). Mystery shopping. Place of publication not identified: Wordit Content Design & E.

Dillip, A., Alba, S., Mshana, C., Hetze, M., Liana, J., Lengeler, C., ...&Obrist, B. (2012). Mystery shopping in community drug shops: research as development in rural Tanzania. Malaria Journal, 11(Suppl 1), O19

Katz, J., &Melzack, R. (2011), The McGill Pain Questionnaire: Development, psychometric properties, and usefulness of the long-form, short-form, and short-form-2

Liu, C, Su, C, Gan, B, & Chou, S 2014, 'Effective restaurant rating scale development and a mystery shopper evaluation approach', International Journal Of Hospitality Management, 43, pp. 53-64, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 March 2017.

Latham, G, Ford, R, & Tzabbar, D 2012, 'Enhancing employee and organizational performance through coaching based on mystery shopper feedback: A quasi-experimental study', Human Resource Management, 51, 2, pp. 213-229, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 March 2017.

Mattsson, J. (2012). Strategic insights from mystery shopping in B2B relationships, Journal of Strategic Marketing, 20(4), 313-322

Ogle, A., Rowe, M., & Coates-Erkan, J. (2012), Mystery shopping as an indicator of quality: The comparison of Perth hotels. In CAUTHE 2012: The new golden age of tourism and hospitality; Book 1; Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference (p. 469). La Trobe University

Pam In Ca, . (2009). The essential guide to mystery shopping. Cupertino, CA: HappyAbout.info.

Tarantola, C., Vicard, P., &Ntzoufras, I. (2012), Monitoring and improving Greek banking services using Bayesian Networks: An analysis of mystery shopping data. Expert Systems with Applications, 39(11), 10103-10111

Van der Zee, K., van Oudenhoven, J. P., Ponterotto, J. G., &Fietzer, A. W. (2013), Multicultural personality questionnaire: Development of a short form. Journal of personality assessment, 95(1), 118-124