Qualitative research design on Fly Dubai

Research design constitutes the plan upon which a researcher collects, measures and analyzes data. Simply it is the plan and the framework of my investigation. The structure can be defined as the arrangement of the relationships that is between my variables, that is, quality management service, service quality and hence the satisfaction level of customer satisfaction. The plan on the other hand, will be an explanation on how I will obtained empirical facts on the above mentioned relationships. Research method The research question can be answered through methods that are either conditional or measurable. Quantitative research asks the what (research question) and the how (the answer) of things. Qualitative research on the other hand, adds a new dimension or the why (meaning) to explain why things happen as they do. The difference between the two is that while quantitative research is usually objective, qualitative research is a more subjective approach as we do not attach the same meanings to data or information. Because of this bias, qualitative approach to research is very susceptible to human error and thus relatively unreliable. To achieve optimum results, it is advisable to use a combination of both.

As part of my research on the research on the relationship between Quality Management systems and Customer Satisfaction levels at Fly Dubai, I undertook a survey at their headquarters in the United Arab Emirates. For this assignment I settled on a quantitative approach to research because my research question measures the relationship between two variables, that is, quality management service and service quality at Fly Dubai. Moreover, quantitative research is favored by upper management in most organizations. These two variables can be quantified. In addition, the most current research in the airline industry use quantitative methods to gather research data. With this in mind, this is the same method I shall adopt for my research on the relationship between quality management service and customer satisfaction levels at Fly Dubai Airline.

Sample and procedure

I visited the headquarters of Fly Dubai located in terminal 2 of Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates. I set up a meeting with the management employees and requested to carry out a survey on their operations for a school research project. I informed them that my interest was in their quality management system, how it affects the level of service quality and consequently customer satisfaction. The management was very receptive and directed me on how to go about with my project in the most effective money. I was allowed access to restricted areas where the staff hang around so I could pass around my questionnaire to their personnel. In addition I also met some of the inflight attendants and they were of great help as far as the survey is concerned. They also requested the employees to make me feel at home and help me out with the survey. I administered my survey to a hundred and twelve employees over the twenty-four period that I was allowed to carry out my research project by the Fly Dubai Airlines management. I received a total of 36 responses bringing the response rate to approximately 32%. The respondents were mostly operational personnel such inflight attendants, engineers, and back-end personnel. In addition, management personnel both mid-level and lower-level were also active participants in the survey. Those in the top-level management such as the C.E.O, C.T.O, and C.F.O were however mostly unavailable due to their busy schedules. The response rate however, was sufficient for the purposes of this assignment.

As is to be expected of an airline that is predominantly based in the United Arab Emirates, most of its employees are male. With the exception of inflight attendants, all other positions in the company from the operations level to the management level are composed of males with a few employees from the fairer sex. Of the a hundred and twelve respondents my survey was conducted on, eighty percent of them were male and the rest were female. Female employees were however more responsive with sixty percent of them responding to my survey. The average age of male respondents was 34 years of age while that of female employees was 24 years. Last but not least, I also established the level of education of the employees I was able to administer the survey to and the results were as follows;

The table clearly shows the gender disparity that’s not only apparent in the employment level but the education as well. While a majority of the male respondents hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, most of their female counterparts mostly have an education at the diploma level or lower. In addition, male employees dominated the ‘masters and above’ category with thirteen entries while the fairer sex had only one. As expected, this disparity is also replicated in the top-level management. However, I was made to understand that things are actually looking up and that the management is actually making a concerted effort to reduce the disparity that exists in terms of gender and education.

Research instrument

For my research I chose survey as a research instrument. Why? Research on this particular issue is quite significant. However, as far Fly Dubai airlines is concerned, there is very little in terms of proprietary information. In addition, internal data for most organizations is rarely well organized and often unreliable. This is especially true for organization that offer low budget alternatives in the service industry such as Fly Dubai. As a result, the best option was to seek information directly from the people who work at Fly Dubai. There are three communication approaches to survey. These include the self-administered survey, the telephone survey, and finally survey via a personal interviewer. I chose to conduct a survey based on a questionnaire specifically because it would consume less time both for me and the respondents. This is because the people I was targeting for the data I was collecting are professionals and thus I can only take up so much of their time. Getting in contact with all those involved would have been a hectic exercise. I contend the response rate of 32% I received would have been less had I chosen a more time intensive method such as one on one interviews. The questionnaire enabled me to zero in on the responses that I consider relevant and applicable for my needs.

For my survey I used a two-section linkert scale; the first one is on the quality management systems that are available at Fly Dubai. This section was designed to find out on the existence of a working quality management systems at Fly Dubai, employee awareness of the same as well as how up to date the systems in place are among other things. The second section is on the perceived customer satisfaction with the service quality at the same organization. This section of the scale sought to find out the perceived customer satisfaction with the quality of service at Fly Dubai. Specifically, the respondents were asked about customer feedback, ratings and reviews. I took my scales from the existing literature and adapted them to the context of my organization in order to tailor them for my current needs. Linkert scales on the airline industry especially those from the United Arab Emirates are largely non-existent. Therefore, I had to take those available and adapt them to suit my research on Fly Dubai. Regardless, I sought advice from the professionals I interacted with and this enabled me to tweak my survey to suit my research paper.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I can safely say that the survey was very successful all things considered. I was able to get first-hand information from the personnel on ground zero of Fly Dubai’s operation. The data I have gathered once analyzed will provided me with much needed insight on the relationship between quality management systems at fly Dubai, the quality of service, and most importantly the level of perceived customer satisfaction with the airline’s services. Moreover, the overall experience from my visit to an airline terminal and the interaction with the people directly involved in its day to day operations was a very eye opening one indeed.