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Table of Contents
Page
3 Executive Summary
4-7 Review of the Decision Situation
8-9 Review of Research Objectives and Information Needs
10-14 Review of Literature
15-16 Research Methods and Procedures
19-21 Sampling Plan
Frequency Tables/ Data Collection
20-22 Data Analysis and Conclusion
23 Proposed Schedule
24 Limitations
25-26 Questionnaire
27-28 Work Cited
3
Executive Summary
The main purpose of this research study was to determine the general level of satisfaction
of WTOP-10 TV's viewers. WTOP-10 TV has a very positive reputation around the campus of
SUNY Oswego, known for its professionalism and original content. However throughout our
study we have found that viewership numbers are relatively low. Based on this information we
conducted a study tailored to determine the overall level of satisfaction of WTOP-10 TV’s
content based on the opinions of their main target audience; SUNY Oswego students. We
determined a list of information needs and research objectives designed to answer questions
related to program quality, technical quality and accessibility. From here we developed a
questionnaire designed to address these main topics. After we conducted our study and analyzed
our data we came to the conclusion that the majority of SUNY Oswego students were simply
indifferent regarding WTOP-10 TV’s broadcasts.
4
Review of Decision Situation
Company Analysis
WTOP-10 TV is a fully student run television station housed on the campus of SUNY
College at Oswego. The station is led by the executive board and managers. They produce
various television shows, news reports, and cover many collegiate sporting events. Their athletic
coverage programs include Empire Sports, Talkin' Sports and The Playing Field. These
programs offer a wide coverage and analysis of sporting events happening both on campus and
throughout the world. They also offer a variety of talk shows, such as The Wrap Up which is a
late night talk show covering local events and the happenings around campus and The Juice,
which is a talk show that focuses on pop culture and hot topics. The station also provides
Weekend at Oz, which is a satire show tailored to the SUNY Oswego community. These
programs are completely student run and operated. Along with the production of television
programs they also offer television coverage of on campus athletics. They air Oswego State
hockey games, basketball and many more. The station is run by students who are learning as
they work. The students who run WTOP-10 TV are known for their professionalism and have a
very good reputation around campus. WTOP-10 TV’s budget fluctuates around $80,000 a year.
This is the largest budget allotted to any on campus organization. Even with their lenient budget
they cannot afford top of the line equipment that other companies may have. WTOP-10 TV also
has a very limited viewership. The size of their market includes the 8,000 students who live on
campus and the citizens that live within the county of Oswego that have Time Warner Cable.
5
However WTOP-10 TV is only broadcasted through public access television from 10:00 PM to
12:00 PM for those who live off campus. WTOP-10 TV has a number of products in their
product mix as mentioned above. In this instance products are represented by television
programs. All revolve around the industries of television and broadcasting.
Competitor analysis
WTOP-10 TV has both internal and external competitors in their field. Their internal
competitors are the other media organizations at SUNY Oswego such as WNYO and the
Oswegonian. All three of the organizations focus on reaching out to the students to share
campus information as well as entertainment. Both WNYO and WTOP-10 TV broadcast the
hockey games and put most of their focus on the viewership and interest of campus sports
(wnyosports.com) http://www.WTOP10.com/sports/). The Oswegonian also covers highlights of
the games every week (oswegonian.com/sports/). WNYO is WTOP-10 TV’s biggest competitor
out of the media organizations because they cover the games in real time along with WTOP-10
TV’s broadcast.
Other external competitors include local and national television programs. Obviously it
is hard to compete with national networks such as ABC, CBS or NBC but it is important to see
when people are tuning in to WTOP-10 TV the most and when they are tuning into the larger
networks instead. Other college TV stations are not a competitor because their broadcasts are out
of range.
A major trend that is affecting their competition is how audiences choose to receive
6
information (adage.com). Many television networks are decreasing in viewership because
people would rather watch shows on Netflix, Hulu or other On Demand structures. If WTOP-10
TV does not follow with this trend, they will most likely lose interest from the public. WNYO
has an Internet server that makes it possible to listen to the broadcast online as well as a phone
application for mobile listeners (http://www.wnyo.org/about.php). WTOP-10 TV is lacking
these important qualities that are favored by this generation.
WTOP-10 TV is asked to cover several campus events such as presidential campaigns, the
Media Summit and the SUNY Oswego's Hunger Games. However, the community in Oswego
does not recognize them for all of these things like the campus does. This is a major weakness
for the organization and in return, affects their overall viewership.
Customer Analysis
WTOP-10 TV is a non-commercial public access broadcasting network, therefore there
are no real customers because users do not pay for their viewership. The primary users are
composed of the student body of SUNY Oswego, roughly 8000 students, as well as local alums
and other local households. By using services provided by WTOP-10 TV the user is seeking to
gain information and entertainment from the programming provided. One major factor that
drives viewership is SUNY Oswego sporting events, specifically Men’s Hockey. Other viewers
may be interested in watching entertainment programs or news segments on the channel. The
station broadcasts locally, reaching households in the immediate area of Oswego, NY. The
demographic that WTOP-10 TV targets are the typical melting pot of universities. Race and
7
gender are not targeted specifically. Psychographics of the primary users may include individuals
passionate in local collegiate affairs as well as the SUNY Oswego sports programs. The market
for WTOP-10 TV is roughly a maximum of 10,000 people. This would include the entire student
body and a further 2,000 viewers which may include alums in the Oswego area and other local
households. The market is not growing (every four or so years there is a new student body and
the overwhelming majority of possible viewers do not stay in Oswego.
Decision Objective
In considering where WTOP-10 TV falls short, it is our team’s belief that there is not a
problem of awareness. We contest that most students are aware of the television station and may
even be aware of some of the programs that are provided. That being stated, it is our goal to
determine why WTOP10-TV has a low number of viewers. It is the purpose of this study to
address whether or not there is an issue of viewer dissatisfaction that is the underlying reason for
WTOP10-TV’s small viewership. Our specific decision objective is to increase viewership
numbers as a direct result of the implementation of our consumer research project. In measurable
terms, the target is to get 1000 more viewers, whether they are watching content online or on
their television set, regularly, within the first year.
8
Review of Research Objectives and Information Needs
Research Objectives
The goal of our project is to determine how many students at SUNY Oswego watch the
student-run television station, WTOP-10 TV and what values provided by the station satisfy
them as viewers. By determining satisfaction ratings regarding different facets of WTOP-10 TV,
the station can improve their viewership numbers through an understanding of why students are
or are not watching certain programs. The factors that determine who is watching their station
are based on the accessibility of the station’s content, the quality of the programs, level / type of
entertainment provided and how relevant the program content is towards college students. The
accessibility of the TV station includes whether students have access to cable or a TV and
whether or not the programs are available online to stream. The quality of the programs is also
extremely important for ratings. Technical questions such as, “Is the picture always clear?” and,
“Is there ever dead air?” are items to consider in this category. The content of WTOP-10 TV’s
programs is of specific importance for our study. It is necessary to find out if the students are
interested in what is aired and whether or not they know all of the programs that WTOP-10 TV
has to offer. Knowing which programs the students watch can help the station to create more
programs similar to the most favored shows. All of these factors contribute to whether or not
WTOP-10 TV viewers are satisfied or dissatisfied. We plan to discover this information via the
administration of an in-depth survey to a random sample of students to determine their individual
satisfaction ratings of a variety of different items.
9
Information Needs
● Accessibility (5 point likert scale from dissatisfied to satisfied)
How satisfied are you with the times WTOP airs their programs?
How satisfied are you with WTOP’s website content?
How satisfied are you with the navigation of WTOP’s website?
How satisfied are you with WTOP’s youtube channel?
● Programming Quality (5 point likert scale from dissatisfied to satisfied)
How satisfied are you with WTOP’s original content?
How satisfied are you with the variety of genres WTOP offers?
How satisfied are you with WTOP’s talk shows?
How satisfied are you with WTOP’s sports programs?
How satisfied are you WTOP’s news programs?
How satisfied are you with WTOP’s live sports broadcasts?
● Technical Quality (5 point likert scale from dissatisfied to satisfied)
How satisfied are you with the picture quality of WTOP’s programs?
How satisfied are you with the commercials between segments?
How satisfied are you with the audio quality of WTOP’s programs?
How satisfied are you with the amount of professionalism during live programs?
10
Review of Literature
Introduction
Our goal is to determine customer satisfaction levels and attitudes towards WTOP-10
TV. It is important to figure out who their viewers are and their levels of satisfaction towards the
station so that they can improve upon their programming and overall quality and brand image.
The following literature review discusses what is customer satisfaction and what factors
determine it in television broadcasting. The articles addressed in this review also go over the
methodologies and measurements as applied in various studies.
Conceptual Definition
According to Oliver (1980) customer satisfaction is directly linked to consumers
expectations and perceptions of what is received. That being said, satisfaction is a process of
evaluating how consumers wishes, needs and expectations are fulfilled by the performance of the
product. As stated by Ndubisi and Wah (2005), “satisfaction will be achieved when expectations
are fulfilled”. In support with customer satisfaction being based on consumers perception of the
specific product, Dubrovski (2001) states that, “consumers will base their judgments on an inner
perception and experiencing” with regard to that particular consumption situation.
11
Through our research it has been noted that most researchers agree that customer
satisfaction takes place post-consumption after initial expectations and consumptions of the
product have occurred.
Determinants of Satisfaction in Television Broadcasting
According to Young (2013), his study on customer satisfaction is based on six factors:
performance and reliability; cost of service; programming; billing; communication; and customer
service. Young’s study focused on customers satisfaction towards a US residential television
service provider. He stressed the importance of performance and reliability as signal loss is the
greatest threat to satisfaction in TV providers according to the J.D. Power 2013 U.S. Residential
Television Service Provider Satisfaction StudySM. This study found that customers are less likely
to develop brand loyalty to a service provider that frequently loses its signal (J.D. Power, 2013).
Chenn (2013) refers to satisfaction as being service oriented rather than product oriented.
Service is what affects overall consumer loyalty and satisfaction. Her study focuses on cable
television’s perceived service quality, payment policy, as well as overall satisfaction of
customers. The study breaks down service into two components: technical quality (the core
service or what is delivered) and functional quality (how the service is delivered) (Chenn, 2013).
The two articles both focus primarily on the functionality of the television service and the
technical quality while being aired. However, Young is more specific in that customer
satisfaction in TV services is based mostly on the reliability of the signal and frequency. Chenn’s
study refers to service quality as being a more general concept. She classified services into three
12
categories: "core service, facilitating services, and supporting services" (Chenn, 2013). These
categories cover topics such as the price for the service, customer service, the picture quality
during different weather situations and the content of the programs.
Methodology
The methodology used in the studies we researched varied only slightly. The studies
which were researched primarily used online surveys and only one study conducted by Nielsen
used more complicated methods. The studies we focused on primarily relied on surveys
conducted via email or telephone to a random sample within the desired target market.
One study conducted by The Residence Life Office at Penn State gauged student
satisfaction of current on campus television options and gained input on the use of other media
for television viewing. The methodology used for this study relied primarily on the use of
internet surveys emailed to all students living on campus during the spring 2009 term. The
survey questions were tailored to address student satisfaction with the station. The actual survey
consisted of mostly multiple choice questions. (2014)
Another study conducted by Nielsen focused on television ratings on a large scale. They
wanted to know which members of a household were watching, what programs, who is
watching, when they are watching and many other characteristics. Nielsen went about their
study by using electronic metering technology. Electronic metering technology includes TV
meters and local people meters. These tools capture information on the content each household
is watching, when, how often and various other statistics that Nielsen wished to discover. Along
13
with the use of the electronic metering technologies they also used paper diaries from across the
country. (2014)
Measures
The criteria used to measure user satisfaction was fairly consistent across the cases we
examined. In reference to the J.D. Power 2013 U.S. Residential Television Service Provider
Satisfaction StudySM, the author of the article writes, “The study measures customer satisfaction
based on six factors: performance and reliability; cost of service; programming; billing;
communication; and customer service. Performance and reliability is the most critical factor
driving overall satisfaction and is essential to meeting customer expectations.” (Young, 2013)
These factors are all applicable to viewer satisfaction studies and developing a rating system
using the aforementioned criteria will inevitably lead to the gathering of essential information.
While the initial study was for a television service provider, it is likely that the measurement
material can be manipulated to be used for obtaining information regarding a single television
channel.
In the study performed by The Residence Life Office at Penn State, survey responses
were recorded on the basis of 5, and 6-point Likert scales depending on the nature of the
questions. ("Office of Residence life Assessment of On - Campus Residents Satisfaction/ Use of
Cable System." Editorial. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <studentaffairs.psu.edu>.) In regards to channel
content, sound quality, picture quality, reliability of service, and overall satisfaction, a 6-point
Likert scale was used. Students participating in the survey responded with a 6-point range from
14
“very dissatisfied” to “very satisfied.” 5-point scales ranged from “very unlikely” to very likely”
and “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” It is likely that the application of a 5-point or 6-point
Likert scale was deemed necessary for measuring certain factors on the basis of which scale
would help the researcher gather the most useful information. Some of the 6-point scale
measurements correspond with the factors discussed in the J.D. Power 2013 U.S. Residential
Television Service Provider Satisfaction StudySM, which represents an indication of consistency
across articles and cases. By adopting measurement strategies discovered through the literature
review, we may have a greater chance at asking the right types of questions and gathering
appropriate information.
15
Research Methods and Procedures
Methodology
The method we will be utilizing for our study will be in the form of an anonymous
questionnaire designed to give us an accurate measurement of customer satisfaction and attitudes
toward WTOP-10 TV. This will enable us to reach active participants while also receiving
information about the respondent's honest attitudes towards WTOP-10 TV. Our questionnaire
will be tailored to provide exploratory research. Our questionnaire will be highly structured,
with no open-ended questions. A structured format will make coding and analyzing easier and
will also encourage more respondents to complete the questionnaire because of its simple
structure. This will provide the most useful and accurate information for our information needs.
Our information needs include general information such as what year in college respondents are,
how often they watch WTOP-10 TV, what programs they watch and other related information.
Our questions will enable us to gather an in depth understanding of customers true feelings and
attitudes towards WTOP-10 TV. The questionnaire will be balanced in terms of positive and
negative statements towards the situation. This will help to eliminate response order bias as well
as to act as a check to ensure respondents are actually reading through each question. A thorough
survey will provide us with the full spectrum of possible attitudes towards WTOP-10 TV.
Our pilot study will be administered in person. For this preliminary study we aim to gain
information from roughly thirty SUNY Oswego students who live both on and off campus. We
will access these students in person by administering the questionnaire in various locations
16
throughout campus. We will also give out the questionnaire in our classes to encourage our
peers to take part in the study. This will guarantee participation among members of the
population. The questionnaire will only be given to students of SUNY Oswego for the reason
that they are WTOP-10 TV’s prime viewers. Students of Oswego will also be much easier to
reach and provide a higher response rate than the general public. Administration methodology
would differ for implementation of a full scale study. For the full scale study our team would
acquire a list of every registered student at the school through the registrar's office. From there
we would email the questionnaire to a randomly determined sample of students to generate
enough data to project upon the entirety of the population (of WTOP-10 TV viewers).
The scale we will be using for our study will be an itemized rating scale. We will
develop an assortment of questions ranging between ten and twenty. High structured questions
will prompt a greater participation rate and allow us to analyze participants responses more
efficiently. The questions that we will develop will begin general. A possible example being,
“Do you have cable?” or, “Do you live on or off campus?” We will then ask more specific
questions addressing WTOP-10 TV itself and their customers satisfaction levels. Classification
items will be placed at the end of the survey, to help us gain a better understanding of what types
of students are actually watching.
17
Sampling Plan
Definition of the Population
● Element: The specific elements which will be studied are members of the SUNY
Oswego student body as well as the immediate Oswego community, who watch
or have watched WTOP-10 TV. This includes students ranging from freshman
year, to those taking graduate courses as well as non-student individuals in the
Oswego area.
● Sampling Unit: Since it is not feasible to readily identify everyone who watches
or has watched WTOP-10 TV on a large scale, the sampling unit can be set as the
entirety of the SUNY Oswego registered student body. These individuals are
easily accessible in comparison to individuals who may watch WTOP-10 TV,
who are not students, whether they are faculty members or members of the
community unassociated with the college entirely.
● Extent: The extent to which this population geographically covers is that of the
SUNY Oswego campus, and the immediate Oswego, NY area.
● Time: It is unlikely that viewer attitudes change much over time as WTOP-10 TV
content does not drastically vary in regards to time. In this sense, it can be
concluded that a snapshot of the attitudes of the student body can be projected
onto community members or different populations of students from year to year.
18
Sampling Frame
The sampling frame would consist of a list of registered students provided by SUNY
Oswego’s registry. A list may be acquired from the registrar’s office by which student e-mail
addresses would be disclosed. This would provide a means of reaching the individuals so that
questionnaires may be administered electronically. This sampling frame would be appropriate as
it would include individuals ranging from freshmen through graduate students, all of which are
included within the population of interest for this study.
Sampling Procedure
A probability sampling procedure will be used to determine which elements out of the
sampling frame will be selected. After obtaining a list of student e-mail addresses from the
registrar's office, every fourth student (in alphabetical order) will be chosen, beginning with a
random starting point. This systematic sample would be more advantageous to use in comparison
with a stratified or simple random sample. Dividing the population into subsets would not yield
any different information and it would only contribute to making the sampling process take
longer. A simple random sample may also be slightly more time consuming. It may be difficult
to create random number tables for determining which elements will be selected. A systematic
sample would be a more feasible and less time intensive method for determining which elements
would be selected for survey administration.
19
Additionally, a systematic sample would maintain the necessary degree of randomness
that will provide that this is a probability sampling method. Since the elements will be chosen
randomly, this study will allow us to make inferences to the target population based on results
from the sample. We may also assess the amount of sampling error between our calculations and
the actual survey results.
Sampling Size
To obtain an appropriate sample size a variety of factors will be considered. Since it is
likely that each survey item would yield different results, it is important to choose one that
reflects the goal of the entire study. The item which will be used is: “Please rate your overall
satisfaction with WTOP-10 TV’s services.” This item is graded on a Likert-scale ranging from 1:
Very Dissatisfied, 2: Dissatisfied, 3: No Opinion, 4: Satisfied, to 5: Very Satisfied. Since there is
an even split between satisfied and dissatisfied options it can be determined that, for the purpose
of these calculations, 1 and 2 will count as “Dissatisfied” while 4 and 5 will count as “Satisfied”.
Precision is an important factor in determining sample size. The greater the precision, the
larger the sample size will be required to be. Since this is a campus survey and not a national
study, it may be argued that this study is not of great importance and it is not necessary that it be
judged with a very high degree of precision. By going through a number of different
calculations, an appropriate level of precision can be determined.
The confidence level which will be used is a 95 percent confidence level. This is the
standard which most cases uses as it predicts with 95% confidence that the population parameter
20
(in this case the population parameter of interest is a proportion) will fall within the desired
confidence interval.
In estimating variance it is important to note that, to our knowledge, a similar study of
WTOP-10 TV has not been conducted in the past. There are no previous estimates of satisfaction
proportions to work off of. With this being the case, 50% will be used to indicate that half of the
population is satisfied while the other half is dissatisfied.
To obtain an appropriate sampling size, a specific level of precision, confidence level and
an estimation of variance will be used. While the confidence level has been determined to be
95% and the variance estimate which will be used has been set to 0.5, the precision has not yet
been determined. By running a number of calculations using different levels of precision, we can
determine which precision level will be most effective when considering factors such as time
and cost in surveying a certain sample size.
21
H
(level of half
precision)
s
(estimate of
standard deviation)
z
(confidence
level)
n
(sample size)
Budget, $
(10$ per
element)
0.25 .5 1.96 1537 15,370
0.30 .5 1.96 1067 10,670
0.35 .5 1.96 784 7,840
0.40 .5 1.96 600 6,000
0.45 .5 1.96 474 4,740
0.50 .5 1.96 384 3,840
Considering the table, an appropriate level of precision may be determined. Since this is
not a political survey or a study for a national corporation, it is not vital that the level of precision
be exceedingly great. Using an extremely precise H value would result in an increase of the cost
of the study, which may put it out of WTOP-10 TV’s budget. Considering the nature and purpose
of the study, it has been determined that a sample size of 384 will be used based on an H value of
0.50, an estimate of standard deviation of 0.5 and a confidence level of 95%. Considering a
budget of 10$ per element, which may be necessary in effectively administering the survey, the
22
total cost would be $3,840. It is believed that this price is well within WTOP-10 TV’s budget
and gathering data on 384 students would not require an extreme amount of time.
Pilot Study
To get a general idea of student interest in WTOP-10 TV and confirmation that our
questionnaire is appropriate, a pilot study will be administered. This 30 student survey will be a
non-probability, convenience sample. Each of the three team members are to survey 10 random
classmates in order to help evaluate whether or not a full-scale survey will be feasible, cost-
effective or time-intensive, along with a variety of other factors.
23
Data Analysis and Conclusion
Through our pilot study, we measured student satisfaction toward, and awareness of
WTOP-10 TV. Our analysis concludes that most students are aware of some of the programs the
station has to offer; however, an overwhelming number of respondents were found to not watch
WTOP regularly and only 30% of those surveyed reported watching the station once or more per
week.
Additionally, we found that roughly 73% of respondents do not access WTOP-10 TV for
their online content, while 43% agreed that online streaming would encourage them to view
WTOP-10 TV’s programs. If this data is accurate and representative of the entire student
population, it may be extremely important in improving WTOP-10 TV’s viewership numbers.
We can conclude through these findings that a strong online presence would greatly encourage
more viewers.
Our findings were unable to indicate a strong correlation between satisfaction and
specific survey items. While our survey items were arranged to match up specifically with our
research objectives and information needs, a high percentage of “no opinion” responses by
survey participants may have rendered our findings inconclusive.
A majority of the respondents selected "no opinion" for many of the satisfaction
questions. This may indicate that a high percentage of the students we surveyed did not care
enough about WTOP-10 TV’s programming to have any strong views towards the station. It
seems as though our pilot study was unable to accurately determine levels of satisfaction because
24
of the high number of respondents that chose “no opinion” for a variety of items. Overall our
data indicated that in WTOP’s case, awareness may be a greater factor than satisfaction in
addressing viewership than was originally believed.
25
Schedule
According to our proposed schedule, we plan on revising our survey and completing a full- scale
study by the end of January. This includes another pilot study, multiple revisions and our
complete analysis. We would launch the full-scale study at the beginning of the Fall Semester of
2014. This would ensure that we could get all of the students participation on campus.
26
Limitations
We did not encounter any great problems in the administration of our questionnaire. The
wording of the questions were simple and straightforward and all of our respondents completed
the entire questionnaire. It is impossible to know whether or not our survey prompted response
error, but since there was nothing to gain by lying, or incorrectly responding to any of our survey
items, it is probable that we did not encounter response error. There were no refusals or
occurrences of nonresponse error. One type of nonsampling error that may have had a large
impact on our pilot study is noncoverage error. While not many respondents who filled out our
surveys actually watched WTOP-10 TV, it is possible that we could have surveyed a different 30
student sample, wherein every individual watches WTOP-10 TV weekly. As a whole, this study
had its limitations, but these are factors that could be altered to eliminate limitations and increase
credibility for the implementation of a full scale survey.
27
28
29
Work Cited
Oliver, R. (1980). A Cognitive Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Satisfaction
Decisions. Journal of Marketing Research, 17(4): 460-469,
Ndubisi, N.O. and Wah, C.K. (2005). Factorial and Discriminant analysis of the underpinnings
of relationship marketing. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 23(7): 542-557.
Dubrovski, D. (2001). The role of customer satisfaction in achieving business excellence. Total
Quality Management, 12(7 and 8): 920-925.
Chen, Nai-Hua, et al. "Market Segmentation, Service Quality, And Overall Satisfaction: Self-
Organizing Map And Structural Equation Modeling Methods." Quality & Quantity 47.2 (2013):
969-987. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3150499?uid=3738920&uid=2134&uid=364889071&uid
=
2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=364889061&uid=60&sid=21102600468553 (accessed 13 April 2013).
"2013 U.S. Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study | J.D. Power." J.D. Power
Mcgraw Hill Financial. J.D. Power and Associates, 26 Sept. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
30
"Office of Residence life Assessment of On - Campus Residents Satisfaction/ Use of Cable
System." Editorial. . Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <studentaffairs.psu.edu>.
"Solutions ." Nielson. The Nielsen Company, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
Burnham, Thomas A., Judy K. Frels, and Vijay Mahajan (2003), “Consumer Switching
Costs: A Topology, Antecedents and Consequences,” JAMS, 31 (2), 109-126.
Fornell, Claes, Michael D. Johnson, Eugene W. Anderson, Jaesung Cha, & Barbara
Everitt Bryant (1996), “The American Customer Satisfaction Index: Nature, Purpose,
and Findings,” JM, 60 (October), 7-18.

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WTOP10-TV Research Project

  • 1. 1
  • 2. 2 Table of Contents Page 3 Executive Summary 4-7 Review of the Decision Situation 8-9 Review of Research Objectives and Information Needs 10-14 Review of Literature 15-16 Research Methods and Procedures 19-21 Sampling Plan Frequency Tables/ Data Collection 20-22 Data Analysis and Conclusion 23 Proposed Schedule 24 Limitations 25-26 Questionnaire 27-28 Work Cited
  • 3. 3 Executive Summary The main purpose of this research study was to determine the general level of satisfaction of WTOP-10 TV's viewers. WTOP-10 TV has a very positive reputation around the campus of SUNY Oswego, known for its professionalism and original content. However throughout our study we have found that viewership numbers are relatively low. Based on this information we conducted a study tailored to determine the overall level of satisfaction of WTOP-10 TV’s content based on the opinions of their main target audience; SUNY Oswego students. We determined a list of information needs and research objectives designed to answer questions related to program quality, technical quality and accessibility. From here we developed a questionnaire designed to address these main topics. After we conducted our study and analyzed our data we came to the conclusion that the majority of SUNY Oswego students were simply indifferent regarding WTOP-10 TV’s broadcasts.
  • 4. 4 Review of Decision Situation Company Analysis WTOP-10 TV is a fully student run television station housed on the campus of SUNY College at Oswego. The station is led by the executive board and managers. They produce various television shows, news reports, and cover many collegiate sporting events. Their athletic coverage programs include Empire Sports, Talkin' Sports and The Playing Field. These programs offer a wide coverage and analysis of sporting events happening both on campus and throughout the world. They also offer a variety of talk shows, such as The Wrap Up which is a late night talk show covering local events and the happenings around campus and The Juice, which is a talk show that focuses on pop culture and hot topics. The station also provides Weekend at Oz, which is a satire show tailored to the SUNY Oswego community. These programs are completely student run and operated. Along with the production of television programs they also offer television coverage of on campus athletics. They air Oswego State hockey games, basketball and many more. The station is run by students who are learning as they work. The students who run WTOP-10 TV are known for their professionalism and have a very good reputation around campus. WTOP-10 TV’s budget fluctuates around $80,000 a year. This is the largest budget allotted to any on campus organization. Even with their lenient budget they cannot afford top of the line equipment that other companies may have. WTOP-10 TV also has a very limited viewership. The size of their market includes the 8,000 students who live on campus and the citizens that live within the county of Oswego that have Time Warner Cable.
  • 5. 5 However WTOP-10 TV is only broadcasted through public access television from 10:00 PM to 12:00 PM for those who live off campus. WTOP-10 TV has a number of products in their product mix as mentioned above. In this instance products are represented by television programs. All revolve around the industries of television and broadcasting. Competitor analysis WTOP-10 TV has both internal and external competitors in their field. Their internal competitors are the other media organizations at SUNY Oswego such as WNYO and the Oswegonian. All three of the organizations focus on reaching out to the students to share campus information as well as entertainment. Both WNYO and WTOP-10 TV broadcast the hockey games and put most of their focus on the viewership and interest of campus sports (wnyosports.com) http://www.WTOP10.com/sports/). The Oswegonian also covers highlights of the games every week (oswegonian.com/sports/). WNYO is WTOP-10 TV’s biggest competitor out of the media organizations because they cover the games in real time along with WTOP-10 TV’s broadcast. Other external competitors include local and national television programs. Obviously it is hard to compete with national networks such as ABC, CBS or NBC but it is important to see when people are tuning in to WTOP-10 TV the most and when they are tuning into the larger networks instead. Other college TV stations are not a competitor because their broadcasts are out of range. A major trend that is affecting their competition is how audiences choose to receive
  • 6. 6 information (adage.com). Many television networks are decreasing in viewership because people would rather watch shows on Netflix, Hulu or other On Demand structures. If WTOP-10 TV does not follow with this trend, they will most likely lose interest from the public. WNYO has an Internet server that makes it possible to listen to the broadcast online as well as a phone application for mobile listeners (http://www.wnyo.org/about.php). WTOP-10 TV is lacking these important qualities that are favored by this generation. WTOP-10 TV is asked to cover several campus events such as presidential campaigns, the Media Summit and the SUNY Oswego's Hunger Games. However, the community in Oswego does not recognize them for all of these things like the campus does. This is a major weakness for the organization and in return, affects their overall viewership. Customer Analysis WTOP-10 TV is a non-commercial public access broadcasting network, therefore there are no real customers because users do not pay for their viewership. The primary users are composed of the student body of SUNY Oswego, roughly 8000 students, as well as local alums and other local households. By using services provided by WTOP-10 TV the user is seeking to gain information and entertainment from the programming provided. One major factor that drives viewership is SUNY Oswego sporting events, specifically Men’s Hockey. Other viewers may be interested in watching entertainment programs or news segments on the channel. The station broadcasts locally, reaching households in the immediate area of Oswego, NY. The demographic that WTOP-10 TV targets are the typical melting pot of universities. Race and
  • 7. 7 gender are not targeted specifically. Psychographics of the primary users may include individuals passionate in local collegiate affairs as well as the SUNY Oswego sports programs. The market for WTOP-10 TV is roughly a maximum of 10,000 people. This would include the entire student body and a further 2,000 viewers which may include alums in the Oswego area and other local households. The market is not growing (every four or so years there is a new student body and the overwhelming majority of possible viewers do not stay in Oswego. Decision Objective In considering where WTOP-10 TV falls short, it is our team’s belief that there is not a problem of awareness. We contest that most students are aware of the television station and may even be aware of some of the programs that are provided. That being stated, it is our goal to determine why WTOP10-TV has a low number of viewers. It is the purpose of this study to address whether or not there is an issue of viewer dissatisfaction that is the underlying reason for WTOP10-TV’s small viewership. Our specific decision objective is to increase viewership numbers as a direct result of the implementation of our consumer research project. In measurable terms, the target is to get 1000 more viewers, whether they are watching content online or on their television set, regularly, within the first year.
  • 8. 8 Review of Research Objectives and Information Needs Research Objectives The goal of our project is to determine how many students at SUNY Oswego watch the student-run television station, WTOP-10 TV and what values provided by the station satisfy them as viewers. By determining satisfaction ratings regarding different facets of WTOP-10 TV, the station can improve their viewership numbers through an understanding of why students are or are not watching certain programs. The factors that determine who is watching their station are based on the accessibility of the station’s content, the quality of the programs, level / type of entertainment provided and how relevant the program content is towards college students. The accessibility of the TV station includes whether students have access to cable or a TV and whether or not the programs are available online to stream. The quality of the programs is also extremely important for ratings. Technical questions such as, “Is the picture always clear?” and, “Is there ever dead air?” are items to consider in this category. The content of WTOP-10 TV’s programs is of specific importance for our study. It is necessary to find out if the students are interested in what is aired and whether or not they know all of the programs that WTOP-10 TV has to offer. Knowing which programs the students watch can help the station to create more programs similar to the most favored shows. All of these factors contribute to whether or not WTOP-10 TV viewers are satisfied or dissatisfied. We plan to discover this information via the administration of an in-depth survey to a random sample of students to determine their individual satisfaction ratings of a variety of different items.
  • 9. 9 Information Needs ● Accessibility (5 point likert scale from dissatisfied to satisfied) How satisfied are you with the times WTOP airs their programs? How satisfied are you with WTOP’s website content? How satisfied are you with the navigation of WTOP’s website? How satisfied are you with WTOP’s youtube channel? ● Programming Quality (5 point likert scale from dissatisfied to satisfied) How satisfied are you with WTOP’s original content? How satisfied are you with the variety of genres WTOP offers? How satisfied are you with WTOP’s talk shows? How satisfied are you with WTOP’s sports programs? How satisfied are you WTOP’s news programs? How satisfied are you with WTOP’s live sports broadcasts? ● Technical Quality (5 point likert scale from dissatisfied to satisfied) How satisfied are you with the picture quality of WTOP’s programs? How satisfied are you with the commercials between segments? How satisfied are you with the audio quality of WTOP’s programs? How satisfied are you with the amount of professionalism during live programs?
  • 10. 10 Review of Literature Introduction Our goal is to determine customer satisfaction levels and attitudes towards WTOP-10 TV. It is important to figure out who their viewers are and their levels of satisfaction towards the station so that they can improve upon their programming and overall quality and brand image. The following literature review discusses what is customer satisfaction and what factors determine it in television broadcasting. The articles addressed in this review also go over the methodologies and measurements as applied in various studies. Conceptual Definition According to Oliver (1980) customer satisfaction is directly linked to consumers expectations and perceptions of what is received. That being said, satisfaction is a process of evaluating how consumers wishes, needs and expectations are fulfilled by the performance of the product. As stated by Ndubisi and Wah (2005), “satisfaction will be achieved when expectations are fulfilled”. In support with customer satisfaction being based on consumers perception of the specific product, Dubrovski (2001) states that, “consumers will base their judgments on an inner perception and experiencing” with regard to that particular consumption situation.
  • 11. 11 Through our research it has been noted that most researchers agree that customer satisfaction takes place post-consumption after initial expectations and consumptions of the product have occurred. Determinants of Satisfaction in Television Broadcasting According to Young (2013), his study on customer satisfaction is based on six factors: performance and reliability; cost of service; programming; billing; communication; and customer service. Young’s study focused on customers satisfaction towards a US residential television service provider. He stressed the importance of performance and reliability as signal loss is the greatest threat to satisfaction in TV providers according to the J.D. Power 2013 U.S. Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction StudySM. This study found that customers are less likely to develop brand loyalty to a service provider that frequently loses its signal (J.D. Power, 2013). Chenn (2013) refers to satisfaction as being service oriented rather than product oriented. Service is what affects overall consumer loyalty and satisfaction. Her study focuses on cable television’s perceived service quality, payment policy, as well as overall satisfaction of customers. The study breaks down service into two components: technical quality (the core service or what is delivered) and functional quality (how the service is delivered) (Chenn, 2013). The two articles both focus primarily on the functionality of the television service and the technical quality while being aired. However, Young is more specific in that customer satisfaction in TV services is based mostly on the reliability of the signal and frequency. Chenn’s study refers to service quality as being a more general concept. She classified services into three
  • 12. 12 categories: "core service, facilitating services, and supporting services" (Chenn, 2013). These categories cover topics such as the price for the service, customer service, the picture quality during different weather situations and the content of the programs. Methodology The methodology used in the studies we researched varied only slightly. The studies which were researched primarily used online surveys and only one study conducted by Nielsen used more complicated methods. The studies we focused on primarily relied on surveys conducted via email or telephone to a random sample within the desired target market. One study conducted by The Residence Life Office at Penn State gauged student satisfaction of current on campus television options and gained input on the use of other media for television viewing. The methodology used for this study relied primarily on the use of internet surveys emailed to all students living on campus during the spring 2009 term. The survey questions were tailored to address student satisfaction with the station. The actual survey consisted of mostly multiple choice questions. (2014) Another study conducted by Nielsen focused on television ratings on a large scale. They wanted to know which members of a household were watching, what programs, who is watching, when they are watching and many other characteristics. Nielsen went about their study by using electronic metering technology. Electronic metering technology includes TV meters and local people meters. These tools capture information on the content each household is watching, when, how often and various other statistics that Nielsen wished to discover. Along
  • 13. 13 with the use of the electronic metering technologies they also used paper diaries from across the country. (2014) Measures The criteria used to measure user satisfaction was fairly consistent across the cases we examined. In reference to the J.D. Power 2013 U.S. Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction StudySM, the author of the article writes, “The study measures customer satisfaction based on six factors: performance and reliability; cost of service; programming; billing; communication; and customer service. Performance and reliability is the most critical factor driving overall satisfaction and is essential to meeting customer expectations.” (Young, 2013) These factors are all applicable to viewer satisfaction studies and developing a rating system using the aforementioned criteria will inevitably lead to the gathering of essential information. While the initial study was for a television service provider, it is likely that the measurement material can be manipulated to be used for obtaining information regarding a single television channel. In the study performed by The Residence Life Office at Penn State, survey responses were recorded on the basis of 5, and 6-point Likert scales depending on the nature of the questions. ("Office of Residence life Assessment of On - Campus Residents Satisfaction/ Use of Cable System." Editorial. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <studentaffairs.psu.edu>.) In regards to channel content, sound quality, picture quality, reliability of service, and overall satisfaction, a 6-point Likert scale was used. Students participating in the survey responded with a 6-point range from
  • 14. 14 “very dissatisfied” to “very satisfied.” 5-point scales ranged from “very unlikely” to very likely” and “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” It is likely that the application of a 5-point or 6-point Likert scale was deemed necessary for measuring certain factors on the basis of which scale would help the researcher gather the most useful information. Some of the 6-point scale measurements correspond with the factors discussed in the J.D. Power 2013 U.S. Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction StudySM, which represents an indication of consistency across articles and cases. By adopting measurement strategies discovered through the literature review, we may have a greater chance at asking the right types of questions and gathering appropriate information.
  • 15. 15 Research Methods and Procedures Methodology The method we will be utilizing for our study will be in the form of an anonymous questionnaire designed to give us an accurate measurement of customer satisfaction and attitudes toward WTOP-10 TV. This will enable us to reach active participants while also receiving information about the respondent's honest attitudes towards WTOP-10 TV. Our questionnaire will be tailored to provide exploratory research. Our questionnaire will be highly structured, with no open-ended questions. A structured format will make coding and analyzing easier and will also encourage more respondents to complete the questionnaire because of its simple structure. This will provide the most useful and accurate information for our information needs. Our information needs include general information such as what year in college respondents are, how often they watch WTOP-10 TV, what programs they watch and other related information. Our questions will enable us to gather an in depth understanding of customers true feelings and attitudes towards WTOP-10 TV. The questionnaire will be balanced in terms of positive and negative statements towards the situation. This will help to eliminate response order bias as well as to act as a check to ensure respondents are actually reading through each question. A thorough survey will provide us with the full spectrum of possible attitudes towards WTOP-10 TV. Our pilot study will be administered in person. For this preliminary study we aim to gain information from roughly thirty SUNY Oswego students who live both on and off campus. We will access these students in person by administering the questionnaire in various locations
  • 16. 16 throughout campus. We will also give out the questionnaire in our classes to encourage our peers to take part in the study. This will guarantee participation among members of the population. The questionnaire will only be given to students of SUNY Oswego for the reason that they are WTOP-10 TV’s prime viewers. Students of Oswego will also be much easier to reach and provide a higher response rate than the general public. Administration methodology would differ for implementation of a full scale study. For the full scale study our team would acquire a list of every registered student at the school through the registrar's office. From there we would email the questionnaire to a randomly determined sample of students to generate enough data to project upon the entirety of the population (of WTOP-10 TV viewers). The scale we will be using for our study will be an itemized rating scale. We will develop an assortment of questions ranging between ten and twenty. High structured questions will prompt a greater participation rate and allow us to analyze participants responses more efficiently. The questions that we will develop will begin general. A possible example being, “Do you have cable?” or, “Do you live on or off campus?” We will then ask more specific questions addressing WTOP-10 TV itself and their customers satisfaction levels. Classification items will be placed at the end of the survey, to help us gain a better understanding of what types of students are actually watching.
  • 17. 17 Sampling Plan Definition of the Population ● Element: The specific elements which will be studied are members of the SUNY Oswego student body as well as the immediate Oswego community, who watch or have watched WTOP-10 TV. This includes students ranging from freshman year, to those taking graduate courses as well as non-student individuals in the Oswego area. ● Sampling Unit: Since it is not feasible to readily identify everyone who watches or has watched WTOP-10 TV on a large scale, the sampling unit can be set as the entirety of the SUNY Oswego registered student body. These individuals are easily accessible in comparison to individuals who may watch WTOP-10 TV, who are not students, whether they are faculty members or members of the community unassociated with the college entirely. ● Extent: The extent to which this population geographically covers is that of the SUNY Oswego campus, and the immediate Oswego, NY area. ● Time: It is unlikely that viewer attitudes change much over time as WTOP-10 TV content does not drastically vary in regards to time. In this sense, it can be concluded that a snapshot of the attitudes of the student body can be projected onto community members or different populations of students from year to year.
  • 18. 18 Sampling Frame The sampling frame would consist of a list of registered students provided by SUNY Oswego’s registry. A list may be acquired from the registrar’s office by which student e-mail addresses would be disclosed. This would provide a means of reaching the individuals so that questionnaires may be administered electronically. This sampling frame would be appropriate as it would include individuals ranging from freshmen through graduate students, all of which are included within the population of interest for this study. Sampling Procedure A probability sampling procedure will be used to determine which elements out of the sampling frame will be selected. After obtaining a list of student e-mail addresses from the registrar's office, every fourth student (in alphabetical order) will be chosen, beginning with a random starting point. This systematic sample would be more advantageous to use in comparison with a stratified or simple random sample. Dividing the population into subsets would not yield any different information and it would only contribute to making the sampling process take longer. A simple random sample may also be slightly more time consuming. It may be difficult to create random number tables for determining which elements will be selected. A systematic sample would be a more feasible and less time intensive method for determining which elements would be selected for survey administration.
  • 19. 19 Additionally, a systematic sample would maintain the necessary degree of randomness that will provide that this is a probability sampling method. Since the elements will be chosen randomly, this study will allow us to make inferences to the target population based on results from the sample. We may also assess the amount of sampling error between our calculations and the actual survey results. Sampling Size To obtain an appropriate sample size a variety of factors will be considered. Since it is likely that each survey item would yield different results, it is important to choose one that reflects the goal of the entire study. The item which will be used is: “Please rate your overall satisfaction with WTOP-10 TV’s services.” This item is graded on a Likert-scale ranging from 1: Very Dissatisfied, 2: Dissatisfied, 3: No Opinion, 4: Satisfied, to 5: Very Satisfied. Since there is an even split between satisfied and dissatisfied options it can be determined that, for the purpose of these calculations, 1 and 2 will count as “Dissatisfied” while 4 and 5 will count as “Satisfied”. Precision is an important factor in determining sample size. The greater the precision, the larger the sample size will be required to be. Since this is a campus survey and not a national study, it may be argued that this study is not of great importance and it is not necessary that it be judged with a very high degree of precision. By going through a number of different calculations, an appropriate level of precision can be determined. The confidence level which will be used is a 95 percent confidence level. This is the standard which most cases uses as it predicts with 95% confidence that the population parameter
  • 20. 20 (in this case the population parameter of interest is a proportion) will fall within the desired confidence interval. In estimating variance it is important to note that, to our knowledge, a similar study of WTOP-10 TV has not been conducted in the past. There are no previous estimates of satisfaction proportions to work off of. With this being the case, 50% will be used to indicate that half of the population is satisfied while the other half is dissatisfied. To obtain an appropriate sampling size, a specific level of precision, confidence level and an estimation of variance will be used. While the confidence level has been determined to be 95% and the variance estimate which will be used has been set to 0.5, the precision has not yet been determined. By running a number of calculations using different levels of precision, we can determine which precision level will be most effective when considering factors such as time and cost in surveying a certain sample size.
  • 21. 21 H (level of half precision) s (estimate of standard deviation) z (confidence level) n (sample size) Budget, $ (10$ per element) 0.25 .5 1.96 1537 15,370 0.30 .5 1.96 1067 10,670 0.35 .5 1.96 784 7,840 0.40 .5 1.96 600 6,000 0.45 .5 1.96 474 4,740 0.50 .5 1.96 384 3,840 Considering the table, an appropriate level of precision may be determined. Since this is not a political survey or a study for a national corporation, it is not vital that the level of precision be exceedingly great. Using an extremely precise H value would result in an increase of the cost of the study, which may put it out of WTOP-10 TV’s budget. Considering the nature and purpose of the study, it has been determined that a sample size of 384 will be used based on an H value of 0.50, an estimate of standard deviation of 0.5 and a confidence level of 95%. Considering a budget of 10$ per element, which may be necessary in effectively administering the survey, the
  • 22. 22 total cost would be $3,840. It is believed that this price is well within WTOP-10 TV’s budget and gathering data on 384 students would not require an extreme amount of time. Pilot Study To get a general idea of student interest in WTOP-10 TV and confirmation that our questionnaire is appropriate, a pilot study will be administered. This 30 student survey will be a non-probability, convenience sample. Each of the three team members are to survey 10 random classmates in order to help evaluate whether or not a full-scale survey will be feasible, cost- effective or time-intensive, along with a variety of other factors.
  • 23. 23 Data Analysis and Conclusion Through our pilot study, we measured student satisfaction toward, and awareness of WTOP-10 TV. Our analysis concludes that most students are aware of some of the programs the station has to offer; however, an overwhelming number of respondents were found to not watch WTOP regularly and only 30% of those surveyed reported watching the station once or more per week. Additionally, we found that roughly 73% of respondents do not access WTOP-10 TV for their online content, while 43% agreed that online streaming would encourage them to view WTOP-10 TV’s programs. If this data is accurate and representative of the entire student population, it may be extremely important in improving WTOP-10 TV’s viewership numbers. We can conclude through these findings that a strong online presence would greatly encourage more viewers. Our findings were unable to indicate a strong correlation between satisfaction and specific survey items. While our survey items were arranged to match up specifically with our research objectives and information needs, a high percentage of “no opinion” responses by survey participants may have rendered our findings inconclusive. A majority of the respondents selected "no opinion" for many of the satisfaction questions. This may indicate that a high percentage of the students we surveyed did not care enough about WTOP-10 TV’s programming to have any strong views towards the station. It seems as though our pilot study was unable to accurately determine levels of satisfaction because
  • 24. 24 of the high number of respondents that chose “no opinion” for a variety of items. Overall our data indicated that in WTOP’s case, awareness may be a greater factor than satisfaction in addressing viewership than was originally believed.
  • 25. 25 Schedule According to our proposed schedule, we plan on revising our survey and completing a full- scale study by the end of January. This includes another pilot study, multiple revisions and our complete analysis. We would launch the full-scale study at the beginning of the Fall Semester of 2014. This would ensure that we could get all of the students participation on campus.
  • 26. 26 Limitations We did not encounter any great problems in the administration of our questionnaire. The wording of the questions were simple and straightforward and all of our respondents completed the entire questionnaire. It is impossible to know whether or not our survey prompted response error, but since there was nothing to gain by lying, or incorrectly responding to any of our survey items, it is probable that we did not encounter response error. There were no refusals or occurrences of nonresponse error. One type of nonsampling error that may have had a large impact on our pilot study is noncoverage error. While not many respondents who filled out our surveys actually watched WTOP-10 TV, it is possible that we could have surveyed a different 30 student sample, wherein every individual watches WTOP-10 TV weekly. As a whole, this study had its limitations, but these are factors that could be altered to eliminate limitations and increase credibility for the implementation of a full scale survey.
  • 27. 27
  • 28. 28
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