Research method's task given from the NHTV SLM acadamy for the 2nd year IB students

1. LOGO
Research Methods 2013
Assignment
Group Members:
Antonia Jakobi
Willianne van Horssen
Leon Visser
Johannes Hesse
Leonardo Stouffs
Filipe Alarcon

2. Contents
General Information
Conceptual Design
Research Technical Design
Measurements
Suggestions

3. General Information
At the 22nd of January the group head out to the TOTAL petrol station at the Prinsenlaan 150 in Breda to measure
the before decided activities.
The station area has 2 possibilities to enter (front and back) and 4 possibilities to park your car to get fuel.
Furthermore it has 4 + 2 parking lots next to it and 2 possibilities to get air into the tires of the car. Besides that
the station offers a food service called 'Coffe corner', as well as an option to use the car wash.
Source: https://maps.google.de/maps

4. General Information
Source: http://www.outletfinder.rm.total.com/otfe/ficheDetail.do?reseauId=9&outletCode=NLTOT0000NN001575&lang=NL&mode=amode&otherparams#

5. Process Map

6. Conceptual Design (Step 1- 6)
Step 1: Orientation
•General situation sketch
•Client
•Assignment (client perspective)
•Context
´
Step 2: Exploration of the problem
What is the problem? (actual situation  complaints?)
Out of complaints the problem that occurred is that there are customer waiting times from the customers perspective
concerning payment.
Who has the problem?
The customers have to face the consequences of this problem.
When did the problem arose?
During rush hours (morning and evening) the problem is arising.
Why is it a problem / challenge? (losing customers)
The owner is afraid of losing customers due to satisfaction.
Where does the problem occur?
The problem occurs in the shop at the counter.

7. Conceptual Design (Step 1- 6)
Step 3: Research Objective (SMART)
Specific: Improving a process or procedure at a petrol station
Measurable: To determine if the objective has been achieved a certain time frame for a process or procedure must be
realized.
Acceptable: As motorist need to fill up their gas tanks daily or weekly, many processes and procedure take place when this
happens. Due to the fact that this is a weekly activity the research will be done to improve the time spent on one of the
processes or procedures at the gas station, as this could improve customer satisfaction.
Realistic: As the petrol station is accessible to the public, it is possible to conduct the research. Furthermore doing the
measurements on the side without customers knowing that the research is taking place will aid in achieving real results.
Time: The research must be completed by week 11

8. Conceptual Design (Step 1- 6)
Step 4: Research model
Objective: Reducing the waiting time down to 10%.
Implementation: Time checking / customer interviewing
Choice: Implementing an electronic payment system at the pump
Solutions: - Adding a new entrance which is related to the crossing (signing)
- Electronic payment system at the pump
- Getting an extra cash register in the shop
Possible problems: - entrance of the petrol station is not fitting in the infrastructure
- waiting time at the pump
- waiting time for payment in the shop
Current situation: 6W’s

9. Conceptual Design (Step 1- 6)
Step 5: Research questions
Main: What is the percentage of people who need to wait for payment in the shop
Method: Time checking combined with a questionnaire
Research: How is the payment situation at petrol stations in the environment of the
petrol station?

10. Conceptual Design (Step 1- 6)
Step 6: Terminology
Survey about the customer satisfaction with the current payment situation at petrol stations
Amount % Total amount of people asked: 89
Are you satisfied with the waiting time at the pump? YES 47 52,8
NO 42 47,2
Are you satisfied with the waiting time for the payment in the shop? YES 43 48,3
NO 46 51,7
Are you satisfied about the way of payment in petrol stations? YES 61 68,5
NO 28 31,5
As the regular customers of a petrol station are not always familiarized with the terminology used during a research
of this type, the group decided to make the survey questions easier for them to understand and answer. Also not
always they have the time to participate in a survey and the questions were built focusing in making it as fast as
possible while getting the maximum information possible.
The first two questions are about the waiting time for the customers to have the services and the payment done.
With these questions the group could make it clear whether the customers are satisfied with the issue or not.
The third question was about the payment method in the station, which can be a really important in the satisfaction
of the client in a petrol station. In this case, the customers need to go inside the shop and pay there what can make
the waiting time bigger and also influence in the improvement of the market share.
The fourth and last question was concerning about customer's advices for improvements at the petrol station. This
factor is really important to see the feedback of the clients, with that the group could focus in the right path to see
which improvements were worth to pursue or not.
In summary of all the questions, the group tried to focus in the waiting time and also ways that the service of the
station could improve for its market share. Easy and quick questions were made due to the climate of the petrol
station.

11. Research technical Design (Step 7- 9)
Step 7: Research material
• IPhone timer
• Questionnaire
• Laptop (excel file)
Step 8: Research strategy
In order to achieve the pursued results of the assignment, it was really important to make the objectives and the research
strategy clear for all the members. As the main task was to measure the processes in a petrol station and find out the
bottlenecks of the system, a lot of information was needed about measurement and also about the station.
First of all, the group made a survey in the internet of how to measure in a proper way. The sources found were not always
reliable. In this case they were evaluated to choose the ones with the best credibility. Also, the petrol station chosen was
studied to point the different processes that are most important to measure. A talk with the owner was arranged for better
explanation. With all these data, the objectives of the measurement and how to achieve them were well specified which
gave the team a good path to achieve the expected results. The layout of the petrol station and the chosen activities are
described later on this report.
In this scenario of the assignment, it was time to measure the activities and properly store all the data. With the
measurements of process once made, the group analysed the results and found out which activities could be optimised in
order to reduce the waiting time for the customers and deliver them a better service.

12. Research technical Design (Step 7- 9)
Step 9: Research planning
Progressing:
Before the research could have taken place we needed to follow several steps.
First of all we discovered an too often occurring problem in petrol stations. There is the possibility of a waiting line in the
shop. This is making customers unsatisfied, because some people are in a hurry.
This is why we decided to do a research about the occurring problem at petrol stations. The objective of this examination
obviously is to reduce waiting in the shops and to improve the customer service level. The real objective has been
formulated SMART.
Once the objective and research questions were written out, the actual research started at the petrol station of Total at the
Claudius Prinsenlaan in Breda. Thirty questions with several options set up in an excel file had to be answered per
customer. We took place at a parking lot at the station in order to be able to answer the questions. We have done this
research twice to be more accurate about the average customer.
After the research all answers have been put together to find the percentage of waiting customers and other averages.

13. Measurements Day 1
Measurement has been done at the petrol station, with the use of an IPhone timer, a questionnaire and a laptop with an Excel file. Two
days of measuring are done, to get a ‘fair’ idea of the flows at the petrol station.
At first the time was checked when the customer arrived, also the leaving time was checked. Out of these times the total time at the
petrol station is calculated. When the customer arrives, several questions are ‘answered’ for every customer. If the customer had to wait
at the pump, in the shop, the mode of transport, gender, age and some other activities at the petrol station. These activities are
measured, because expected is that there will be a bottleneck in one of the flows.

14. Measurements Day 2
After the measurement all data was filled in the Excel file. There is data of 91 persons; 43 from day 1 and 48 from day 2.
The table is split up in 6 topics; waiting time, mode of transport, information about the customer, type of activity at the pump, activity in the
shop and paying with PIN.
Out of the measurement came that some topics can cause some problems. These are highlighted in the next slights.

15. Measurements Comparison Waiting
‘yes/no’
YES
14%
NO
86%
Waiting at the pump
YES
30%
NO
70%
Waiting in the shop
YES
15%
NO
85%
Waiting at the pump
YES
35%
NO
65%
Waiting in the shop
1
2
These figures show that the amount of people that have to wait in the shop is pretty high, this need to be improved.
Also around 15% of the customers that get fuel have to wait at the pump. The aim is also to decrease this percentage.

16. Measurements Comparison Mode of
transport
1
2
Car:
84%
Truck:
0%
Motorcycl
e/
Scooter:
4%
Bike:
7%
By foot:
5%
Car:
86%
Truck:
0%
Motorcycl
e/
Scooter:
4%
Bike:
6%
By foot:
4%
These figures show that the majority of the people
come by car. This can be a reason for the waiting time
at the pump, because it takes more time for cars to fill
with gas, than for scooters for example. However this
can not be reduced, because it is the customers
choice.

17. Measurement form of payment and the
waiting time
Average Payment with PIN
YES
NO
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
Time
Customer number
Average total time needed
minutes + seconds
The figure on the left shows that most people pay with PIN. The
people that not pay with PIN pay with cash. This is not an
important fact for the waiting time, because the time needed for
both payments is almost the same. However it does mean that
most people go in the shop for a payment that also can be done
without a person and this can reduce the waiting time.
The figure below shows the average waiting time per customer in
minutes. There are some high and low ‘peaks’.

18. Reliability of the estimations regarding the
times measured for each customer

19. Reliability of the estimations regarding the
times measured for each customer


20. Reliability of the estimations regarding the
times measured for each customer
 By comparing these two results it shows that the on the second day 80% of
the customers needed almost the same time at the patrol station, whether
on the first day the interval is much wider.

21. Reliability of the estimations regarding the
times measured for each customer


22. Reliability of the estimations regarding the
times measured for each customer


23. Reliability of the estimations regarding the
times measured for each customer
 Comparing these two outcomes it shows that on the second day again most
of the customer needed the same amount of time. On the first day the time
which was needed to get the petrol varied a little bit more.

24. Suggestions
Possible solutions:
- Adding a new entrance
which is related to the
crossing (signing)
- Electronic payment system
at the pump
- Getting an extra cash
register in the shop
Problems:
- Entrance of the petrol
station is not fitting in the
infrastructure
- Waiting time at the pump
- Waiting time for payment in
the shop

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