Validity of survey
Validity is the degree to which the sample test items represent the content the test is designed to measure (Delice, 2010).
It is an indication of the soundness of the research. To ensure the validity of the research, the researcher has done a pretest of the questionnaire by sampling a panel of five experts to determine the survey's validity, examines the survey's construction, and to evaluate the clarity, simplicity, readability, and usefulness of the survey for gathering the necessary data needed to test research hypotheses.
The five experts who did the pretest of the questionnaire are PhD and DBA graduate. They are professional experts in the field of Corporate Social Rresponsibility, Customer loyalty, and Customer Satisfaction. They include a Professor who has been teaching CSR courses.
Reliability
Reliability refers to the consistency of measurement. It is frequently assessed using the test-retest reliability method (Delice, 2010). Reliability is increased by including many similar items on a measure, by testing a diverse sample of individuals, and by using uniform testing procedures.
To ensure the reliability of the research and hence build confidence that the research will yield reliable results, the researcher will use the Cronbach's alpha test to measure the internal consistency between the two variables of customer loyalty and customer satisfaction (Delice, 2010). Cronbach's alpha coefficients above 0.5 are an indication that the variables used in the study are reliable and consistent. To ensure the research is objective, human bias will be avoided using internally accepted standards of performance to measure the variables of the study.
Confidentiality
To ensure the confidentiality, credibility, and integrity of this research, ethical procedures will be used in the data collection and analysis. No personal data collected from the participants will be disclosed so as not to reveal the participants' identities. Data collected will be coded and stored safely and securely on the researcher's personal computer, which is secured by a unique password. Data will be encrypted and stored in password secured files inside the computer.
Procedures
The potential sample of participants for this study will be recruited from the SurveyMonkey database emailing list. The survey questionnaire will be sent via e-mail by Survey Monkey to randomly selected participants who are 18 years of age and older and live in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.
The Services provided from Survey Monkey include sending the survey to participants and collecting the responses, In other words, Survey Monkey will distribute the survey on the researcher's behalf using their emailing list. The researcher will purchase the responses collected from Survey Monkey.
Once potential participants arrive at the Survey Monkey website by clicking on the link in the email, the site will direct them to read and agree to the Consent Letter (see Appendix B). If the participants voluntarily accept to complete the survey, he/ she will be given admission to the survey questionnaire on Survey Monkey.com. Participants will have the right to participate or withdraw from the study whenever they want. At the same time, participation will be voluntary.
The survey will remain open for a 60-day period or until the proposed sample, size of responses is reached, implying that the survey will stop automatically if the proposed sample size is reached. The age bracket for the participants will be individuals, 18 years of age and older.
There will be no upper limit age bracket.
The researcher will seek approval from Argosy University's Institutional Review Board (IRB) to conduct this study prior to sending out invitations to participants, and collecting data. The survey questionnaire is approximated that it will take no more than 15 minutes to complete. Purchased raw data from the completed surveys will be safely stored in the researcher's personal cabinet. The researcher is the sole custodian of the key.
The study is deemed by the researcher to be minimal risk to participants; additionally, the probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort resulting from this current study have not been deemed to be greater than any typical encounter in daily life, or those encountered during the performance of physical or psychological examinations or tests.