Sheena has been asked to conduct an observational study to determine the effect of customer service on customer shopping duration. She believes that customers' shopping duration will increase if customer service is enhanced. Required: Outline the basic structure of the study including methodology, observations, findings, and a conclusion

Answer 1

Hypothesis: Customers' shopping duration will increase with enhancement in customer service.
Methodology: Two groups of shoppers are selected and asked to shop at two department stores. Both groups comprise five men and five women each. One store has been noted for exceptional customer service, while the other has been rated as average by shoppers. For the sake of convenience, we shall label them as Store A and Store B, respectively. Group 1 is assigned to purchase a pair of clothes at Store A, while Group 2 is assigned to purchase the same at Store B.

Observation: Group 1 members enter Store A and are greeted warmly by the staff. They then look around for clothes that they like, led by the staff. The customers are then offered a hot beverage while they decide what to buy. Following the entire group's purchase, it is found that the group has spent an hour and fifteen minutes at the store.
Group 2 members enter Store B. They are directed to the shopping section by the staff. Following this, they browse through the collection unattended. The group spends an average of an hour and fifteen minutes at the store.

Findings: It was found that both customer groups took the same time to purchase their requirements.

Conclusion: From the study, it was found that customer service has little effect on shopping experience, suggesting no correlation between the two factors. Thus, the hypothesis that customer shopping duration will increase with an increase in the quality of customer service has been disproved.

(Students' answers might vary but should follow a similar model to the one described above.)