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Desk research, also known as secondary research, is making use of information that is alreadyavailable. Internally the firm can draw on its own records. Different departments can provideinformation on sales trends, customers and costing which is useful in the development of newproducts. Extensive published material can also be sourced externally. In addition thedevelopment of new technology such as the internet provides information at the touch of abutton.

Field research or primary research is carried out by contacting potential consumers directly. Itmay include surveys, questionnaires and general observation.Surveys involve questioning people directly about their attitude to a particular product or service.Surveys are usually carried out using a face to face interview or by telephone. Because it isimpossible to survey all target customers, sampling is used. A representative group or sample,whose views will accurately reflect the target population, is chosen. Questionnaires are lists ofprepared questions which potential customers are asked to fill out. They are often used inconjunction with surveys. Careful attention must be given to the design of questionnaires so thatthe answers received are of value for decision making.Information can be gathered by

2.6.1 Segmentation of the Cruise Line Passengers

CUSTOMER PROFILE

The cruise line market into four distinctive categories: the middle market, the upper middlemarket, and the luxury market.

The first one tends to cater middle class providing much activities and a range ofrestaurant services, usually in a larger cruise ship.

Middle market aims to serve upper-middle class, which can be seen as the mainmarket area with much diversity in consumers and cruise lines.

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Luxury market offers high staff-to-passenger ratio and superior services, so this ismainly provided for lower-upper and upper-upper social classes.

Table 4. Benefits that cruisers aresearching for Past Cruisers (%)

Non-cruisers (%)

Explore a vacationarea to return later

62 30

Good value for money 53 22

Offers something foreveryone

59 31

Reliable 49 22

Safe 45 18

Relax/Get away fromit all

63 37

Hassie-free 58 32

Fun vacation 53 28

Data CollectionThe first method used was archival records. They often take the form of computer files andrecords and example evidence include public use files, service records, maps and chartsand survey datathe importance of archival records and statistics is that the researcher can form a newstatistics based on the combination of different data derived from the study. Consequently,archival records are seen as an effective way to search for generalization to differentresearch questions and cases.

As a second source of evidence for the study, semi-structured interviews were used.

According to Koskinen et al. (2005, p.104), semi-structured interviews are the most usedqualitative data collection method in business studies. They are also known as thematicinterviews because the interview is based on the theme about some specific subject.Furthermore, in semi-structured interviews the researcher has prepared a set of questions,thus seeing that during the conversation they might be changed in order to clarify someissues or exclude some before thought ones. As a result, the interviewer can ask specificquestions that the interviewee answers with his/her words that do not necessarily benefitthe researcher in any way. Koskinen et al. (2005) Finally, the strength of semi-structuredinterviews is that they are free-formed, thus still controllable, and they are close toconversations

As the third source of evidence, focus groups were used. According to Morgan (1997, p.3),focus groups are an effective way to support other data sources although the researchwould be quantitative in natureFocus groups can be seen as a mixture of interviews and participant observation, sinceaccording to Morgan (1997, p.7), they are conducted as discussions with a larger amount ofpeople rather than only one which is essential in interview

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