Formatting, Editing and combining of papers

The method of delivery for the survey was Survey Monkey, an online surveying tool. The first challenge arose with a decision. The group needed to decide if a pre-made survey could be used or not (Cooper, 2011). In the end, although there were brand loyalty surveys available, the group decided to custom-write our own survey. This enabled us to build the questions to specifically probe the research questions being investigated.

The second challenge for the iPhone survey was that the online survey's first, categorizing question "which brand of smart phone do you use?" had a flaw. It allowed people to choose more than one answer. This confused the data and made drawing conclusions on those multi-phone users impossible. This was remedied in the analysis by excluding those people from the survey. Since it was a small percentage (about 4%), it did not affect the results significantly.

To remedy this in the future, all possible answers to the question should be considered before distributing the survey. Luckily, an online survey allows error-proofing to ensure this type of issue is not repeated. In future iterations of this survey, this should be corrected. Another, low-technology solution would be to reword the question as "Which brand of smart phone do you use most?". Also, the other questions in the survey would have to be slightly adjusted to take this into account.

Another challenge with the survey was the conflation of issues between the non-iPhone users and the users of other smart phones. For example, when asking if the user is likely to switch, common sense, given recent news developments surrounding Blackberry's future, indicates that Blackberry users would be contemplating switching more than Samsung users. Yet these two groups are treated as essentially equal. Drawing individual conclusions about these groups is not realistic. Thus, this was resolved by combining the two groups and comparing that large group with the Apple group.

Another challenge for the research in this case is that people's phone have become more than mere products in many ways. The users become familiar and comfortable with a certain brand, and they can become quite attached to them. It is also possible that the general attachment level between iPhone, Samsung and Blackberry users is different. This may skew the results for the survey.

Another issue facing this poll is the research question itself. Attempting to ascertain the intent of iPhone users is a challenge. Questions about intent are always difficult to accurately penetrate. Measuring intent before an action actually occurs is a challenge. For example, political polls always face the issue that just because someone says they are going to vote one way does not necessarily mean that they will vote that way on election day.

This applies to the iPhone survey as well. The survey attempts to address this question by asking if they have taken any action into researching other phones or not. Further, probing research is recommended to address this.

Another challenge in this research was that mobile phone plan providers play a major part in people's phone decision. For example, if someone is very near to the end of their contract, they are likely to be investigating competing phone brands more aggressively. To understand this effect, an ongoing, rolling polling process could be put in place at the mobile phone providers to investigate people's intent near the time of their contract renewals. Obviously, though, this would be a complicated and costly undertaking.

Finally, there is a general stickiness to Apple users' tendencies; that is, there is a high proportion of them who are unlikely to switch at all. Part of this is aesthetic, and part of this applications-based. A major part of the Apple users' tendencies, though, is that they have infrastructure engaged in their Apple experience. iTunes is the backbone software of the Apple user system, and switching brands means that this seamless, effective system is eliminated. Just the prospect of this change may mean Apple users are unlikely to change.

This stickiness may have skewed the results. Perhaps there is a baseline unwillingness of a significant portion of Apple users to even consider changing, and all the features, peer-pressure and industry trending have limited effect on those users.

In general, it is recommended that more research be conducted to inform us of the actual intent of Apple users; although, this survey represents a good start.