In 2006, the National Institute of Telecommunications conducted a qualitative study [1] aimed at understanding the opinions of private users of postal and telecommunications services regarding the quality of these services. The scope of the telecommunications services studied included mobile and fixed-line telephony. The research issues covered topics such as: frequency of service usage, general satisfaction with the way they are provided, usage and satisfaction with individual services, access to services, costs of using services, reasons for using the current telephone operator (the most important feature of postal services), clarity of information materials, level of customer service, and complaints. The research was carried out using the direct individual interview technique with a questionnaire. 127 interviews were conducted on the aforementioned topics in two geographical regions: the Tricity and its surroundings, and Kwidzyn and its surroundings. The study group consisted of people of various ages (6 age brackets were distinguished: the youngest respondents were 15 to 20 years old, the oldest –
over 60 years old), women and men, residents of localities with different statuses (provincial city –
Gdańsk, other cities and villages), as well as people who both use and do not use the Internet.
The presented sample attributes were used to examine correlations and perform other statistical analyses, taking into account specific respondent characteristics [2-4]. The article presents statistics regarding the usage and general satisfaction with the provision of postal and telephone services. Since the same group of respondents answered questions about different services, a brief comparative analysis of the obtained data was also conducted.
Usage of services
Respondents first determined whether and how often they had used the studied services in the last 6 months. They had the following options to choose from: Rarely (1), Rather rarely (2), Quite often (3), Very often (4), Hard to say, I do not use. The numerical values assigned to individual answers, which allowed for determining the average frequency of using individual services, are given in parentheses. “Hard to say” answers were not taken into account for assessing the frequency of service usage.
Postal services
Only 4% of respondents had not used postal services in the last 6 months. The largest group of respondents stated that they used postal services rarely (32%); the fewest respondents declared that they had used them very often in the last 6 months (12%). The average declared frequency of using postal services in the last 6 months, assuming a scale from 1 (Rarely) to 4 (Very often), was 2.17 (“above” the “Rather rarely” option).
Fixed-line telephony
8% of respondents had not used fixed-line telephony services in the last 6 months. The largest group of respondents consisted of those who stated that they used fixed-line telephony quite often (36%). The fewest respondents declared that they had used such services rarely during the indicated period (13%). The average declared frequency of using fixed-line telephony services in the last 6 months, on a scale from 1 (Rarely) to 4 (Very often), was 2.8 (“below” the “Rather often” option).
The article comes from the journal “Logistyka” 2/2007.