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INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
on Malay wedding is also included. Nine questions were used in Section B in identifying
factors moderate the transformation while eleven item were used in measuring the level
of transformation of the Malay wedding foodways in Section C. Section D was created
with the intention to assess the impact of the transformation to community togetherness.
These three sections are composed in close questions using five point likert scales. In
further discovering opinions or true thoughts of the respondents five open-ended
questions were constructed in section E and this is also used to validate the previous
sections.
Correspond with normal practices, a pre-testing of the research instrument was conducted
prior the actual data gathering. Thirty respondents among Faculty of Hotel and Tourism
Management‘s master students and researchers‘ close friends were selected for checking
proper use of terms, meaning and most importantly to ensure the clarity of the questions.
Comments and recommendations were noted and given consideration in the final draft of
the research instrument. The surveys were then conducted over four weekends in the
month by the researchers. This mean that eight days were spent in data collection process.
It is worth noting that the respondents were approached after they had finished shopping
at the three of the popular shopping complexes in Shah Alam city. A simple screening
question is then asked. If their answer is within the intended age group or generation, a
set of questionnaire is then preceded. Each customer was briefed about the study through
the information sheet which was attached to the questionnaire. This information sheet
provided details about the researchers, the aim of the study and the purpose of the survey
conducted. It also stated that participation was voluntary and respondents were free not to
complete or answer any questions in the questionnaire. In addition, the information
provided by the respondents was strictly confidential and no respondents would be
identified. In light of positive feedback and the absence of any obvious problems with
either the instrument or the process, good responses were obtained although on certain
occasions some are reluctant to participate. A total of 228 questionnaires were collected.
The data were then coded and keyed in Social Statistical Package (SPSS) Version 16.
Subsequently, the reliability test (Cronbach‘s alpha) was undertaken on Section B, C and
D separately and result showed that the instrument and items used were reliable with
coefficient alpha value at 0.839 for section B, 0.885 for section C and 0.784 for section
D.
4. Results and Discussion
4.1 Characteristics of the Sample
Out of 228 respondents, 55.3 percent (n=126) were females against 44.7 percent (n=102)
males. The higher percentage of females‘ respondent is due to their willingness to
participate during data collection process. There is no obvious difference between the age
group of the respondents. 43.0 percent (n=98) were between 25-34 years followed by
28.1 percent (n=64) who were between 45-54 years as opposed to 15.4 percent (n=35) in
the range of 35-44 years and 13.6 percent (n=31) were over 55 years old. 64.5 percent
(n=147) of respondents were married compared to 30.3 percent (n=69) were single and
5.3 percent claimed as others. 46.9 percent (n=107) of respondents were originally from
rural area compared to 36.0 percent (n=82) from urban area and 17.1 percent (n=39) from
sub-urban area. The highest proportion of the respondents were among the government
COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 126
JANUARY 2011
VOL 2, NO 9