Cash or Card: Consumer Perceptions of Payment Modes - Scholarly ...

Females aged 25 to 45, who live in households that consist of two adults and at least one
child under the age of five and from demographically similar areas form the target
population.
Participants for phases one and two were sourced from a community organisation - The
Plunket organisation member database. Plunket is New Zealand’s largest provider of support
services for families with children under the age of five. 1 To engage support, rather than
provide individual incentives (other than the travel costs involved in the focus group
sessions) a donation was made to the Organisation. Invitations were placed in the Plunket
Newsletter and posters and brochures were placed in selected play-group, health and meeting
centres.
4.4: Phase One: Data Collection and Analysis Procedures
Phase One addresses the first question: Do the cognitive and emotional elements that people
associate with a cash based payment mode differ from those associated with a debit card
based payment mode?
The type of data required to answer this question should reflect the participant’s view of the
subject. Epistemologically, the phenomenological approach directs the collection of personal
and subjective knowledge so many disciplines are comfortable with the ideas that underpin
phenomenological research. That phenomenological approaches are also accepted by the
neuro sciences is useful for this study since the study seeks to understand how the experience
of the physicality of the payment modes shapes perceptions. According to Gallagher (2009)
the neuro sciences recognise that physical brain activity by itself does not provide full
explanation of the experience. So while the physicality of the tokens may produce a physical
response in mind (and body), the important task is to understand how a person makes sense of
1 Plunket is a national not-for-profit organisation, community-owned and governed. The organisation provides
universal access to services for all children and families regardless of ethnicity, location or ability to pay. The
Organisation provides access to baby health centres, play groups and parent education courses.
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