Market Research on Physical Textbook Versus Electronic Textbook

ROYAL MELBOURNE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (RMIT) UNIVERSITY

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS (MARKETING)

MARKET RESEARCH
(MKTG 1047)

GROUP ASSIGNMENT PART B

PREPARED FOR:

DR ANGELA R. DOBELE

DR SHEH SEOW WAH

COURSE LECTURER

PREPARED BY:

(CLASS A)

MS. AMANDA SEOW SUE-ANN S3254159

MR. CHAN JIN HAN GLENN BRYAN S3253872

MS. ESTHER LEONG QIAN HUI S3254114

MS. PENG SHIHAN S3254090

MS. TAN JIN LENE EARLENE S3253869

SEMESTER 3, 2010

12th SEPTEMBER 2010

Executive Summary

With the uprising of technological advancement and science, it has come to a point where traditional customs could be threatened. In this case, e-books are one of the options that may replace traditional printed textbooks in the near future. With e-books easier to access and to select the contents to suit individual needs and libraries taking advantage of space-saving benefits of new media, the move to replace printed titles with electronic content seems, for some, an inevitable trend.

The objective of this research is to determine the main aspects that will affect the future of using traditional printed textbooks versus electronic textbook from our respondents’ perspective. This study will also determine the main factors as well as to compare the various aspects of using traditional printed textbooks versus electronic textbooks and which of the two is more of a preferred choice amongst students in the local tertiary versus those in private tertiary education.

Our research methodology includes collecting primary and secondary data. Our primary research was done in the form of an online survey done by a representative sample of 120 tertiary students and a focus group discussion of 10 respondents. Our secondary research data analysis included data collection from e-journals, websites, comments from blogs, forums and opinions from reviews.

Several limitations were observed during the initial research of the primary data which may affect our final

References: & Appendices Amazon, 2010, Kindle Wireless Reader, Amazon, Viewed 14 August 2010 Ebookcrossroads, 2010, Introduction to eBook Publishing, Ebookcrossroads, Viewed 15 August 2010 http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/ebook-publishing.html E books directory, 2010, E books directory, Viewed 15 August 2010 http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/ Ebookweek, 2010, Ebook Environment, Ebookweek, Viewed 29 August 2010 http://www.ebookweek.com/ebook_environment1.html Evans, E, 2010, The future of Publishing or only a fad, Ezinearticles, Viewed 22 August 2010 http://ezinearticles.com/?Ebook-Trends---The-Future-of-Publishing-Or-Only-a-Fad?&id=4158391 Fowler G.A and Baca M.C, 2010, The ABCs of E-Reading, The Wall Street Journal, Viewed 26 August 2010 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575448093175758872.html?mod=e2tw HFES, 2010, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, HFES, Viewed 27 August 2010 http://www.hfes.org/web/Default.aspx), Hood, L, 2004, Publishing trends, Ebookcrossroads, , Viewed 14 August 2010 http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/publishing.html Mark R. Nelson and Educause, 2008, Educase Review Magazine Volume 43, E-Books in Higher Education, Educause, Viewed 5 August 2010 http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume43/EBooksinHigherEducationNearing/162677 Nakos G.E and Deis M.H, 2003, Students perception of digital textbooks, Westga, Viewed 30 July 2010 http://www.westga.edu/~bquest/2003/digital.htm Parr, B, 2010, E book real book, Mashable, Viewed 13 August 2010 http://mashable.com/2010/07/24/e-book-real-book-results/ Parr, B, 2010, Reading off ebooks vs print books, Mashable, Viewed 3 August 2010 http://mashable.com/2010/07/19/reading-faceoff-e-books-vs-print-books/ Ronai F and Tinan T, 2009, Digital focus end of the printed textbook, The bookseller, Viewed 24 August 2010 http://www.thebookseller.com/in-depth/feature/92446-digital-focus-end-of-the-printed-textbook.html Self published books, 2007, ebook sales, Self published books, Viewed 19 August 2010 http://www.selfpublishebooks.com/ebook-sales.html TPL, 2009, Distribution, TPL, Viewed 19 August 2010 http://www.tpl.com.sg/distribution.asp Snowhill. L, 2001, E-books and Their Future in Academic Libraries, D-Lib Magazine, Viewed 12 September 2010 http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july01/snowhill/07snowhill.html Strokes, 2007, Book vs documents, Arstechnica, Viewed 18 August 2010 http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2007/11/books-vs-documents-whats-wrong-with-so-called-ebooks.ars Weaver. D, 2008, The future of the printed book, Associated Content, Viewed 15 august 2010 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/728093/the_future_of_the_printed_book.html Wikipedia, 2010, List of universities, Viewed 25 August 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Singapore Wiley, 2010, Annual reports, Wiley, Viewed 19 August 2010 http://www.wiley.com/legacy/annual_reports/ar_2010//shareholders.html Woudstra, WJ, 2006, The Future of Textbooks: Ebooks in the Classroom, Publishing Central, Viewed 30 August 2010