CHALLENGES FACING CAR RENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN

KENYA

BY

NAOMI WANJIKU KIRATU

A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENT FOR CERTIFICATE IN INFORMATION
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

EAST AFRICA INSTITUTE OF CERTIFIED STUDIES

2021

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Contents
LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................................................................4
DECLARATION........................................................................................................................................................4
Declaration by the Candidate..................................................................................................................................4
Authority from the supervisors................................................................................................................................5
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................................6
1.0Overview............................................................................................................................................................6
1.1 Background to the Study...................................................................................................................................6
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.................................................................................................................6
1.3PURPOSE OF THE STUDY.............................................................................................................................7
1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES..............................................................................................................................7
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS...............................................................................................................................7
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY OF HERTZ COMPANY.........................................................................................8
1.7 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY......................................................................................................................8
1.8 THE LIMITATION AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY.......................................................................9
CHAPTER TWO......................................................................................................................................................10
LITERATURE REVIEW..........................................................................................................................................10
2.0 OVERVIEW...................................................................................................................................................10
2.1 THEORETICAL LITERATURE....................................................................................................................12
2.2 EMPRICAL LITERATURE...........................................................................................................................12
2.2.1 Policies of renting cars in an organization................................................................................................12
2.2.2 Car renting Culture and the rate of car renting........................................................................................13
2.2.3 Advertisement of car renting and its Influences on the rate at which client rents a car..........................13
2.3 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE.....................................................................................................................13
2.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK....................................................................................................................14
CHAPTER THREE...................................................................................................................................................16
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................................................16
3.0 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................16
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN....................................................................................................................................16
3.2 TARGET POPULATION...............................................................................................................................16
3.3 SAMPLING DESIGN.....................................................................................................................................17
3.4 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION............................................................................................................19
3.5 PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION.........................................................................................................22

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 3.5 Data Analysis Techniques...............................................................................................................................23
CHAPTER FOUR.....................................................................................................................................................24
DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION...........................................................................................................24
4.0 OVERVIEW...................................................................................................................................................24
4.1 Descriptive Statistics.......................................................................................................................................24
4.2 INFERENTIAL STATISTICS........................................................................................................................25
4.3 Hypothesis Testing (Using Inferential Statistics)............................................................................................26
4.4 Presentation of findings...................................................................................................................................27
CHAPTER FIVE...........................................................................................................................................................33
FINDINGS, CONCLUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................33
5.0 OVERVIEW...................................................................................................................................................33
5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS...........................................................................................................................33
5.2 CONCLUSIONS.............................................................................................................................................33
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................................................................33
5.4 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH..........................................................................................................34
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................................................35
APPENDIX I: PROJECT SCHEDULE....................................................................................................................36
APPENDIX II: BUDGET................................................................................................................................................37
APPENDIX III : QUESTIONNAIRE................................................................................................................................38

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK..............................................................................................................14
Figure 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK..............................................................................................................15
Figure 3: Gender frequency.......................................................................................................................................27
Figure 4: Gender pie chart.........................................................................................................................................27
Figure 5: Age frequency............................................................................................................................................28
Figure 6: Age pie chart diagram................................................................................................................................28
Figure 7: Education level frequency..........................................................................................................................29
Figure 8: Education level pie chart diagram..............................................................................................................29
Figure 9: Employment status frequency....................................................................................................................30
Figure 10: Employment status pie chart diagram......................................................................................................30
Figure 11: Regularity of using car rental services frequency....................................................................................31
Figure 12: Regularity of using car rental services pie chart diagram.........................................................................31
Figure 13: Gender distribution..................................................................................................................................32

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Demographic characteristics distribution of respondents............................................................................25
Table 2: INFERENTIAL STATISTICS....................................................................................................................25
Table 3: Gender Distribution.....................................................................................................................................26
Table 4: PROJECT SCHEDULE..............................................................................................................................36
Table 5: BUDGET....................................................................................................................................................37

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DECLARATION

Declaration by the Candidate

I declare that this research report is original and has not been published and I or presented to any
university for any academic award.

NAOMI WANJIKU KIRATU

SIGNATURE: naomi DATE: 9th April 2021

Authority from the supervisors

This proposal has been submitted with the approval of the college supervisor.

MR. LUCAS

SIGNATURE: DATE:

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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0Overview
Car rental is an integral part of many people's travel plans and is used all around the world to travel from
place to place. Whether travelling on business, journeying with your family or simply on holiday wanting
to explore, car rental services are extremely helpful.

1.1 Background to the Study

CAR RENTAL SYSTEM (CRS) is a web based system for a company that rents out cars. This system
enables the company to make their services available to the public through the internet and also keep
records about their services.

The world has become a place where there is a lot of technological development; where every single thing
done physically has been transformed into computerized form. Nowadays, people’s activities have been
transformed into work done by computerized systems. One of which is the main target of this project
which is about Car Rental System. The system of renting cars exist back in the previous years, were
people rent cars for their personal reasons. Car renting is essential to many peoples’ plan to travel or move
from one place to another for business purposes, tour, and visit or holidays, for these reasons Car renting
is very helpful.

The starting point of Car renting is really unknown as said by Thomas Pretty; he also mentioned that
many beliefs that Joe Saunders was the first man to start a Car renting company. According to Thomas
Pretty, charges were calculated with the help of mileage tracking device. Many people became interested
in the Car rental business and hence got involved. Car renting became more popular as years pass by.
Today Car renting services is found all over the world, especially in the developed and developing
countries. To make this service more popular and accessible to the public it has been transform into a web
base system and connected to the internet were everyone can be able to have access to it.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problem with some of the current system is that based on observations, some small companies
already have a car rental system which is not a web based application. This is a limitation that gives them
capability to store customer’s details, but at the same time they cannot make their services more available
to the public through the internet, they rather make use of posters to advertise their services to the public.

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These types of companies can overcome these problems by switching to the web base application of their
type of system. They also make use of phone call reservations which is also limited to many features as
compare to a web base system. For example, a customer may make a phone call reservation for a
particular car, but when they come to pick the car, they might turn not to like the car; this could be
because the customer could not see a sample picture of the car they want to rent.

1.3PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study is that, the car rental system to keep detail records of both the cars and the
customers, the duration they rent car as well as the type of car they rent. The system will be mainly
designed for small company that renders it car rental services to customers. The system will have the
ability to generate and print invoice for each successful transaction. The system will have two levels of
access:

i. The administrator
ii. Customer

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

a. To establish an online car rental management information system in the country.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

a) To study the operations of Car rental in the country to establish how car rental information is
managed.
b) To change from physical manual paper manipulation to a centralized computerized system.
c) To design the system that has a solution of using computers.
d) To test the new system.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i. What is the current car rental management system in the country?
ii. What are the challenges facing the car rental management system?
iii. How efficient is the current car rental system?
iv. What are the possible solutions to these challenges?
v. Will the proposed system benefit the general public?

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1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY OF HERTZ COMPANY
The system is highly and is well efficiency to make easy interaction with the customers. The key forces
are given to data security as the project is online and will be in network, the speed and occurrence has to
be maintained in proper way. This will be user friendly one and can successfully overcome strict and
serve validation checks. The system will be flexible one and changes whenever can be made easy. The
proposed system maintains all the car renting information online. Car rental booking system identifies
various services of car rental and accordingly provides information. The main service done by the system
is car renting and allocating a specific car to the customer according his or her specification. It provides
information to one and all who visit’s the online booking system online, through this project the task that
will appear are such as;

a) Features of the car rental system

b) Available service information
c) Details of services provided by the system
d) Entering the details contact information and other information
e) Checking password and entering passwords
f) Checking usernames available or not during registration process for regular customers.
g) Entering primary information and secondary information and contacts.
h) A client user interface in case of booking.

1.7 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

Based on the research questions the hypothesis is the following:

i. The current car rental management system in the country uses manual system to do their
operations.
ii. The manual car rental faces a lot of challenges since it operates manually. The problem includes it
only provides services during office hours so customers have limited time to make any
transactions or reservation of the cars.
iii. The manual system is not as efficient as the proposed system since it has more challenges than
solutions.
iv. The solution to the manual system is to implement the proposed system and the car rental services
in Kenya will realize great benefits.

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 v. Definitely without a doubt given a chance the manual system will have a huge benefit to the
general public.

1.8 THE LIMITATION AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Time for collecting data from respondents will be a constraint on the sample size of the respondent’s
limits finding the research and how to come up with the system that covers at most challenges facing the
respondents.

The designer is currently working on the project while undertaking classes and it won’t be easy for them.

Collection of data for use in the study shall prove to be a limitation. This needed data will be obtained
from the clients hence some try to modify their behavior. This is otherwise known as the hawthorn effect.
To overcome this, the researcher will make it known that the purpose of the study was purely academic
hence this might help reduce the hawthorn effect of the study

The management might not get enough chance to fill the questionnaire at their work place because they
are very busy attending to clients most of the time. This proved to be difficulty in issuing the
questionnaires and obtaining information

DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Access of information will be made possible with the human resource department concerning
performance and how employees behave in the organization.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 OVERVIEW
This chapter reviewed literature on information systems, which was published in textbooks, journals, the
internet and others, and is relevant to the problem under study. And it also involved a review of previous
studies in relation to the research topic of analyzing, developing and implementing an Online Car Rental
Management System.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Information systems are a collection of people, procedures and equipment designed, built, operated and
maintained to collect, store, retrieve and display information. Information systems are generally meant to
satisfy organizational information requirements. They are responsible for planning information services
and designing systems that can meet user requirements. Information is an assemblage of data in a
comprehensible form that is recorded on paper or some other medium, which is capable of being
communicated to others (Harold K., 1984). Also observed that information is not a commodity which one
can afford to collect and possess (Abidi, 1991). It has to be used for increased benefit for solution of
problems for approp1iate development and decision-making, the observation by Abidi justifies
information as indeed a basic resource that is essential for any organization to perform its activities and
hence achieve its goals. Information sources represent facts of knowledge necessary for day-to-day
rum1ing of any organization. According to Groller et a! (197 6), data flows from both within and outside
an organization. This data is encoded, processed, transmitted and stored in suitable memories and then
later retrieved to support decision-making. Therefore, the total apparatus for handling information within
the organization in all respects (Chapman and Oliver, 1999).

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Management Information Systems are systems that process data from both internal and external sources
into information in order to support management decision making. According toMcGraw (1989),
Management infom1ation systems produce information products that support many of day-to-day decision
making needs of managers and business professional. The system provides information on the fin’s
performance in order to help managers in monitoring and controlling the business. Management
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information systems contain other system embedded within them. Lucey (1997) outlines as follows
Database systems which processes and stores

Information that later becomes the organization's memory. Direct control systems which monitor and
report on the activities such as output levels of player scores. Enquiry systems based on database which
provide specific information such as performance of categories or individuals. Support system provides
computer based procedures for providing forecast. Management information system is a system by which
people apply manual and computerized information system to process data and information needed to
solve problems in an organization (Hambrick K, 2007). A management information system is a system or
process that provides information needed to manage organizations effectively. Management information
system can also be referred to as a planned system of collecting, processing, storing and disseminating
data in the form of the information needed to can-y out functions of management. In a way it's a
documented report of the activities were planned and executed (Hamel et a! 1994). It must provide for
reports based upon performance analysis in areas critical to the plan with feedback loops that allows for
titivation of every aspect of the business. Management information systems achmlly describe specific
systems that "provide managers with reports and, in some cases online access to the organization's current
performance and historical records".

IDENTIFICATION OF GAPS

There exists a number of gaps in the existing traditional booking systems and which calls in for a new and
much convenient system that will be able to solve the issue of time management and cost-inefficient
system.

Living in an economy striving to operate in a 24/7 clock system and an ever-increasing tight schedule
from the staff members of different organizations, there is minimal time for them to find such important
service in time. This is simply because most of the traditional booking system is still operating in a 12-
hour system that is not suitable to the ever-changing generation that demands new platforms every now
and then.

Time is a major drawback issue when it comes to the traditional systems, most of them don’t have a well
layout schedule on how they will attend to their clients. This leads to overcrowding and dissatisfying
attendance from the assistance as they are in rush to do their booking at the car rental organization.

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The traditional setups do not give the customer the will to choose the kind of assistance that they would
desire to be attended by as they know very little about the persons. This renders the customer vulnerable
of getting poor services especially when it’s their first time to visit car rental organization.

The flexible schedule options that are available in the car rental system and car booking system that
enable you to set up various booking durations and individual working schedule for the employees is not
available in the traditional booking systems that results to clash between the attendance time. This results
to time wasting of the either clients.

The traditional system works on the basis of first come first serve, thus making the whole system useless
as a booking system. Where if another client comes before you, they will be attended on and you will
have to wait for them to be finished on first before you are can get your services.

The payment plans used in the traditional systems are very poor, in that they involve cash transaction that
can lead to the member staff defrauding the business, which may later lead to the business and the whole
idea collapsing. On the other hand, Car rental booking system allows different payment plans that do not
necessarily involve cash which would give the service provider time to thinks on ways on how he/she is
going to improve his business.

2.1 THEORETICAL LITERATURE

The theoretical framework of this study demonstrates the car rental design steps which compose the
customer needs/value and the existing competition. First, the customer need/value was assessed by
conducting interviews with customers. The interview aimed in assessing the acceptability degree of the
proposed car rental systems and preferences of the customers to the new system. Second, the existing
competition in the field of car rental system was investigated to analyze the system in reality.

Clients/ customers should be able to choose the vehicle, method of payment and proceed or stop the
transaction. Therefore, the general logic of service de-sign leading to a new service delivery and use is
illustrated in the conceptual design.

2.2 EMPRICAL LITERATURE

The empirical literature review is divided as per the three independent variables.

2.2.1 Policies of renting cars in an organization

An organizational policies impact the rate at which clients rent directly. Organization policy is a course or
method of action selected by an organization. Organization policies is a course or method usually selected

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by an organization while the rate of renting refers to the number of times a client has rented a car from the
company.

2.2.2 Car renting Culture and the rate of car renting

Car renting culture provides a framework with respect to the rate of renting of cars in the country.
Depending on the type of culture that is created during car renting it can have a positive or negative effect
on the client hence the rate may differ depending on how the customer has been affected. Companies
where a client is considered as an integral part in the growth of the company, the client foster commitment
towards the company.

A company where there is no communication between the staff and the client, it ends up affecting the
company which largely determines the rate at which the client will need the services from the company.
Therefore, it is in the interest of car renting companies to eliminate negative factors that slow down the
rate of renting cars in order to increase the rate of renting cars in their company because they largely
depend on their clients.

2.2.3 Advertisement of car renting and its Influences on the rate at which client rents a car
Advertisement is an important feature of making a company to be known by their clients in the country
which help to maximize rate of booking and to achieve company’s goals. An ideal advertisement should
be that which capture the client’s attention. The company should advertise their services and state how
one can rent without any problem to improve renting of cars in their organization.

2.3 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE

The high number of car renting can translate to commitment by the clients; increased communication and
better advertisement further enhance the rate at which a client rents a car in a company. It further
improves the services offered by the company thus meeting the objectives created by the company to
serve their clients. Companies need to strive and come up with a good renting system which will improve
the rate of renting.

Through advertisement of an organization a company is known to the clients wherever they are hence
making a company to be successful in meeting their goals and objectives.

The research has not shown how a negative attitude can be changed, it is important to note that negative
attitude towards car renting culture can be spread among the clients over time hence there is need to
ensure this does not happen yet most of the studies have not shown this.

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2.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
To discuss the issues related to a new service design related to car rental online services, this study
selected several key directions for best practice search related to car rentals. The figure below shows the
building blocks used in the search for best practice.
CUSTOMER PERCEIVED VALUE

SERVICE
DESIGN

CAR RENTAL
SYSTEM

Figure 1: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

As seen in Figure above, the best practice for designing car rental online service were indicated as related
to creating value for customers, new service design and specifically car rental services. The first building
block is customer perceived value in relation to the design of the proposed new car rental platform.
Second, the service design aspects are assessed.

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Figure 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

DEVELOP
CAR RENTAL PRODUCE
DESIGN
Developing car rental
system according to Production of the car
Customer
requirements rental system
needs/value
Existing
competition

USE AND EVALUATE DELIVER

Customer using the services of Delivery of the car rental

car rental system. in the form of a website.
Assessment of speed of delivery,
ease of use, reliability,
enjoyment and control.

The flexible schedule options that are available in the car rental system and car booking system that
enable you to set up various booking durations and individual working schedule for the employees is not
available in the traditional booking systems that results to clash between the attendance time. This results
to time wasting of the either clients.

The traditional system works on the basis of first come first serve, thus making the whole system useless
as a booking system. Where if another client comes before you, they will be attended on and you will
have to wait for them to be finished on first before you are can get your services.

The payment plans used in the traditional systems are very poor, in that they involve cash transaction that
can lead to the member staff defrauding the business, which may later lead to the business and the whole
idea collapsing. On the other hand, Car rental booking system allows different payment plans that do not
necessarily involve cash which would give the service provider time to thinks on ways on how he/she is
going to improve his business.

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 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on the techniques and tools which the researcher will use to carry out the study. It
shall contain the research methods and research instructions of Online Car Rental Management System.
The chapter will also provide information about the investigation of existing systems and it will also
include the system requirements specifications, techniques, systems constraints and the system design
tools.

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The researcher shall use logical design when coming up with the actual design of the database application
and practically implemented database application design to execute and test how database application
developed which might lead to efficient management of client's registration for booking and computation
by the administrator.

3.2 TARGET POPULATION

The target population refers to a specific group of people in which the research project is aiming at. The
group might have some characteristics and objectives that renders the researcher interested in them. They
will be a totality of the cases that conform to some specification, which define the elements that are
included or excluded in the target group.

One way to gain insights about your target audience is through market research, which can help in
understanding the audience’s motivations, interests, needs, culture, lifestyles, and behaviors and
determine the best channel(s) for reaching the audience. Market research can also help explore ideas for
activities and concepts for messages and identify and develop stronger ideas and eliminate the weaker
ones.

Probability samples which are sometimes known as random samples are the most accurate of the sample
selection methods. Any survey aimed at generalizing results drawn from a sample to the whole population
of interest must be based on probability sampling. When using a probability sample, each element in the
population has a known and non-zero chance of being selected into the sample. Usually, each member of
the population has the same chance of being included in the probability sample. With a probability

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sample, the first step is usually to try to find a sampling frame. Using this frame, individuals or
households are numbered, and some numbers are chosen at random to determine who is surveyed

3.3 SAMPLING DESIGN

Sampling is very important in any research work and projects, for its one of the most important factors
that determines if the research produces accurate results it is the sample. Sampling is
an important component of any piece of research because of the significant impact that it can have on the
quality of your results/findings.

A sample is “a smaller (but hopefully representative) collection of units from a population used to
determine truths about that population. It is also known as a subset of the population one is studying that
is selected for the actual research study

Sampling is done in research to be able to produce accurate results. It is impractical and undesirable to
study the whole population and that's why sampling will be done. If the sample is too small or excessively
large, it may lead to incorrect findings. Sampling techniques may be used to find representative
samples to avoid bias

In our sampling we will consider the entire population ranging from the unemployed to the employed.

Sampling is simply selecting a number of items from a larger group of items. There are a number of
factors that affects the sampling method that we are going to deploy in our research for the conquest for
this project to be accepted by the recipient.

Heterogeneous population is our main interest case of study in which the individual members of a
population are different from each other, i.e. (having significant variation among individuals).

The main objectives of carrying out a sampling include;

a) To gain information about an entire population by investigating only a part of the population. This
will help us get to know more about the interest and add more ideas to our case study and the
proposed project in general.
b) Reliability – if the investigation is repeated on a different sample it will produce similar results,
which means it is important that the sample is representative of the population.

It is often impractical and sometimes undesirable to try and study the entire population. Sampling helps us

reduce the coverage of the same area while trying to get same unbiased statistics concerning the entire

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population of the whole area of study. Sampling helps classifying the population in different categories so
that we can fasten the study case.

In practice, the sample size that is selected for a study can have a significant impact on the quality of the
results/findings, with sample sizes that are either too small or excessively large both potentially leading to
incorrect findings. As a result, a sample size calculation is sometimes performed to determine how large
the sample size needs to avoid such problems. This will help us get a better understanding on how the
population will get to know the interest of the population.

Sampling enables us reduce the effect of biasness in our research work as sampling bias occurs when the
units that are selected from the population for inclusion in your sample are not characteristic of (i.e., do
not reflect) the population. This can lead to the sample being unrepresentative of the population you are
interested in your sampling frame. This might also occur when the researcher takes different genders for
the interviews and interrogation.

Sampling helps us get the right unit for the study purposes; we typically study a sample of that population
rather than attempt to study the whole population. The purpose of sampling techniques is to help select
units (e.g., Facebook users) to be included in the sample (e.g., of 500 Facebook users).

There are a number of sampling techniques that can be deployed in research work, this includes the;

RANDOM SAMPLING

In this technique, each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected as subject. The
entire process of sampling is done in a single step with each subject selected independently of the other
members of the population.

There are many methods to proceed with simple random sampling. The most primitive and mechanical
would be the lottery method. Each member of the population will be assigned a unique number. Each
number is placed in a bowl or a hat and mixed thoroughly. The blind-folded researcher will then pick
numbered tags from the hat. All the individuals bearing the numbers will have been picked by the
researcher are the subjects for the study. Another way would be to let a computer do a random selection
from the population. For populations with a small number of members, it is advisable to use the first
method but if the population has many members, a computer-aided random selection is preferred.

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a. Random sampling has got the following advantages
i. One of the best things about simple random sampling is the ease of assembling the sample. It is
also considered as a fair way of selecting a sample from a given population since every member is
given equal opportunities of being selected.
ii. Another key feature of simple random sampling is its representativeness of the population.
Theoretically, the only thing that can compromise its representativeness is luck. If the sample is
not representative of the population, the random variation is called sampling error.
iii. An unbiased random selection and a representative sample is important in drawing conclusions
from the results of a study. Remember that one of the goals of research is to be able to make
conclusions pertaining to the population from the results obtained from a sample. Due to the
representativeness of a sample obtained by simple random sampling, it is reasonable to make
generalizations from the results of the sample back to the population.
b. It also has got a number of disadvantages in that;

One of the most obvious limitations of simple random sampling method is the need of a complete list of
all the members of the population. Please keep in mind that the list of the population must be complete
and up-to-date. This list is usually not available for large populations. In cases as such, it is wiser to use
other sampling techniques.

3.4 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

3.4.1 Source of data

Data will be gathered from both primary and secondary sources. That is primary data which will be
gathered from the residents of Mombasa and the secondary data from sources like the internet, text books,
magazines and journals.

The Primary Data

The source of primary data will basically be from the clients around Mombasa.

Primary Data collection methods

QUESTIONNAIRES

Questionnaires often make use of checklist and rating scales.  These devices help simplify and quantify
people's behaviors and attitudes.  A checklist is a list of behaviors, characteristics, or other entities the
researcher is looking for.  Either the researcher or survey participant simply checks whether each item on
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the list is observed, present or true or vice versa.  A rating scale is 6 more useful when a behavior needs to
be evaluated on a continuum.  They are also known as Likert scales. (Leedey and Ormond, 2001)

Advantages:

a) Can be sent to a large number of people.

b) Saves the researcher time and money compared to interviewing.  
c) People are more truthful while responding to the questionnaires regarding controversial issues in
particular due to the fact that their responses are anonymous.  
d) Allow the respondent to answer at their leisure

Disadvantages:

i. In most cases, the majority of people who receive questionnaires don't return them.   Therefore:
a) Over‐sampling may be necessary if doing a one‐time mail out in order to get enough
completed questionnaires to be generalizable to the population.
b) Follow‐up reminders to participants encouraging them to complete the questionnaire may be
necessary, thereby increasing the time and cost to conduct the study.
c) May need to offer incentives to increase response rate.
ii. Time – mail surveys take longer than other types of surveys.

The secondary Data

Secondary data shall be obtained through reviewing literature of the already published information from
the internet, journals, newspapers and other relevant documents.

Secondary data collection methods

Secondary data means data that are already available i.e., they refer to the data which have already been
collected and analyzed by someone else. When the researcher utilizes secondary data, then they have to
look into various sources from where they can obtain them. In this case they are certainly not confronted
with the problems that are usually associated with the collection of original data. Secondary data may
either be published data or unpublished data. Usually published data are available in:

a) Various publications of the central, state are local governments.

b) Various publications of foreign governments or of international bodies and their subsidiary
organizations.

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 c) Technical and trade journals, books, magazines and newspapers.
d) Reports and publications of various associations connected with business and industry, banks,
stock exchanges, etc.
e) Reports prepared by research scholars, universities, economists, etc. In different fields.
f) Public records and statistics, historical documents, and other sources of published information.
The sources of unpublished data are many; they may be found in diaries, letters, unpublished
biographies and autobiographies and also may be available with scholars and research workers,
trade associations, labor bureaus and other public/ private individuals and organizations.

Secondary data collection in Research Methodology

Researcher must be very careful in using secondary data. They must make a minute scrutiny because it is
just possible that the secondary data may be unsuitable or may be inadequate in the context of the problem
which the researcher wants to study. In this connection Dr. A.L. Bowled very aptly observes that it is
never safe to take published statistics at their face value without knowing their meaning and limitations
and it is always necessary to criticize arguments that can be based on them.
By way of caution, the researcher, before using secondary data, must see that they possess following
characteristics:

Reliability of data: The reliability can be tested by finding out such things about the said data:

a) Who collected the data?

b) What were the sources of data?
c) Were they collected by using proper methods?
d) At what time were they collected?
e) Was there any bias of the compiler?
f) What level of accuracy was desired?
g) Was it achieved?

Suitability of data: The data that are suitable for one enquiry may not necessarily be found suitable in
another enquiry. Hence, if the available data are found to be unsuitable, it should not be used by the
researcher. In this context, the researcher must very carefully scrutinize the definition of various terms and
units of collection used at the time of collecting the data from the primary source originally. Similarly, the
object, scope and nature of the original enquiry must also be studied. If the researcher finds differences in
these, the data will remain unsuitable for the present enquiry and should not be used.

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Adequacy of data: If the level of accuracy achieved in data is found inadequate for the purpose of the
present enquiry, they will be considered as inadequate and should not be used by the researcher. The data
will also be considered inadequate, if they are related to an area which may be either narrower or wider
than the area of the present enquiry. From all this we can say that it is very risky to use the already
available data. The already available data should be used by the researcher only when it’s found reliable,
suitable and adequate. But the researcher should not blindly discard the use of such data if they are readily
available from authentic sources and are also suitable and adequate for in that case it will not be
economical to spend time and energy in field surveys for collecting information. At times, there may be
wealth of usable information in the already available data which must be used by an intelligent researcher
but with due precaution.

3.5 PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION

Observations

This method shall help the researcher to witness with their eyes activities carried out at Mombasa. During
the course it shall take time to observe about this. For example, data collection, recording and hence make
judgment on the user requirement in identifying the systems constraints and the method was the best in
identifying those requirements which could not be easily expressed by the residents of Mombasa.

Document Review

The project developer shall gather information from the libraries, internet, journals, text books and review
other relevant published literature on the development of an effective score processing system.

Interviews

The project researcher will also carry out interviews directly with the residents of Mombasa by face to
face communication. The merits and demerits of the Manual File System usage by the staff were
discussed.

Quantitative data collection method:

Quantitative data collection methods rely on random sampling and structured data collection instruments
that fit diverse experiences into predetermined response categories.  They produce results that are easy to
summarize, compare, and generalize. Quantitative research is concerned with testing the hypothesis
derived from theory and/or being able to estimate the size of a phenomenon of interest.  Depending on the

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research question, participants may be randomly assigned to different treatments.  If this is not feasible,
the researcher may collect data on participant and situational characteristics in order to statistically control
for their influence on the dependent, or outcome, variable.  If the intent is to generalize from the research
participants to a larger population, the researcher will employ probability sampling to select participants.  

3.5 Data Analysis Techniques

Data analysis is the process of systematically applying statistical or logical techniques to describe and
elastrator condense and recap and evaluate data. An essential component of ensuring data integrity is
accurate and appropriate analysis of research findings.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION

4.0 OVERVIEW
This chapter provides information on assessment of car rental client’s behavior on renting
car for their personal use in Mombasa. Data has been analyzed using descriptive and
inferential statistics.

4.1 Descriptive Statistics

The researcher issued out Questionnaires to the randomly chosen Mombasa residents to
establish the system acceptance. The questionnaire also sought to find out citizens
knowledge and capabilities of handling internet applications so as to provide training if
needed. Random selection of participants was done based on their age. Out of hundred
percent (100%) of the residents, ninety percent (90%) of them below the age of 35 had
been exposed to the internet and internet applications. Only thirty nine percent (39%) of
respondents above the age of 35 had been exposed to the internet and internet
applications. Seventy five percent (75%) of participants accepted the web-based system.

RESULTS OF THE SURVEY

Demographic characteristics distribution of respondents

Characteristics Number Percentage (%)

Gender Female 12 40
Male 18 60
Total 30 100

Age 20 or less 1 3.3

Between 20 and 25 yeas 6 20
Between 25 and 40 years 21 70
Over 40 years 2 7
Total 30 100
Education KCPE 2 7
KCSE 22 73
Bachelor’s Degree 4 13
Master’s Degree and 2 7
Higher 30 100

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 Total

Employment Employed 25 83.3

status Unemployed 5 16.7
Total 30 100
How often do you Regularly 18 60
car rental services Irregularly 12 40
Total 30 100
Table 1: Demographic characteristics distribution of respondents

4.2 INFERENTIAL STATISTICS

Questionnaires were initially utilized for the study was again used and issued to specific
age group out of which 30 were issued and filled and returned representing 100%
response rates which was considered accurate for generalization of the study. The
information provided is presented in table.

Age group Number Percentage

25 – 40 years 21 70%
20 - 24 9 30%
TOTAL 30 100%
Table 2: INFERENTIAL STATISTICS

From the data collected from the respondents from the questionnaires, it showed the age
distribution between 25- 40 years were willing to respond so that service can be improved.
From the findings it showed that most of the respondents were employed, it shows that the
car rental system intends to assist in mobility of the employed.

Age group 20 – 24 rarely use the service because their employment rate is quite slow and
most of them they rather save for most of their expenses. They only use the service if
emergencies arise.

4.2.1 Gender Distribution

The gender distribution from the study indicates that they were 35 men and 20 women out
of the 30 respondents.

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 FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
Male 20 66.67%
Female 10 33.33%
TOTAL 30 100

Table 3: Gender Distribution

4.3 Hypothesis Testing (Using Inferential Statistics)

4.3.1 GENERAL OBJECTIVE

The general objective was the first our objectives of which it was to establish an online car
rental management information system that will serve not only serve the country but also
the county of Mombasa being where the study was done. As per the inferential statistics it
is evident that the online car rental system will have a great impact in serving the people of
Mombasa and also the country. Inferential statistics showed that those who are employed
and have a stable income tend to use this service because it is more reliable than using
matatu going to work.

4.3.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

Being a paperless system the processing is done within the system. The system has come
to save a lot of labor both from the clients and the owner of the business in car rental. For
instance, a client could manually go to the organization that offer the service and rent’s a
car that is really hectic and tiresome to the client and also expensive. So the introduction of
the system has come to rescue all this because the client will have to stay in one physical
position and rent a car and it will be brought to him or her saving the him or her the stress
that comes with walking to the organization. And even the owner has to forget the paper
work and processing of large data that comes along with the manual system

When it comes to testing of the testing, the system will be effective and satisfy user needs.
The inferential statistics shows the readiness of the residents to use the system because the
services can be accessed in any place irrespective of where you are. From their reaction it
is evident that the system will be of great help to them. We can also say that the system
has brought a solution to their long term problems which the residents/ the users have
longing for.

4.4 Presentation of findings

Gender frequency and pie chart diagrams
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 20
18
16
14
12
10
8 Series1
6
4
2
0
Male Female

Figure 3: Gender frequency

Male
Female

Figure 4: Gender pie chart

As indicated in the figure above during the highest no of respondents who were willing to
participate were male unlike the female who always use the car renting services to run
errands when they only they need to. This survey was done by a total of thirty people who
participated willingly.

Age frequency and pie chart diagrams

80
70
60
50
40 Series1
30 Series2
20
10
0
20 or less Between 20 and 25 Between 25 and 40 Over 40 years
years years

Figure 5: Age frequency

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 Respondents ages
Over 40 years 20 or less
7% 3%
Between 20 and 25 years
20%

Between 25 and 40 years

70%

Figure 6: Age pie chart diagram

Majority of the participants were age between twenty-five and forty who contributed
seventy percent (70%) of the survey followed by aged between 20 and 25 who contributed
the survey by twenty percent (20%) then over forty years by seven percent (7%),
participant aged 20 or less were few only represented by three percent (3%).

Education level frequency and pie chart diagrams

25

20

15

10 Series1

0
KCPE KCSE Bachelor’s Master’s degree Higher
Degree and

Figure 7: Education level frequency

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 Higher KCPE
7% 7%
Bachelor’s Degree
13%

KCSE
73%

Figure 8: Education level pie chart diagram

Vast majority of respondents are KCSE holders or less, eighty percent (80%) while the
remaining twenty percent (20%) are Diploma holders or above.

Employment status frequency and pie chart diagram

6

0
Employed Unemployed

Series 1

Figure 9: Employment status frequency

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 Employement status

17%

83%

Employed Unemployed

Figure 10: Employment status pie chart diagram

Eighty three percent (83%) are employed and forty percent (17%) are unemployed. This
occurred because the survey was done in urban area where most people are literate.

Regularity of using car rental services frequency and pie chart diagrams

16
14
12
10
Male
8
Female
6 Series 3
4
2
Figure
0 11:
Regularly Iregularly

Regularity of using car rental services frequency

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 Regularity

28%

72%

male female

Figure 12: Regularity of using car rental services pie chart diagram

Largest portion of respondents, seventy two percent (72%) who car rental services
regularly are male while twenty eight percent (28%) are females who rarely car rental
services on regular bases.

Gender distribution

GENDER DISTRIBUTION

25

20
20

15

10
10

0
Male Female

Series 1

Figure 13: Gender distribution

From the data collected from the respondents from the questionnaires, it showed the more
male responded unlike the

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 CHAPTER FIVE

FINDINGS, CONCLUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0 OVERVIEW
This chapter presents summary of the findings, conclusion and recommendations. The
study sought out to bring the achievements of the car rental system.

5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The system was designed to fulfill the basic aim and specific objectives that were proposed
at the earlier stage of the system development. The system comprises of people,
equipments, space and procedure. The researchers were mindful of the input, processing,
storing and retrieving requirements necessary for an effective system. The main users to
interact with the system are the clients and the company Systems Information managers.

In any software development, security is always a very important aspect for consideration.
The Administration should therefore make use of the authorized persons to take charge of
the part of the administration system that connects to the company systems database,
which is private to users only. It is thus, the company's management obligation to ensure
internal controls and security about the system. Partially part of the system is accessible by
the clients online only, but fully accessible to the company authorized administrators.

5.2 CONCLUSIONS
The Online Car Rental Management System has become an essential technology for most
car rental companies in part, because of the information management challenges faced and
the need to be advertised countrywide online. Professionals are increasing daily who are
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competitors in the same business in the country. Technological progress makes it possible
for Online Car Rental Management System of most companies to provide total cost-
effective access to more complete, accurate Booking Data from Clients and to offer
improved performance and enhancement functionalities that are used to meet the past and
future information management challenges.

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
First of all, it's important that car rental companies that will adopt the new system
continues to use the old manual system which has many clients and the system users have
to be trained to the new system as they may lose important information for the company.
Thus the users should first use the manual system, and then the automated computer
system in parallel until fully knowledgeable that the new system is worth their
expectations.

Similarly as mentioned above, the users need to be trained on how best they can use the
new computerized automated system. Users with the basic computer skills are required in
order for them to appreciate the functionality of the program.

Lastly, the system has a lot more room for further improvement though as it stands. It can
be developed, and more advanced features added as required by the car rental company in
the future.

5.4 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

There is need to undertake research on the car rental services as it is assumed that the
research has covered most of the areas.

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REFERENCES
Bachman B. (2004), Www. Indiana.Edu Records Management (18thMay 2013).
Brett D. (2003), Improving Safety with Information Teleology New England Journal On
Security/348.25.34.001.
Brien S. (2001), Introduction of information Systems gtl' Edition Foundation Publication
Carl French (1996), Computer Science 5tl' Edition, London New York.
Clifton C. and Begg A (2002), Management Information System gth Edition DP Publication
Clifton Neolith, (2000) Information Systems, Foulks and Lynch, London
Connoly Begges, (2004) Components of Data Base Management System 6'11 Edition.
Flower Derris, (2006) Database Librmy Management System www.en.Wikipedia.org retrieved on 2 Feb
2009

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Groller eta! (2003) Computer in Today's World Hanswood and Lion 6030Haillbrick K. (2007), System
Theory Analysis and Design 1" edition 2000 publication Nairobi.
Hanold K. (1994), Relational Database. httn://www.baJllboo.web.com accessed 19th May 2013.
Lucey Terry (1997), Management Information System 8th edition DP Publication.
Me Veign (2002), Introduction to Relation databases. http://www.edm2.com accessed on 17thMay2013.

APPENDIX I: PROJECT SCHEDULE

Activity Start Date Duration in days

Introduction 10TH 5
FEBRUARY

Literature Review 23TH 7

FEBERUARY

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Methodology 1ST MARCH 7

References 21ST MARCH 2

Timeline 28TH MARCH 1

Budget 31ST MARCH 3

Questionnaire 1st APRIL 5

Table 4: PROJECT SCHEDULE

Item category Description Total

cost
APPENDIX II: BUDGET
Travel expenses Money for data Ksh1600
collection

Printing Printing the proposal Ksh280

and the questionnaires
Table 5: BUDGET
Spiral binding Spiral binding for the Ksh200
booklet

Envelopes Envelopes for the Ksh300

questionnaires
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Miscellaneous Other expenditures Ksh2000

TOTAL Ksh4380
APPENDIX III : QUESTIONNAIRE
Questionnaire for hertz car rental company.

a) What problems do they face as a Company while using the Manual File System?
b) Do they have troubles with people from different countries when renting?
c) Any advantage they have about using the System?
d) How best would they like their System to be improved on?
e) How has their business been affected with the pandemic?
f) Anything else they would like to reveal more.

Questionnaire for the clients.

a) The quality of service provided to them during office hours?

b) How has the car rental system benefited them? If not suggest a way on how it can make a benefit.
c) Do they think that the pricing range is at a fair rate? If not suggest a way they can make it more
affordable, how are they overpricing their service?

Questionnaires for non-clients

a) Have they ever tried using car rental services? If not, why?
b) Do they have a much better alternative?
c) Are they willing to try out the car rental MIS? If not, what is the hindering factor?

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