Research Method Population, Sample, and Sampling Technique

49 Chapter III explains the research methodology used in this research. This chapter deals with research method. This chapter will present population, sample, and sampling technique; data collection; variables and operational definition; and analysis techniques.

A. Research Method

The research method employed in this study is quantitative method. It means a research which is the information gathered and analyzed by statistical analysis. This research will be conduct in statistical analysis to know the factors which will be the factors of Accounting Information System success model in Sragen. This research type is a hypothesis testing. Sekaran 2003 states that studies engage in hypothesis testing usually explain the nature of certain relationships, or establish the differences among groups or the independence of two or more factors in a situation. Regarding the depth, this research belongs to statistical study, which has high generalization but does not reveal too deeply Jogiyanto 2005. Sekaran 2003 suggests that: The nature of the study – whether it is exploratory, descriptive, or hypothesis testing, – depends on the stage to which knowledge about the research topic has advanced. The design decisions become more rigorous as we proceed from the exploratory stage, where we attempt to explore new areas of organizational research, to the descriptive stage, where we try to describe certain characteristics of the phenomena on which interest centers, to the hypothesis testing stage, where we examine whether or not the conjectured relationships have been substantiated and an answer to the research question has been obtained.

B. Population, Sample, and Sampling Technique

Population refers to the entire group of people, events, or things of interest that the researcher wishes to investigate Sekaran 2003. The population of this research is the Accounting officer of Local Government in Sragen. A sample is a subset of the population 49 Sekaran 2003. Jogiyanto 2005 suggests that not all of facts can be taken, therefore, only samples from the facts that can be taken to test the hypotheses. Regarding the sample usage, Sekaran 2003 argues that: The reason for using a sample rather than collecting data from the entire population is that it would be practically impossible to collect data from, or test, or examine every element. Even if it were possible, it would be prohibitive in terms of time, cost, and other human resources. The study of a sample rather than the entire population is also sometimes likely to produce more reliable results. This is mostly because fatigue is reduced and fewer errors will be happen. In this research, the researcher will employ purposive sampling means that sample chosen is based on some criteria. There are two kinds of purposive sampling, judgment-sampling and quota-sampling. This research used judgment-sampling, meaning that the samples are taken with criteria of certain judgment Jogiyanto 2005. The respondent of this research are accounting officer of Local Government in Sragen who use SIMDA. The reason for using judgment sampling is claimed by Sekaran 2003: Judgment-sampling involves the choice of subjects who are most advantageously placed or in the best position to provide the information required. Thus, the judgment-sampling design is used when a limited number or category of people have the information that is sought. In such cases, any type of probability sampling across a cross-section of the entire population is purposeless and not useful. Sekaran 2003 argues that although restricted in general ability, judgment-sampling may sometimes be the best sampling design choice, especially when there is a limited population that can supply the information needed. Regarding the sampling design, this research uses purposive sampling with judgment- sampling, meaning that the sample is taken with criteria of certain judgment Jogiyanto 2005. The criteria of sample are: a. accounting officer of Local Government of Sragen 49 b. acounting officer of Local Government of Sragen who use SIMDA. Sekaran 2003 argues that sampling is the process of selecting a sufficient number of elements from the population. The purposive sampling is confined to specific types of people who can provide the desired information, either because they are the only ones who have it, or conform to some criteria set by researcher Sekaran 2003.

C. Data Collection