Research Methods: Article Critique

Please provide the following: Article Critique The object of your critique is to describe how the study followed or failed to follow the criteria for good research. Speculate on which of the writer's conclusions were warranted and which were not. Please include the following topics in your critique of the selected research article:
o study design
o problem or objective
o literature review
o population sampling for study
o measurement
o data collection methods and analysis
o analysis
o limited and justifiable conclusions

The response addresses the queries posted in 1718 words with references.

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USAA'Hides' New Technology
Behind Face-To-Face Service
By Sara Lepro, SourceMedia
SAN ANTONIO-Like a mother who hides
her child's vitamins in the cereal, USAA
Federal Savings Bank is disguising new
technology through old-fashioned, face-toface
service.
This fall, USAA began offering free
check deposit services at nearly 30 United
Parcel Service Inc. stores here, where
USAA is headquartered, and San Diego.
USAA, whose main office is its only
branch, plans to expand the service to
more than 1,700 UPS sites nationwide
by spring.
On the surface, the service resembles one
USAA offered during much of 2006 that let
customers send check deposits by overnight
courier from UPS sites. The key difference
in this year's service is that the checks never
leave the UPS store.
UPS employees scan the checks for
USAA customers using the same technology
the bank offers its customers to scan
checks for deposit from their home com-
When you
deposit a
check, it's
money. So
there is a
good level of
concern for,
'Hey, am I going to get
this money?'
Gwenn Bezard
puters or mobile phones. Though this arrangement
would seem to add time and
complexity to check deposits, many customers
want that personal interaction,
USAA said.
"They are aware that they could do this
themselves," but not all customers want
to, said Jeff Easley, USAA's deposits product
manager. "This will fulfill their [need]
to walk up and make a deposit transaction
with a person," he said. "We still hear
a number of members say that's how they
prefer to do deposits with us."
Five years ago, USAA became the first
customer of QuickPost, an overnight deposit
service owned by the now defunct
NetBank Inc. The QuickPost service was
shut down in late 2006 after NetBank said
it lost $3.3 million on the venture in just
one quarter.
Lhough the service went away, the demand
from customers did not.
"Most people see banks as a physical
place," Easley said. "I see that as a need that
hasn't changed a whole lot over the years.
There are those who are willing to try the
new channels, but there are still a number
that prefer that deposit channel."
In the two months since the in-store
service was begun, about 400 customers
have deposited a total of $700,000
though UPS stores, which are independently
owned and operated franchises of
Mail Boxes Etc. Inc., a UPS company,
Easley said. The self-service versions of this
service continue to gain traction among
customers, Easley added.
25 Miiiion Deposits
Since USAA's Deposit@Home service
was introduced in September 2006, customers
have deposited more than 25.6 million
checks, totaling more than $14.4 billion.
About 2.8 million checks, or a total of
$1.6 billion, have been deposited through
USAA's Deposit@Mobile service, which
was started in August 2009.
A segment of the bank's 7.8 million clients
still want the ability to interact with
someone face-to-face and to walk out of a
store with a receipt in hand, Easley said.
Craig Focardi, a senior research director
at TowerGroup, said, "USAA is trying
to offer all the services that a full-feature,
brick-and-mortar bank would ofltr."
The in-store deposit service underscores
the facts that a large segment of
the population either is not completely
comfortable with using the technology or
is not equipped with the tools to do so,
Focardi said.
"It may be lack of trust or accessibility,"
he said. "I think it's more the fact that
scanning devices are not ubiquitous within
consumer households. While the majority
of consumers have online banking and like
it, less of them have multifunction printers
or dedicated scanners or iPhones for check
scanning."
'Good ievei of Concern'
Gwenn Bezard, a research director at
Aite Group who uses remote deposit capture
technology on his mobile phone,
said he thinks it is a matter of many consumers'
personal technology not being up
to snuff. "I can tell you it's not necessarily
working very well all the time," he said of
mobile remote capture. "When you deposit
a check, it's money. So there is a good level
of concern for, 'Hey, am I going to get this
money?"
Analysts said the service could lead to
greater technology adoption down the line
as people see firsthand the ease with which
deposits can be made electronically. "I don't
think it contradicts the broad trend toward
new technology adoption," Bezard said.
Editor's Note: This story originally appeared
in American Banker, an affiliate of
Credit Union Journal.
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