3. Method
3.1. Data collection
A survey was used to investigate the influence of C2C communication on consumer purchase decision. In this study, the
population was composed of 400 students from a large university in China. Students are an important segment of Internet
users and 3G smart mobile phones users in China (CNNIC, 2013). These participants often communicate with others in online
communities when they have shopping demands. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Before the formal survey, 12
marketing majors were surveyed. The questionnaire was modified based on their feedback.
The survey was accomplished in computer rooms. Before taking the survey, all participants read an informed consent
document, which stated that their participation was voluntary and could stop at anytime without penalty. After giving their
permission, participants were asked to communicate with other consumers in a familiar online community regarding a special
product that he/she was recently considering to buy. Participants were requested to fill out the questionnaire when they
related that they had finished the communication. Forth-five minutes after the beginning of the communication, those who
did not finish communication were asked to log out of the online community and fill out the questionnaire.
The final effective sample size is 324. Among them, 181 participants mainly communicated with strangers in various
virtual communities of interest and brand communities; the other 143 mainly communicated with acquaintances in social
networking sites (such as Renren, Qzone) and QQ groups of classmates. Several questionnaires were discarded because less
than two communicators participated in communicating with the participant (62) or because the relationship type of the
communication was not clear (10), or because the data was incomplete (4). The effective population was composed of
234 undergraduate students and 90 postgraduates between the ages of 18–38 years. Among the final group of participants,
45% were males (133) and 55% were females (191).