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Thread: I need small business owners to review my dissertation survey!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
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    3

    I need small business owners to review my dissertation survey!

    My name is Jordan. I am currently a Masters student and I am writing my dissertation in entrepreneurship and in relation to how small business owners perceive factors of success and their personality characteristics. I would be so grateful if small business owners or those who run a small business who are members here would care to take the time to fill a quick and completely Anonymous questionnaire. It should only take about two minutes I would ask that only eligible individuals fill out the survey; I would like the data to be as reliable as possible.

    I have provided a link via survey monkey at the bottom of the page. I do not ask for your personal name, business name or any contact information whatsoever-and please do not give it! (The survey program is will get confused) This survey is designed to be completely anonymous and all responses are filled directly into an Excel spread sheet for which I will be using statistical analysis.
    It is completely optional, however, if you would like an extra incentive for filling out this survey, I would be happy to personally e-mail (or send you via the forum) a copy of my final dissertation once it is finished- Just reply to this post with a request. Again, it is completely anonymous and your responses will be going to a good cause so please be as honest as possible. Thank you so much.

    If you have any questions please feel free to respond or contact me j.o.rabin@durham.ac.uk
    for entrepreneurs:
    https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H7CX3PQ

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    360
    Quote Originally Posted by J.R. View Post
    ... I would be happy to personally e-mail (or send you via the forum) a copy of my final dissertation once it is finished- Just reply to this post with a request...
    Wishing you every success, Jordan! Certainly I look forward to receiving a copy of your dissertation. It was a pleasure to help by filling in your survey -- it actually helped me, by making me reflect on how business conditions are changing.

    Note that participants are asked which US state they are in -- not relevant to many people, and it may put them off continuing with the survey. Incidentally, I have moved this thread to the executive lounge.
    Last edited by C0ldf1re; 07-22-2012 at 02:42 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
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    Thank you. I had no idea that asking what state would turn people off. And of course, I agree with you that the state is not relevant to what I'm looking at. It actually has to do with my methodology. I have to prove that all of my respondents are not from the same area, thus controlling for location bias. Although the survey is completely anonymous [I have no idea of who is responding] I'll add some information to my introduction to make sure people understand that not answering one question will not prevent them from answering the next. Thank you very much for your help.

    p.s. I felt if I added an "optional" tag to a question it would make people think that it is not anonymous- which it is.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    360
    Quote Originally Posted by J.R. View Post
    ... I had no idea that asking what state would turn people off...
    Lots of people are very literal minded. If you ask for their US state, many will infer that the survey is only for US citizens. I nearly did -- until I remembered your email address.

    Quote Originally Posted by J.R. View Post
    ... I felt if I added an "optional" tag to a question it would make people think that it is not anonymous- which it is.
    Lots of people are "still themselves" even when anonymous. If you ask a question like, "Do you fiddle your taxes", they won't want to lie. But many won't want to answer all the same. Unless you make it clear that the question is optional, they may well think that ignoring a question will invalidate the survey, and they'll just abort the whole process.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
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    Ok good point. I will do that. by the way, the survey is for US small business owners. That is my fault for leaving that out of my original statement. although I am an student in England, I am only looking at US small business owners. All relevant literature for my topic involves studies of US businesses. Besides, I am an American and I have many contacts and resources available to me here that I unfortunately do not have in England.

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