Short questionnaire for University (2 minutes)

[TPowell6]

Hello everyone, I am a Cardiff Metropolitan University student currently working on a research project for an Enterprise module. I am researching the feasibility of setting up a campsite which offers customers the opportunity to rent a caravan, or to bring their own caravan and camping equipment and set up in allocated spaces. I am looking for responses to a questionnaire from you as you are the target market and would be potential customers if the business were to be created. The questionnaire is multiple choice and consists of 12 questions. To access the questionnaire please click on the link, thanks for your time.
https://cardiffmet.EU.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9BLEDxkJd0bqQlv

 

[DaveA1]

.

 

[Craigyoung]

Was unsure at first but I've answered them . :dry:

 

[otherclive]

Ditto

 

[Parksy]

Completed

 

[Martin24]

Done

 

[Gabsgrandad]

Sorry TPowell6 started answering your questionnaire, but insufficient categories on some of the questions for me to answer truth fully and 'No selection' not allowed!

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Sorry TPowell6 started answering your questionnaire, but insufficient categories on some of the questions for me to answer truth fully and 'No selection' not allowed!

I agree.

 

[TPowell6]

I would like to thank everyone for their responses and feedback, I am close to my target number of responses so I am hoping I can reach it tomorrow. I am sorry I didn't include an N/A option, I will make sure to discuss this shortfall later in my project. The answers are a bit simple and general but that was only to make the analysis easier. Thanks again

 

[HNB]

Done.

Good luck with your project

 

[RayS]

As others have said, questions needed a 'not applicable' choice. My responses are not particularly accurate due to the absence of this option.
It would also have been helpful to have had a final 'Remarks' box which I think you would have found helpful, particularly as we could then explain our more negative answers.
You may like to try to establish an age profile for your intended audience. Fortunately there is a pretty big group of retired folk like my wife and I who enjoy camping/caravanning and have reasonable funds to be able to do so. At our age/s we can generally manage to organise our own walks etc but seek really nice bases to start from.
I'm sure families with children, often time restricted by work and school holidays will have different priorities. Overall this group may well be larger but us oldies are living longer these days, so don't forget us !
But good luck with your studies -- From my previous experience as a mentor of engineering graduates may i quietly suggest that success with project of this nature depends to large measure not only on a good choice of topic but a very realistic assessment of what can be achieved with the time and other resource available, with a less ambitious project that achieves a fully sorted and reported result usually assessed as equal to if not better than a more blue-sky project which never reaches any solid and verifiable conclusion.

 

[waffler]

Done.

 

[Dustydog]

Sorted. Hope it helps you.

 

[chrisn7]

A couple of questions should have been more specific:

Children: Specify an age range if the question thinking is about play facilities for example. (Our daughter still likes to join us when she can, and counts as 'children' within the question, but she is 22!)

Caravan renting: there are touring vans and statics, so to which type does the question refer? (most people here will have tourers, but its statics that are most commonly rented)

In market research its important to understand exactly what you want to discover from a question, otherwise you may draw incorrect conclusions.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I agree with Chrisn7 , the design of the questions does not allow the user all the necessary options to provide accurate answers especially the lack of a not applicable option. Consequently the statistics it produces will be biased, and conclusions drawn wrong.
PJL

 

[TPowell6]

Thanks everyone I have reached my target number of responses and I will use all feedback in my project. I know the options were simple, this was only to make the analysis easier. I didn't include a final remarks box or more detailed questions throughout as I wanted the maximise the number of responses I receive, if the questionnaire was too long I could have got a lot less responses.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello TP,

I'm sorry to have to add this further comment, but I feel you may have missed an important oppertunity

I need to place added stress to the point about the safety of any analysis of your survey;.

When I tried to answer some of the quests, as Chrisn7 points out the option to offer "not applicable" or "give own response" was not there, but the questionnaire would not allow you to leave a null answer, consequently the subject is forced to leave a inappropriate answer - As a result you have no way of determining which of the responses is false, and where the question offered a range of possible answers you cannot predict how the subject would mark it.

I will ask one question, How many of the respondents were able to answer ALL the questions to their TOTAL satisfaction? Your confidence level can only be as good as the number who could answer all satisfactorily divided by the total number of respondents. and as you don't know how many could say yes or no, your top line value is zero.

If anyone offered the results of that survey to me as part of a business plan and knowing the structure of the survey, due to the limitations noted above, I could not accept it as evidence in support of the plan.

 

[SamandRose]

Done and good luck

 

[TPowell6]

Hello TP,

I'm sorry to have to add this further comment, but I feel you may have missed an important oppertunity

I need to place added stress to the point about the safety of any analysis of your survey;.

When I tried to answer some of the quests, as Chrisn7 points out the option to offer "not applicable" or "give own response" was not there, but the questionnaire would not allow you to leave a null answer, consequently the subject is forced to leave a inappropriate answer - As a result you have no way of determining which of the responses is false, and where the question offered a range of possible answers you cannot predict how the subject would mark it.

I will ask one question, How many of the respondents were able to answer ALL the questions to their TOTAL satisfaction? Your confidence level can only be as good as the number who could answer all satisfactorily divided by the total number of respondents. and as you don't know how many could say yes or no, your top line value is zero.

If anyone offered the results of that survey to me as part of a business plan and knowing the structure of the survey, due to the limitations noted above, I could not accept it as evidence in support of the plan.

In total there were approximately 5 out of 130 who complained about the lack of an N/A option or leaving certain answers null. I am aware more might have had the same issue without mentioning it but the accuracy of my data should be satisfactory. The aim of my findings was to get a better idea about the customer base, particularly distance people would be willing to travel and a fair pricing strategy. At the very least I will be able to have a rough idea on who my potential customers would be.

 

[chrisn7]

Thanks everyone I have reached my target number of responses and I will use all feedback in my project. I know the options were simple, this was only to make the analysis easier. I didn't include a final remarks box or more detailed questions throughout as I wanted the maximise the number of responses I receive, if the questionnaire was too long I could have got a lot less responses.

Its incorrect to assume that longer questionnaires always deliver fewer responses, especially where the respondents have an interest in the subject matter, as here. For example with housing, health, care homes and indeed anything people can easily relate too, respondents will tolerate a lot of questions when given an opportunity to have their say. What does turn people off is questions that don't offer all appropriate options, or where there is no opportunity to add a supporting comment.

 

[ProfJohnL]

...In total there were approximately 5 out of 130 who complained about the lack of an N/A option or leaving certain answers null. I am aware more might have had the same issue without mentioning it but the accuracy of my data should be satisfactory. The aim of my findings was to get a better idea about the customer base, particularly distance people would be willing to travel and a fair pricing strategy. At the very least I will be able to have a rough idea on who my potential customers would be.

Hello again,
I do not know where else you arranged to have your survey completed, so I don't know what opportunities respondents had to register their concerns. but I would be very surprised if only 5 out 130 did have issues with the structure of the questionnaire.

I hope it is sufficient for you to complete your project, but as I pointed out above it would ring alarm bells if a business plan was based on the survey outcome. I do hope your university mentors and tutors do offer some better advice about the use and design of surveys. Surveys can be very informative but they do need to be very carefully designed and to have various checks and balances to ensure the information you receive is genuine and accurate. Even seasoned specialists in the field can get it wrong you only need to look at opinion polls associated with recent elections.

Notable fails have also been recorded by some large companies such a Coke Cola when they tried to change the make up of their popular drink.,. So perhaps a lesson learned teh hard way.

Anyway best of luck.

 

[jallin]

Oh my goodness what's it like to have so many "experts" advise you on what you should be doing, asking, analysing and surmising?? In my opinion, answer the questions or don't.... The university student has done her work as she thinks fit. If there were any shortcomings she has already said she will refer to that in her analysis! Good luck with your research and don't be told by others what you should and shouldn't have included. There are always "experts" in everything. Some people hold on to this notion that intelligence comes with age. I think not!!!

 

[Hutch]

How many of us have been willing to follow on to Thomas's next report though to give him more detailed information, I have , it helps someone in Uni to get through.

 

[jallin]

Agreed it helps to give more detailed answers but not helpful to do the classic what you should have done is......It frustrates me that people feel the need to say how the student should have phrased their questions and how it could have been done better. They have already identified that and will reflect on it as students do in their work. Just my humble opinion.......

 

[ProfJohnL]

.... In my opinion, answer the questions or don't....

That was exactly the problem, you wer unable to leave some answers blank if there was not a suitable one already there.