Presented by Delores A. Edelen SCORE Volunteer

 What is Research ?  Why Research Matters ?  Survey Research: Goal/Pros & Cons  Creating Your Survey  Using Survey Findings  About SCORE  About the Presenter  Q & A

 Investigation designed to discover:  Who cares & Why (target market/market share)  What should be changed (quality control/updates)  How should something be applied (needs assessment/unmet needs)  Key Survey Principle: Too much salt in the soup?

 Reality Check (Reality vs Sentiment)  Can save:  Money  Time  Effort

 Goal  Use information from a few respondents to describe or say something about an entire population of people

 PROs  Sample large, diverse groups  Relatively inexpensive ▪ tradeoff s : time, money, resources, desired precision (fingerprints vs blood tests)  Collect info on things that cannot be observed (e.g., perceptions, opinions, etc)

 CONs  Low response rate  Info overload  Results only as good as sample selected & questions asked

 What do you want to know? (Summarize in one sentence) _______________________  What auxiliary questions needed to clarify/answer primary KRQ?  Think in the language of respondents  What kind of banana? (ripe plantains, miniature)  What purpose ? (hunger, healthy snack, potassium source, pie, repair CD scratch)  Open-Ended vs Closed-Ended How much will people pay for a banana?

 Open-Ended Questions  Allows to learn what people think, in their own words  High rates of non-response (too much work for respondents)  Reliability issues: respondents may interpret question differently than intended/ researcher may interpret differently than respondents intended  How is ‘WORTH’ interpreted? Does worth = pay? What would you say this banana is worth?

 Closed-Ended Questions  More efficient, easier, & quicker for respondents  Higher response rates  Gives respondents fewer choices to select from  May force respondents to select choice that does not reflect their views  Requires specific language and full range of choices As a source of 10grams of potassium, how much would you recommend that a friend pay for a pound of banana? a ) Less than 10 cents ; b ) 10 to 30 cents; c ) 31 cents and above; d ) other ____________

 Avoid the following Questions  Always & Never  Double-barreled  Leading & Loaded Approximately how often in the past week did you feel like eating a banana? 1=almost always; 2= frequently; 3=rarely; 4=almost never How much do you like bananas and peanut butter? Do you agree that responsible parents should feed their children a healthy banana instead of candy as recommended by doctors?

 Sample Wordings  Which is better: How much would you pay for a banana? OR… During past _______ did you: 1= _______; 2= ________; 3= ____________ Generally speaking do you consider yourself a 1 )____ 2 ) ____ 3 ) ____ Some people seem to _____ Others aren’t that interested. Would you say that you ______ 1=Almost all the time; 2= some of the time; 3= now and then; 4= hardly ever at all? The last time you bought bananas did you pay 1= less than 10 cents per pound; 2= cents per pound; or more than 30 cents per pound?

 Respondents: Who should you ask?  Demographics  Age  Educational level  Income level (ask as range, not open-ended)  Parents? (w/young children, no children, adult children)  Race/Ethnicity  Occupation/ Employment status  Focus on the demographics that are most relevant to your needs

 Respondents: Who should you ask?  Identify characteristics of your ideal target market  Where are they? (telephone, internet, etc.)  Random selection  Makeup should be representative of expected target market population

 How large depends on  Heterogeneity (more homogenous=smaller size; more heterogeneous=larger size)  Frequency of occurrence (less frequently = larger sample; more frequently=smaller sample) ▪ E.g. marital life of year olds vs cell phone usage  Response rate (60 -70% & up = better validity)

 Ask:  Summarize main results  How valid? (accurate)  How reliable? (dependable)  Test results (e.g., observing actual behaviors, secondary sources)  Apply insights

 SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small businesses start, grow, and succeed nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and has been mentoring small business owners for more than forty years.

 Small business mentoring (private)  Seminars & Workshops  Marketing  Business Plan  Business startup  & More  Small Business Tools, Templates, Events

 Contact Local SCORE office  Website:  Tel: (407) Fax: (407)  Address: 3201 E. Colonial Dr., Fashion Square Mall, Suite A-20 Orlando,FL 32803

 Educator  Entrepreneur  Manager, trainer  SCORE volunteer: Marketing