Research Method Essay

Research Method
PSC - 495
Grand Canyon University

Starting and operating a successful small business is something that is not too common, as the majority (80%) of small businesses fail within the first year of opening. While it's difficult to find out the exact reasons from those who tried and failed, it is very plausible to ask current small business owners about the successes and struggles they've had. Those answers will give an insight into not only what worked with the current entrepreneurs, but also what they may have struggled with initially. These are valuable lessons to anyone seeking to open a business in the future. Throughout this research, a questionnaire will be used. This will be a standard form, approximately two pages long, which will be the same for every participant. This format works well with this study, as it pertains a multitude of questions in various formats. The final two questions allow the participant to elaborate and cover any material that may not have been included on the previous questions. This type of research is very useful to this type of question, as it directly draws on the experiences of successful business owners, as well as struggles that they may have had, yet worked through. This study will have fifty participants, with twenty coming from the East Valley of Phoenix, twenty from the metropolitan Phoenix area and ten from the West Valley of Phoenix. Using these Geographic's allows for a diverse sample of businesses, economies and various types of climate that the businesses are located in. Each business that will participate will be visited in person before the survey, to ensure that it's open, willing to participate and fits the criteria, which is having less than twenty employees. Furthermore, a personal visit will hopefully add a sense of importance to the survey and lead to a higher participation rate. The survey will be dropped off at each location during these visits, with a deadline of thirty days to email it back. Any small business owner who returns the survey within the allotted time frame will be mailed a $50 Visa gift card. Upon receiving the surveys, each will be thoroughly reviewed and documented. Once the deadline of thirty days is passed, the gift cards will be mailed out to anyone that participated within the time frame. To compile the surveys into one spreadsheet of information that captures the overall results, two people will spend approximately one week working on that. While there is no guarantee that this will be a successful research project, one would imagine that many small business owners would take pride in the success they've had, as well as being given the opportunity to share that success with someone aspiring to be like them. Combined with the monetary incentive, participation will hopefully be high, allowing for a good sample of not only why many small businesses fail, but more importantly why these businesses succeeded!

Small Business Owner Questionnaire

Demographic Information:
For each of the following items, put an X beside the choice that best describes you:
1
Gender

Male

Female

2
Total number of years as a

Show More

Research Methods

Research Methods

Research Methods

Research Methods

Quantitative Research Methods