Executive Summary
The report is prepared to identify the reason Touch Screen Marketing and Research (TSMR) is not able to gather proper responses from the surveys they conduct. The main scope of the company is to conduct market research for its clients are providing them with the details about the market. The company is generating weak responses from the respondents who are likely to affect the business of the company. The report will help TSMR to identify the reasons behind such responses and the steps that the company can take to improve the responses from the market. To analyze the current condition, the consulting company selected a sample of 450 corporations out of which 200 corporations belonged to Fortune 500. Rest of the companies were part of different industries. From the sample of 450, only 175 corporations responded properly within two months. From the survey, it is noted that 32% of the companies had observed an increase in receiving the survey within the percentage range of 30-59%. 33% of the responses claim that the corporations strictly restrict the employees to respond to the survey questionnaires as there is a probability of leakage of important information. There are only 23% of the corporations that believe there are no restrictions on the organizations to respond to the surveys. A total of 73% has some kind of restrictions to respond to the surveys. A very low percent of organizations claims that 2% believe that there is a benefit of responding to the surveys while 24% believe that there is no benefit at all to respond to the surveys. University personnel and university students are believed to be the highest generating source of surveys and the likelihood to respond to the survey source are the mostly by university students and other businesses. It is recommended that a differentiating factor among good response survey and bad response survey must be identified and proper steps to overcome the differences shall be taken to increase the rate of response. It is also suggested in the report that some benefits should be provided to the respondents as it will increase the response rate.
Introduction
The Internet has provided ease for people and organizations to conduct surveys with ease. Many individuals and groups conduct the survey through emails, but the response rate is very much debatable. The success of a survey is dependent upon the activeness of the subscribers with the campaign. It is believed that 15%-20% is a good response rate. Most of the people who receive an email for the survey will not respond to it. The limited number of people that respond to the survey questionnaire can also be divided into two categories. One category is of people who complete the survey rightfully and others just fill it regardless of correctness in their responses.
The purpose of the report is to find out the reason for weak responses to the survey questionnaire through email. Findings of the study will help in determining the reason for weak responses. Recommendations will also be provided to overcome this problem faced by Touch Screen Marketing and Research (TSMR). There are certain limitations in this research report as responses to all the questions are not available. The lack of responses and a 38.9% of return response are the only limitations faced to prepare this report.
The reason to prepare this report is to provide a solution to Touch Screen Marketing and Research (TSMR). TSMR is a group that is associated with marketing research and provide services of making and providing surveys to its clients. At present, it is getting difficult for the group to get proper responses from the people who are an alarming condition for the company. Weak responses by the respondents will question the reliability of the company’s survey and can lead to a loss in clients. Therefore, this report is developed to identify the problem faced by TSMR and the recommendations that can help in making improvements to achieve a better response rate of the surveys.
In order to gather the data, 450 corporations were selected as a sample. To complete the sample of 450 corporations, 200 corporations were selected from the list of Fortune 500, and the remaining respondents were off 50 each was selected from the list of corporations in transportation, retailing, banking, and insurance industry. To complete the data for the report, the company will use both primary and secondary sources.
The report discusses different factors that are important to find out the problem that is prevailing which leads to a lesser response from the people. The important factors discussed in the report are survey received, restriction of corporate policy to answer to surveys, benefits of responses, surveys answered, sources of survey received, and the likelihood of responses from such sources.
Discussion of Factors
Increase in Percentage of Survey Received
The increase in the percentage of survey received is referred to a number of surveys that are being received. The data also represents the increase in the surveys that the companies have received in the past six years. From the data it is noted six different categories of percentage increase are made. The first category represents 0-29% increase in responses, the second category represents 30-59% increase in responses, and the category represents 60-99% of the increase in the responses. The last three categories represent 100-149%, 150-200%, and 200 and more percentage increase in the responses. The graph below represents the finding of the survey conducted for this report.
Figure 1 Increase in percentage of Survey received
The degree of restrictiveness of corporate policy about answering surveys means bans imposed or restrictions applied by the companies on their employees to answer a survey. The data represents the increase in the occurrence of such case in the past six years. For the analysis, a scale is set on the level of restrictiveness of answering to a survey. The data gather will show how many organizations do or do not restrict their employees to answer the survey questions. From the data, the level of restrictiveness can also be determined. The scale to measure the level of restrictiveness consists of four tiers that are very definitely, moderately, slightly, and not at all. The graph below represents the finding of the survey conducted for this report .
Figure 2 Degree of restrictiveness of corporate policy about answering surveys
Benefits Received From Responding to Surveys
The benefits received from responding to survey means that the benefit derived by the individuals or the company to respond to the survey. The data that is collected for this identified factor will represent how many corporations or the employees has received any benefits by answering to the surveys. The data is collected for the past six year to determine the type or amount of benefit is derived in the recent past. The scale to measure benefits received from responding to data consist of four levels that are very definite, moderate, slight, and not at all . The graph below represents the finding of the survey conducted for this report.
Figure 3 Benefits received from responding to surveys
Percentage of Surveys Answered
Percentage of a survey answered means that the people who are taking this survey answer the number of surveys. It represents the actual number of a survey that is answered by them. In order to collect the data, different categories were made by a number of survey questionnaire answered. From the data, it is noted five different categories of percentage of a survey answered are a part of this question. The first category represents 0-19% percent of a questionnaire answered, the second category represents 20-39% percent of a questionnaire answered, and the next category represent 40-59% percent of a questionnaire answered. The last two categories represent 60-79% and 80-100% percent of a questionnaire answered. The graph below represents the finding of the survey conducted for this report.
Figure 4 Percentage of Surveys answered
Source of Survey Received
The sources of the questionnaires describe different sources that generated the questionnaire. It shows that different sources conduct the survey through questioners include university personnel, a university student, trade organizations, professional associations, the federal government, state government, and others. The questionnaire design is most important part of survey process that calculates the experiences, opinions, suggestion, and behaviors of the public.
Figure 5 Source of Survey Received
The source of survey chart shows that university personnel are most authentic and strong source that contributes large part 28 percent of overall percentage. The university personnel are reliable sources that designed various surveys and received accurate results. The university students are also an important source of a survey that ranked on the second position in the chart. They are contributing 12 percent of the whole percentage. It is important sources that measure the different aspects of university students’ surveys. It is noted that universities provide major sources of surveys and provides authentic results. Trade organizations are in the third position and contribute 16 percent of the whole percentage. The organizations are an important source for conducting various surveys on different topics. Trade organization has designed various questionnaires and calculates the results of different scenarios. The survey has conducted to identify the industry trend, environments, and other scenarios. The professional associations have contributed 12 percent of the whole percentage as described in the table. The professional associations are non-profit organizations that are well-known sources of the surveys. The federal government also plays its role in conducting surveys. It is authentic sources of a survey that designed various questionnaires for completing the survey on different issues. The table shows that the federal government contributes 11 percent of the whole percentage. The state government is an undersized source of a survey that contributes 5 percent of the whole percentage. The table shows other small sources of the survey the other business that contributes 4 percent, and other 3 percent of sources are shown in the table.
Rubin & Babbie (2016) illustrates that there are various sources of the survey include university research organizations, professional associations, the federal government, government agencies, and others. The universities are an important source of a survey that plays an important part in completing various major surveys. The surveys are conducted precisely for creating authentic and reliable data. The data are designed to generate the valid information for different scholars. The federal government commission is a valid source of a survey for conducting major researchers. The university students and personnel are large sources of surveys as compared to professional associations, the federal government, government agencies, and others. These organizations designed various survey to collect data on large number variables (Rubin & Babbie, 2016).
Likelihood of Responding to a Survey by Source
The table shows likelihood respond of a survey from different sources. The response of very source is different from each other, and it depends on the nature of the organizations. The university students are mostly involved in the surveys. Hence, they contribute large part in likelihood responding.
Figure 6 Likelihood of Responding to a Survey by Source
The table shows likelihood respond of a survey from different sources. The response of very source is different from each other, and it depends on the nature of the organizations. The university students are mostly involved in the surveys. Therefore, they contribute large part in likelihood responding. The graph shows that university students contributed large 30 percent and provided more likelihood response as compared to other sources. The university students are mostly associated with research and they participated and responded more effectively in a positive manner. They provide answers to different questionnaires and actively participate in the survey. The table shows that the other businesses come in the second position and respond to the different survey in a positive manner. Other organizations contributed 27 percent of the whole percentage and played an important role in responding activities. The university personnel are important to source and mostly associated with different surveys. The university personnel provided a large number of answers and contributed 17 percent of total percentage. The professional associations responded 10 percent and participated in the survey. The views and suggestions of professional associations are an important part of the survey. The likelihood response of trade organizations is 9 percent of the whole response. The trade associations are less involved in responding and answering of surveys. The likelihood response of the state government is low, and it is only 5 percent of the whole percentage. On another hand, the federal government did not respond at all.
Porter & Umbach (2006) describes that response rates of university students and faculty are higher in a survey. The students actively participate in conducting various surveys and their response rate varies. The universities are mostly associated with different researchers and students and university personnel play a major part in completing that surveys. The responses are always positive and reliable that creates effective surveys. It is discussed that the students’ provides higher responses rate as compared to other organization and government agencies. The undergraduate students have a strong positive response for web survey, telephonic survey, and others. The university personnel provides strong response rate for confidential survey and participate in a positive manner. The number of responses of the university students is always higher in surveys as compared to other organizations (Porter & Umbach, 2006).
Summary and Conclusion
The report is prepared to find out the reason for weak responses to survey questionnaire by people. It can be concluded that there are several factors that influence people to avoid responding to the survey. It is noted that to a great extent, the employees at the organizations are restricted to respond to the surveys. Moreover, as conducting surveys through the internet is cost effective and does not provide any benefit to the employees or corporation, therefore, responding to the survey is considered to be a waste of time.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the company must start monitoring the report and observe the trends of the responses of different surveys. It will help the company in determining the factors that are different in each survey and adopt those factors in future surveys that influence people to respond. Moreover, if some benefits are attached with the surveys then they will attract more people to respond to the survey hence, increasing the percentage of respondents.
References
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Appendix
Increase in Percentage of Surveys Received
Benefits Received From Responding to Surveys
Percentage of Surveys Answered
Source of Surveys Received*
Likelihood of Responding to a Survey by Source*
