Just ignore this. Need to send work home and school email system not working.


Why I produced a questionnaire & alternative methods
Explain how the printed questionnaire helped you to understand how to setup your business.
Give advantages and disadvantages of the questionnaire you used.

Put the following in your own words after stating that these are other methods of research you thought about using:

Face-to-face structured interviews

The interviewer has to be well prepared
People get really nervous and might not even turn up
People might say what you think you want them to say
Have to avoid asking leading questions (asking questions that suggest the answer)
People normally find it harder to lie when someone is in front of you
Got to make sure that you do not offend anyone by not asking them something too personal
Hard to take notes when the respondent is talking
Respondents often expect to be paid for taking part in a market research interview
You need to find somewhere to interview respondents

Telephone interviews

People can be really rude and put the phone down on you
Telephone bill will be high
People do not like to called from withheld numbers
Some people might talk for ages and go off the point too much
Might get interrupted when you are on the phone
A lot of people do not like to talk to somebody they do not know or cannot see
There could be bad reception or even a power cut


Postal surveys

Have to pay for stamps and envelopes
Lost of printing/photocopying to do
Takes time to fold the letters and stuff the envelopes
Survey could get lost in the post
A lot of people do not reply back
People might not understand the survey if it is not designed properly
Can be hard to target certain types of people





Street surveys

A lot of people do not like to be stopped in the street
People can rush answers because they are in rush to go somewhere
There could be bad weather outside
People might try to avoid you
Could be hard to take notes with a clipboard
Might run out of paper or the pen might stop working


The internet (advertisements as emails)

Observing customers when they go into similar businesses





Type of ownership

Sole Trader
I will be setting up my business as a sole trader. The advantages of being a sole trader are:
It is more flexible, there is more freedom to work how and when you want to. If there is a certain thing that isn?t profitable then it can be changed for something else.
The decision is faster as there is only one person making the decisions.
The start-up costs are smaller, because there only needs to be a small amount of capital invested.
Because there is no-one else the profits don?t need to be shared.
Important issues can be kept secret.
Because the business is small it is easier to set up.
There is lower accounting fees and longer time to pay taxes.

The disadvantages of being a sole trader are:
As there is no-one else who will have been willing to invest in a business, there will be a limited source of finance.
Because of the limited finance, there will be a restricted growth.
The success of the business relies on the owner?s energy, people skills, organisational skills and their heath.
If they are ill then they will have to close the business until they get better.
The owner will have to risk having a poor or non-existent social life and be under extreme stress.
If the owner dies then so will the business.
There has to be knowledge and experience in specialised areas.
The owner will have to work long hours and will find it difficult to get a holiday.
There is a risk of the business failing as there is big competition.

Partnerships
The advantages of being in a partnership are:
The main advantage is the shared responsibility. With this on of the partners strengths can compliment the others.



Advantages
1.The main advantage of a partnership over a sole trader is shared responsibility. This allows for specialisation, where one partner's strengths can complement another's. For example, if a hairdresser were in partnership with someone with a business background one could concentrate on providing the salon service, and the other on handling the finances.
2.More people are also contributing capital, which allows for more flexibility in running the business.
3.There is less pressure of time on individual partners.
4.There is someone to consult over business decisions
Disadvantages
1.The main disadvantage of a partnership comes from shared responsibility.
2.Disputes can arise over decisions that have to be made, or about the effort one partner is putting into the firm compared with another.
3.The distribution of profits can cause problems. The deed of partnership sets out who should get what, but if one partner feels another is not doing enough, there can be dissatisfaction.
4.A partnership, like a sole trader, has unlimited liability