- What is your approximate annual income?
Below £10,000 [ ] £10,000-£20,000 [ ] £20,000-£30,000 [ ] £30,000+ [ ]
- What is your marital status?
Single [ ] Married [ ] Divorced [ ] Widowed/Widower[ ]
- What is your postal code?
……………………………………
- Do you work full time?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
If yes, how many hours per week? …………
- How many days a week would you require the services of a Daytime nursery?
1 [ ] 2 [ ] 3 [ ] 4 [ ] 5 & above [ ]
- How many hours each day?
1-3 [ ] 4-6 [ ] 7-10 [ ]
- Do you have existing child day-care?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
If yes, do you trust your childminder?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
- Within which price range would you believe lies a reasonable price?
£2-5 per hour [ ] £5-9 per hour [ ]
- How many pre-school aged children do you have?
1 [ ] 2 [ ] 3 [ ] 3+ [ ]
- If offered, would you take advantage of meals prepared and served in the nursery?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
“Dummy Run” Questionnaire Analysis
After compiling a “dummy run” questionnaire, I have asked many people to proof read it for me and have concluded that some questions may be irrelevant.
- This question is irrelevant as it is not the age of the parent/carer that is important. This question will not appear in my questionnaire.
- This question is relevant as this helps me determine what kind of price range would be suitable for the majority of people I ask.
- This question is partially relevant as this could determine which parent to contact in an emergency, but it could be irrelevant as I only need to determine which parent the child lives with, not the marital status of the parent who completes the form. I will be including this question on my form.
- This question is very important in the questionnaire as it informs me about which area my custom will come from. It can also help disclose the class and financial information of the people living in that area. I can also find out about competition in that area as well.
- This question is irrelevant. I do not need to know if my customers work full or part time. It will not appear in my questionnaire.
- This question is important as this will give me an insight into how many days a week I will need to keep my business open to the public for.
- This question is important as I need to determine how many hours a day I need to be open to the public for. I do not want to leave my customers with the predicament of having to find an alternative child minder as well as or instead of using my service.
- This question is divided into two halves. The first is important as I need to find out if I have a lot of existing competition. The latter is completely irrelevant as I do not need to know about the emotions of my adult customers. The first part of this question will be included in my final questionnaire but the second part will not.
- This question is relevant as this helps me decide on a reasonable hourly rate that my customers will appreciate but will also help me make a profit.
- This question is relevant as it can help me determine how many children I may have attending and a rough estimate of how much money I could gain.
- This final question is relevant as this can help me decide on whether to provide meals for the children in my care. This will appear in my questionnaire.
At the beginning and end of my questionnaire I need a short sentence to initially ask them nicely to complete the form and why I would be grateful and then to thank them for taking the time to complete it.
My opening sentence will be “As part of my research into existing and future day-time care facilities, could you please take just a few minutes out of your schedule to complete this short questionnaire”.
My closing sentence will be “ Thank you very much for your assistance. Have a good day.”
As part of my research into existing and future daytime care facilities, could you please take just a few minutes out of your schedule to complete this short questionnaire.
- What is your postal code?
…………………………
- What is your marital status?
Single [ ] Married [ ] Divorced [ ] Widowed [ ]
- How many pre-school aged children do you have?
1 [ ] 2 [ ] 3 [ ] 3+ [ ]
- How many days a week would you require my services?
1 [ ] 2 [ ] 3 [ ] 4 [ ] 5 & above [ ]
- How many hours each day?
1-3 [ ] 4-6 [ ] 7-10 [ ] 10+ [ ]
- Do you have existing day-care?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
- If offered, would you take advantage of meals prepared and served within the nursery?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
- What is your approximate annual income?
Below £10,000 [ ] £10,000-£20,000 [ ] £20,000-£30,000 [ ]
£30,000+ [ ]
- What do you think would be a suitable price to charge per child, per hour?
…………………………………
Questionnaire Results
Tally Chart
Having distributed twenty copies of my questionnaire to people living in the Newton-le-willows area, I have collected the said copies and can display them neatly in a tally chart. Question 1 cannot be displayed in a tally chart as I cannot tally 20 different postal codes, similarly I cannot tally the results from question 9 due to the same reasons.
- My results from question one cannot be tallied.
- Marital Status
- How many pre-school aged Children.
- Days per week service could be required.
- Hours per day service could be required.
- Do they currently employ child day care?
- Would they take advantage of provided meals?
- Parents’ estimated annual income.
- My results from question nine cannot be tallied.
Above are my tallied results of my questionnaire
Evaluation
Throughout asking the twenty random people in the Newton-le-willows area, I have gained many results, as are displayed in the graphs on the previous page. But not only have I gained these results, I have gained knowledge as well.
Out of the twenty people I asked for my market research, twelve do not have childcare in the day. This means that, hypothetically, in a percentage I would take on approximately [12/20x100=] 60% of children needing care in the area.
When I asked how many days a week my service would be required the most occurring answer was 5+. This means that most children would be looked after for an average of 5 days, which is not only good for my business, as it will also help staff to build strong relationships with the children as trust is an important issue.
All the questions asked gave me the information I need to make vital decisions for my business. When I asked about offering meals to children, 70% of people said they would take advantage of this.
Most people asked are on an average income so I will have to price my services reasonably, with thought to whether enough people can afford the day-care. This means that, although I have had assistance in the general area of pricing, I will need to conclude my decision at a later date when I have determined the location of my service.