An Education Needs Assessment of CARIFORUM Firms

2.1.4 Assessment of Risks, Concerns and Other Implications in Data-Collection

There were several risks and concerns relevant to the execution of data-collection which were

anticipated and experienced during the period of the fieldwork. Since BSOs within respective

countries are viewed as trusted and well-known partners of specific local business communities, it

was deemed much more effective to rely on these entities to distribute the surveys, on behalf of

the coordinating parties, directly to these businesses (as a means of increasing overall response

rates from participating business entities in individual countries).

However, it is accepted that BSOs are not entirely representative of all business firms in

CARIFORUM countries. Further, it was still anticipated that the uptake of survey responses per

country will be sluggish unless BSOs were actively engaged in reaching out to their members and

even conducting survey interviews during this process. It is recognised that BSOs are

organisations themselves that navigate competing priorities, commitments and arduous daily

schedules; hence, the primary coordinating team at UWI sought to provide the needed support and

assistance to BSOs in increasing their uptake of the survey (e.g., the offering of graduate students

to support the administration or interviewing of businesses within countries). The target of a

minimum of 740 respondents could be a difficult feat without the support of multiple coordinators

within the data-gathering environment. Secondly, not all BSOs attended the preparatory training

session and some concerns were expressed as to whether these business support organisations

would be effective in administering the surveys to their members over the period. In response to

this challenge, a copy of the recording of the virtual training and the Guidance and Training

Manual for the Survey were sent to all BSOs in assigned countries. Some expressed their ability

to easily follow these training aids even though they were not actively part of the training itself.

Thirdly, it was anticipated that the length of the survey may prove to be onerous for many

businesses who seek to complete the survey themselves in light of their busy schedules and other

competing demands in the wider corporate environment. However, the use of internal navigation

mechanisms – featured in SurveyMonkey – within the online survey instrument (e.g., the feature

of skip logic which allows respondents to skip through unnecessary questions to be directed to

only vital questions) to permit respondents to easily and smoothly complete the survey in fewer

than 10-12 minutes is likely to increase their participation.

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