An Education Needs Assessment of CARIFORUM Firms

2.1.5 Research Limitations

A major limitation of this current survey research exercise was the inability to meet the desired

sample quotas for a number of CARIFORUM countries. Due to the extremely sluggish uptake of

responses over the data-collection period, and despite repeated attempts were made by the Project

Team to increase their response rates – including through extension of the survey time and direct

appeals to BOSs- a number of countries were not fully represented (based on their set survey

quotas) by the end of the process (e.g., Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia).

This was largely attributed to the apparently limited interest, restricted data-collection window and

competing high demands of many targeted enterprise employers across these countries. However,

the final total of 513 business surveys completed for the exercise, represented a 70 per cent

response rate (from the initial target of 740 businesses) and an acceptable margin of error of 4.3

per cent. The examination of these survey results was done at an aggregate (regional) level, and

not emphasised at a country level due to wide disparities among obtained country sample sizes.

This approach was advantageous for assessing and understanding diverse categories of training

and educational needs and preferences at the CARIFORUM level but still allowing key analytical

comparisons to be done on other key enterprise-level demographics (e.g., organisational size and

economic sector). Another limitation was the lack of gender and age-specific questions within the

survey that would have allowed for some form of demographic analysis.

2.1.6 Stakeholder Engagement/Interviews

The research team conducted Stakeholder Engagement from the commencement of the data

collection phase of the project. All the in country Business Support Organisations were consulted

first using an unstructured interview schedule to explore their organisation’s operatio ns,

relationship with Caribbean Export as well as the training needs of their constituents. These

consultations were conducted online via Zoom following an initial email or telephone contact.

Following the initial data collection phase and with preliminary results in hand, the research team

consulted with Caribbean Export Staff, Board Members and Observers. These consultations were

guided by a semi-structured interview schedule to explore their relationship with the Caribbean

Export, their perception on the relevance of Caribbean Export programming within CARIFORUM,

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