The study relied mainly on the Questionnaire and Semi-Structured Interviews as instruments of Data Collection. In addition, a detailed literature review was carried out on the international, African and South African landscape to find out the challenges facing SME development.
3.4.1 Questionnaire:
Questionnaires are the most widely used as data collection methods in educational and evaluation research (Radhakrishna, 2007:1).The Business Dictionary explains a questionnaire as a list of research or survey questions asked to respondents and designed to extract specific information. The questionnaire serves four basic purposes, namely,(1) collects the appropriate data,(2) makes data comparable,(3) minimizes bias in formulating and asking questions, and (4) makes questions engaging and varied, Saunders et al (2016:437) on the other hand, regard a questionnaire as a general term which includes all
56 methods of data collection in which each person is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a predetermined order as shown in Appendix A for this study.
While the questionnaire has a number of advantages, it also has many disadvantages as pointed by Radhakrishna (2007:1) as already cited. These are detailed below:
3.4.2 Advantages of Questionnaires
The questionnaire is a very practical instrument to administer. It helps in the collection of data from a large population or sample in a short period of time and in a relatively cost effective manner. The questionnaire can easily be carried out by the researcher or his/her enumerators with limited effect on its validity and reliability.
Data collected by use of questionnaires can usually be quickly and easily quantified by either a researcher through the use of a software package such as SPSS. Such data can be analyzed more ‘scientifically’ and objectively than other forms of research.
When data has been quantified, it can be used to compare and contrast other research and may be used to measure change.
Positivists believe that quantitative data can be used to create new theories and/or test existing hypotheses.
3.4.3 Disadvantages of Questionnaires
The main disadvantage of questionnaires is that it is inadequate or unable to capture some forms of information-i.e. changes of emotions, behavior and feelings.
Phenomenologist state that quantitative research is simply an artificial creation by the researcher, as it is asking only a limited amount of information without explanation. Other weaknesses of the questionnaire may include the following:
(1) It is difficult to tell how truthful a respondent is being.
(2) There is no way of telling how much thought a respondent has put in.
(3) Some respondents may be forgetful or not thinking within the full context of the situation.
(4) People may read differently into each question and therefore reply based on their own interpretation of the question-i.e. what is ‘good’ to someone may be ‘poor’ to someone else; therefore there is a level of subjectivity that is acknowledged.
(5) There is a level of researcher imposition, meaning that when developing the questionnaire, the researcher is making his/her own decisions and assumptions as to what is and is not important, therefore, he/she may be missing something that is of importance.
57 3.4.4 Pilot Test
A pilot test is conducted to detect weaknesses in design and instrumentation. It also seeks to provide proxy data for selection of a probability sample (Cooper and Schindler, 2008:91). Pre-testing the instruments permits refinement before the final test. In the same vein, Saunders et al (2016:473) stated that, prior to using a questionnaire to collect data, it should be pilot tested with respondents who are similar to those who will actually complete it. The purpose of the pilot test is to refine the questionnaire so that respondents will have no problems in answering the questions and there will be no problems in recording the data. An expert was asked to comment on the representativeness and suitability of the questions. The expert made suggestions on the structure of the questionnaire and this helped to establish content validity and assisted in making amendments prior to pilot testing (Saunders et al 2016:473).
The pilot test was conducted on ten SMEs in line with Fink (2013:44) who contended that for most student questionnaires, this means that the minimum number of a pilot is ten. The ten SMEs who were similar to the final population in the sample were contacted for their willingness to participate in the study. The researcher administered and monitored the data collection process to ensure that the ‘wrong’ people did not fill the questionnaire. In most cases, the questionnaire was filled while the researcher waited, thereby providing clarification where necessary and raising the reliability. Finally, the responses received were taken into account and all ambiguities were removed from the instruments by modifying and replacing any questions that were not clear.
3.4.5 Semi-Structured Interviews
A semi-structured interview is a qualitative method of inquiry that combines a pre- determined set of open questions (questions that prompt discussion) with the opportunity of the interviewer to explore particular themes or responses further. A semi-structured interview does not limit respondents to a set of pre-determined answers (unlike a structured questionnaire).
Semi-structured interviews are used to understand how interventions work and how they could be improved. It also allows respondents to discuss and raise issues that you may not have considered. Semi-structured interviews have the following advantages and disadvantages (Newton, 2010:1):
58 Advantages
The can provide valuable information from the context of participants (and stakeholder) experiences and the use of pre-determined questions provides uniformity.
Disadvantages
Requires some level of training or practice in order to prevent interviewer suggesting answers.
Questionnaires were distributed to 600 respondents as already discussed above.
In addition, semi-structured interviews were held with 5 Funding Institutions (Banks) and 5 Training Institutions which were indicated by respondents in answer to Question 4.3.1 of the Questionnaire as per Appendix A.