Quantitative Social Research Methods: Methods and Issues - Essay Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents Frequency Tables to answers for each questions Area of Business 2 Where is Business Based 2 Number of employees 3 Type of Business premises 4 Size of the Business Premises 4 Reason for locating in Stapleton Borough 4 Constraints on Current Business Operations 5 Plans to relocate 6 Cross Tabulated Frequencies 7 Cross tabulation between question 1 and 2 7 Cross Tabulation for Question 2 and 6 8 Conclusion 9 Addendum 1: Tables 9 References 12 Frequency Tables to answers for each questions A frequency table organizes data into classes of values describing one characteristic of the data (Levin and Rubin 2007, p14). Area of Business This question describes the type of small business there are in the Stapleton Borough council area. Figure 1. Pie chart for the types of businesses As can be seen from the pie chart, majority of the small and medium businesses are in the Agriculture/Horticulture, and Manufacturing. These two types constitute almost 44% of the small businesses. The council can make attempts to promote other businesses like High Tech Industry (by initiatives such as tax incentives) in order to reduce its dependency on just these 2 industries. Where is Business Based As can be seen from graph, majority of the business is based in local village/ rural area (43% of the total), followed by Ashford (26%). On the other hand, Coledene (14%), and Bramwell (17%) have very less percentage of small businesses. The council shall take important steps to promote business in these areas. Overdependence of a particular place on a given industry may prove to be harmful, as it might become unprofitable in the longer run, because of too many businesses in the same field. Also, this may also result in huge demand for infrastructural facilities in the Local Village area. Figure 2. Pie-chart for the area in which business is based. Number of employees The number of employees in small businesses range from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 45. The mean number of employees hired by small businesses is 12 employees per business. Majority of the businesses in the council area hire 8 or 9 employees, of which 8 will be called the mode. The total number of employees hired by small businesses who responded is 1161. The median for the number of employees hired by small businesses in the area comes out to be 10. Mean is affected by outliers (Wisegeek, 2009), such as 45. In fact 75% of the companies hire less than 13 employees. Median suggests that half of the small businesses hire 10 employees. Since the mean is greater than the median, it implies that the distribution of the number of employees is positively skewed to the right (Sable, 1998). Type of Business premises There can be seen an almost equal percentage of leasehold (51%) as well as freehold (49%) business premises in the council area. Size of the Business Premises Majority of the businesses are having a premise of area of 100sq m to 249 sq m (25%), followed by 250 sq. m to 499 sq. m (18%). The pie chart of the size of the business premises is as shown below: Figure 3. Pie chart for the size of business premises Reason for locating in Stapleton Borough As can be seen from the graph, the majority of the businesses started for the reason that they lived locally (33%) and had easy availability of premises (25%). Figure 4. Pie chart for reason of starting a business in Stapleton Borough The council shall encourage locals to setup businesses by providing them tax schemes, schemes, and facilitate availability of business locations. Setting of special economic zones may be a useful step in that direction. Constraints on Current Business Operations As can be seen from the frequency distribution of the constraints responses, 40% of the owners said that they faced no constraints indicating that the council is doing a good job in helping small businesses. Some areas where council can improve is the availability of skilled labor force by setting up of educational and training institutes, and parking space. The pie chart below shows the percentage of constraints as faced by the business owners in Stapleton Borough: Figure 5. Pie chart for constraints faced by businesses Plans to relocate Figure 6 Pie Chart for 5 year plans to relocation of the business owners When asked if businesses have plans to relocate, majority (54%) said that they do not have any plans of relocation. However, some 3% of the businesses wish to relocate outside Stapleton. The council should understand the reasons for this relocation, and take appropriate steps to prevent it. Cross Tabulated Frequencies Cross tabulated frequencies enable us to examine frequencies of observation that belong to a certain category on more than one variable (Singh 2007, p.126). Cross tabulation between question 1 and 2 This cross tabulation will enable us to understand the area of business and what percentage of each is based in a particular location. Figure 7. Bar Graph for Area*Where Agriculture/horticulture businesses are primarily based in local village/ rural area (81.8%). Similarly construction industry is primarily based in Ashford (61.5%). The council should improve infrastructural facilities that support a particular industry based on the results obtained. Cross Tabulation for Question 2 and 6 The cross tabulation table with ‘Where’ on the X axis and Reason on the Y axis can help us to analyze the various reasons for starting a business depending on the location. This can enable us to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the places. Figure 8. Bar Graph for Reason*Where Village area provides with the maximum business opportunity, as well as low cost of premises. Bramwell and Coledene have high cost of business premises which shall be recued by the council by setting up economic zones. There is a need for development of Rail/Road facilities in Asford and Coledene. All the four cities need institutional development in order to provide skilled labor force for the businesses. Conclusion Based on the statistical analysis done so far, it can be concluded that village area is the most popular area for smaller businesses. Reasons like good business opportunity, avaibility of premises, and skilled labor, and give villages a competitive advantage. The council area has mostly businesses in the agriculture or manufacturing area. Some of the steps that the council should take in order to promote small businesses in its area are: Setting up of institutional facilities to provide skilled labor, especially in local village area. Facilitate acquiring of premises and land at reasonable prices by setting up economic zones, and attractive financing options. Promote high-tech industry by giving tax benefits Setting up of infrastructure at Bramweel and Coledene and promoting them as good business places. Improving the infrastructural facilities such as parking, land, especially in village area. Parking is the most important constraint in agriculture industry, and the council shall take necessary steps to remove this constraint. Addendum 1: Tables Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Agriculture/ Horticulture 22 22.0 22.0 22.0 Manufacturing 22 22.0 22.0 44.0 Storage/ Distribution 16 16.0 16.0 60.0 Construction 13 13.0 13.0 73.0 High Tech Industry 1 1.0 1.0 74.0 Retail 10 10.0 10.0 84.0 Office Services 10 10.0 10.0 94.0 Others 6 6.0 6.0 100.0 Total 100 100.0 100.0 Table1. frequency table for Types of Business in the Stapleton Borough Council Area Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Ashford 26 26.0 26.0 26.0 Bramwell 17 17.0 17.0 43.0 Coledene 14 14.0 14.0 57.0 Local village/ rural area 43 43.0 43.0 100.0 Total 100 100.0 100.0 Table 2. The frequency table of the areas where businesses are based. Employees N Valid 100 Missing 0 Mean 11.61 Median 10.00 Mode 8a Std. Deviation 6.749 Percentiles 25 8.00 50 10.00 75 13.00 a. Multiple modes exist. The smallest value is shown Table 3. Descriptive statistics of number of Employees Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Freehold 49 49.0 49.0 49.0 Leasehold 51 51.0 51.0 100.0 Total 100 100.0 100.0 Table 4. Frequency table for Type of Business Premises Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 0 to 99 sq m 19 19.0 19.0 19.0 100 to 249 sq m 25 25.0 25.0 44.0 250 to 499 sq m 18 18.0 18.0 62.0 500 to 749 sq m 13 13.0 13.0 75.0 750 to 999 sq m 11 11.0 11.0 86.0 1000 to 1999 sq m 10 10.0 10.0 96.0 2000 or more sq m 4 4.0 4.0 100.0 Total 100 100.0 100.0 Table 5. Frequency Table for size of the business premises. Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Business opportunity 7 7.0 7.0 7.0 Cost of premises 9 9.0 9.0 16.0 Premises available 25 25.0 25.0 41.0 Suitable workforce 3 3.0 3.0 44.0 Client/customer base 13 13.0 13.0 57.0 live locally 33 33.0 33.0 90.0 Access to road /rail etc 2 2.0 2.0 92.0 Other 8 8.0 8.0 100.0 Total 100 100.0 100.0 Table 6. Frequency table for reasons for starting in Stapleton Borough. Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Availability of new premises 12 12.0 12.0 12.0 Availability of land 6 6.0 6.0 18.0 Skilled Labor Force 17 17.0 17.0 35.0 Parking 18 18.0 18.0 53.0 No Constraints 40 40.0 40.0 93.0 Other Constraints 7 7.0 7.0 100.0 Total 100 100.0 100.0 Table 7. Frequency table for constraints faced by small businesses. Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Yes, within Stapleton 18 18.0 18.0 18.0 Yes, outside Stapleton 3 3.0 3.0 21.0 No 54 54.0 54.0 75.0 Dont Know 25 25.0 25.0 100.0 Total 100 100.0 100.0 Table 8. Frequency table for relocation plans in the next 5 years. W H E R E Total Ashford Bramwell Coledene Local village/ rural area B U S I N E S S Agriculture/ Horticulture Count 1 3 0 18 22 Percentage 4.5% 13.6% .0% 81.8% 100.0% Manufacturing Count 7 4 3 8 22 Percentage 31.8% 18.2% 13.6% 36.4% 100.0% Storage/ Distribution Count 5 2 3 6 16 Percentage 31.2% 12.5% 18.8% 37.5% 100.0% Construction Count 8 2 1 2 13 Percentage 61.5% 15.4% 7.7% 15.4% 100.0% High Tech Industry Count 0 0 0 1 1 Percentage .0% .0% .0% 100.0% 100.0% Retail Count 1 2 4 3 10 Percentage 10.0% 20.0% 40.0% 30.0% 100.0% Office Services Count 2 3 2 3 10 Percentage 20.0% 30.0% 20.0% 30.0% 100.0% Others Count 2 1 1 2 6 Percentage 33.3% 16.7% 16.7% 33.3% 100.0% Total Count 26 17 14 43 100 Percentage 26.0% 17.0% 14.0% 43.0% 100.0% Table 9. Cross tabulation for Business* Where W H E R E Total Ashford Bramwell Coledene Local village/ rural area R E A S O N Business opportunity Count 1 1 1 4 7 Percentage 14.3% 14.3% 14.3% 57.1% 100.0% Cost of premises Count 3 0 0 6 9 Percentage 33.3% .0% .0% 66.7% 100.0% Premises available Count 6 6 3 10 25 Percentage 24.0% 24.0% 12.0% 40.0% 100.0% Suitable workforce Count 1 0 1 1 3 Percentage 33.3% .0% 33.3% 33.3% 100.0% Client/customer base Count 3 3 4 3 13 Percentage 23.1% 23.1% 30.8% 23.1% 100.0% live locally Count 9 5 4 15 33 Percentage 27.3% 15.2% 12.1% 45.5% 100.0% Access to road /rail etc Count 0 1 0 1 2 Percentage .0% 50.0% .0% 50.0% 100.0% Other Count 3 1 1 3 8 Percentage 37.5% 12.5% 12.5% 37.5% 100.0% Total Count 26 17 14 43 100 Percentage 26.0% 17.0% 14.0% 43.0% 100.0% Table 10. Cross tabulation for Reason* Where References Levin, R.I., Rubin, D.S 2007, Statistics foe Management, 7th ed., Pearson Education Inc, London. Singh K. 2007, Quantitative Social Research Methods: Methods and Issues. Sage India Publications, New Delhi. Sable, 1998, last updated on 16 March, 1998, Viewed on 20th July 2009, < http://simon.cs.vt.edu/SoSci/Site/MMM/mmm.html > WiseGeek, 2009, Viewed on 20th July 2009, < http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-median-and-mean.htm> Read More