INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Answer all questions below

Your answer should have 4000 words 10%+ or 10% - covering both section A and B. Ensure that your work is properly cited/referenced using APA referencing system.

Should be answered with 4000 words:

Case study

Businesses need patient funding

By Jonathan Moules

Most owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use just one source of finance to start up, according to research by academics at the University of Surrey. The study of 1,000 businesses found that 58 per cent use just one funding means to initiate their business, while 42 per cent rely on only one source to sustain their business. Most of those interviewed borrowed from family or friends or reinvested retained profits, while banks came a poor third in terms of finance sources. David Gray, who led the study, said SMEs needed patient capital, which could finance growth over the longer term. This is the only way to stimulate and sustain

high growth businesses, he added. The findings of the research, commissioned by chartered accountancy firm Kingston Smith, come just weeks after government proposals were announced to launch a British business bank to help SMEs and support economic growth.

All of the forms of investigation had advantages and disadvantages. For example, empirical work required enormous effort in terms of question design and fieldwork. Results of empirical work may have been inconclusive, so re-testing could have been considered. However empirical work looked useful because it is real life data that can be measured. The empirical studies was more for large-n studies (involving many participants), so that the results could be shown to be statistically significant. Conceptual research, on the other hand, could have been a solitary experience. However, it had the advantage of being easier to carry out as there was no need to plan and set up empirical tests. Only articles, books and time were needed.

1. Discuss the differences between quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques and analysis procedures basing on the case study provided. 25 marks

2) If it is not possible to contact everyone in the research population, researchers select a number of people to contact. This is called sampling, discuss the sampling categories and elaborate on each of the sampling methods for each category and how this could have been applied. 25 marks

3) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the understanding approach to research in this case study. 25 marks

4) identify the main research strategies and explain why these should not been thought in the case study as mutually exclusive. 25 marks

End