« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
METHODOLOGY
7. The marketing materials were shown to five key audiences in China. The audiences are set out in Table 1, together with the research methodology adopted in respect to each. All of the research was conducted in seven specific regions of the country, namely, the five regions in which the Executive is currently focusing its activities - Beijing, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Shandong and Shanghai - and two 'control' regions - Chengdu and Taiyuan.
Table 1: Research audiences and methodology
Research audience | Methodology |
|---|
Business people | 10 face to face interviews (spread across the 7 regions) |
Provincial government officials with responsibility for business development | 14 face to face in depth interviews (2 in each region) |
Final year students attending top universities | 7 focus groups (one in each region), with 8 students attending each group |
University staff responsible for liaising with overseas universities and co-ordinating overseas study | 21 semi-structured face to face interviews (3 in each region) |
Staff at overseas study consulting agencies | 21 semi-structured face to face interviews (3 in each region) |
Tour operators/travel agents | 18 face to face in depth interviews (spread across the 7 regions) |
Audience details and recruitment
Business people
8. The business audience in China included senior management personnel from larger companies (i.e. those with an annual revenue of £100 million RMB or more) representing the main business sectors in the target provinces. As far as possible, efforts were made to target companies which had an interest in expanding overseas in the near future. Fuller, sectoral details of the business sample are provided in Appendix 1.
Local government officials
9. The local government officials included representatives from the provincial government of each of the target provinces. All were the heads of their respective authority's department for overseas business development (or equivalent). All recruitment was undertaken by telephone.
Students
10. The students were recruited face to face on campus at the top universities in the seven provinces (A full listing of the universities is provided in Appendix 2). To ensure a range of views were represented, quotas were set on gender, degree type (i.e. postgraduate or undergraduate) and degree subject.
University staff
11. The staff who participated in the research were all heads of international offices (or equivalent) at top universities in the target provinces (see Appendix 2 for a full listing of the institutions), and all had been in their current, or a similar, post for at least 3 years. All were recruited by telephone.
Staff at overseas study consulting agencies
12. All of the staff were recruited by telephone from consulting agencies in the seven target provinces. All were senior managers or above and had worked in their current or a similar post for at least three years.
Travel agents/Tour operators
13. These respondents were recruited by telephone from the largest travel agents and tour operators across the target provinces. All were senior managers who had been in their current, or a similar post for at least three years.
Fieldwork
14. All fieldwork was carried out by Ipsos China and took place between 15 September and 7 November 2006.
Discussion guides and questionnaires
15. All questionnaires and discussion guides used in the research were designed by Ipsos MORI in close consultation with the Scottish Executive. The materials were subsequently translated by Ipsos China and checked by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and by an external consultant.
16. Copies of the topic guides and questionnaires for each audience are provided in an accompanying report titled Scotland's International Engagement and the China Strategy
Interpretation of the data
17. Two of the key strengths of qualitative research are that it allows issues to be explored in detail and enables researchers to test the strength of people's opinions and the underlying rationale for people's attitudes and behaviours.
18. However, it needs to be remembered that qualitative research does not allow conclusions to be drawn about either the extent to which something is happening among the wider public (although one might surmise that particular opinions appear to be widespread) or percentages of people that have certain attitudes or opinions. Qualitative research is designed to be illustrative rather than providing statistically representative data.
« Previous | Contents | Next »