There are both advantages and disadvantages of survey research. Advantages include the relative ease with which data can be collected using this method, the decreased time it takes to develop this type of survey, cost effectiveness, the ability to administer remotely, lack of dependence on geography, ability to collect data from a large number of subjects, that numerous questions can be included increasing flexibility during data analysis, software can be used to analyze survey data to evaluate validity, reliability, and statistical significance, while including multiple variables, a variety of types of variables can be included, when standardized the are relatively free from a variety of errors. Disadvantages of surveys include that subjects might not feel motivated to provide honest answers, they may fake good, data error due to incomplete surveys, and low response rates Surveys can be used to gather several types of information. These include demographic (descriptive information about the participant), behavioral and attitudinal information (Opdenakker, 2006).
In order to determine the size of the sample for this survey several factors would need to be taken into consideration. These would include the size of the entire population, the margin of error and how responsive people are likely to be. Assuming the population of business owners in Centervale is 100,000 and the desired margin of error is 5 percent with a 95 percent confidence interval this would mean the sample size needed would be 383. However, given that it has been shown that only 10 percent to 15 percent of those surveyed by internet respond, the subject number would need to be divided by this percentage so dividing b 15 percent the number of subjects needed would actually be 2553 to ensure 383 completed surveys are returned (Fowler, 2013).
I would be willing to hire ex-convicts under certain conditions. I would make my decision in part on the type of job I was hiring for and the crimes committed by the applicant. For example if I was hiring for an accountant position I would not hire somone with a history of embezzlement and if I was in a healthcare position and the job would put the individual in contact with drugs I would not hire someone with a criminal history involving any type of drug charges. I would also prefer not to be the first one to employ an individual who has just been released from prison but I recognize that if everyone feels this way no one will give the person a chance so it really would depend on the individual and how the present themselves, their skills, their background, the job and the crime the committed as well as my gut feeling about the individual. I might choose to give some type of personality test as well to just make sure I wasn’t missing anything or request some type of work readiness assessment be completed. While all this may seem like a lot of hoops to jump through, the person would need to understand that I would be taking a risk in hiring them and until they had proved themselves on the job I wouldn’t be able to know for certain they might not do something to cost me money in terms of my business or perhaps permanently harm my reputation. While I would be willing to consider hiring someone with a criminal history I would want to be smart about it.
I would feel more confident in hiring someone with a criminal history If there were adequate protections from legal liability in case the individual committed a crime under my employ I would feel better about this process. A thorough background check would also be crucial in my willingness to hire someone who has a criminal history as would an agreement that I could receive updates from their parole officer to make sure they are keeping up with them as appropriate and following their program. I feel that many ex-convicts made mistakes they wish they hadn’t, completed their punishment and deserve a second chance to get back on their feet. I think sometimes people who have made even serious mistakes and learned from them can become more upstanding than many people who don’t have such a background. At the same time being careful that the person is really rehabilitated and does regret their past mistakes would be an important part of my willingness to hire them.
- Fowler Jr, F. J. (2013). Survey research methods. Sage publications.
- Opdenakker, R. (2006, September). Advantages and disadvantages of four interview techniques in qualitative research. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research (Vol. 7, No. 4).
