Final Report - Professional Services Activities Environmental Scan Final Report - Professional Services Activities En | Page 26

Upon cleaning up the database, 401 duplicates were removed from the database to avoid from
contacting the same company twice. Thus, the total samples had been reduced to 14,236 from
14,637. The database provided consisted of company names, state, company size and MSIC
code; however, there were no contact details such as telephone number and email address.
Therefore, the contact details of the additional establishments received from DOSM’s sampling
frame were compiled and validated for the second launch of survey. Approximately 1,690
establishments received the survey in the second launch on 4 th June 2018.
In order to encourage higher level of participation, the following measures were implemented:
1. The survey invitation included a letter of authorization from ILMIA
2. Meetings with key industry associations were arranged upon commencement of study
to brief them about the study and to seek their support for the survey, e.g. to create
awareness and encourage participation during their internal events and meetings, to
connect the project team to the right potential respondents, etc.
3. Follow-up calls were made regularly during the entire fieldwork period and survey
invitation emails were resent when necessary
4. Close follow-up with respondents who have completed the survey halfway
5. Survey via telephone and hard copy questionnaire were also be provided as an option
to respondents
During the fieldwork period, data checking was also done on a regular basis to ensure accuracy
and reliability of responses. The respondents were reached out to seek clarification of the
answers provided if necessary. Where possible, an additional qualitative survey was conducted
to selected establishments in the respective sectors to validate the understanding and confirm
the accuracy of the responses.
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