Tested operational web-based questionnaires and interview guidelines

Questionnaires Two questionnaires with similar questions were developed within WP3 in collaboration with all the partners to get insights about willingness to interact and experiences from interactions between HEIs and SMEs. After having tested the two questionnaires on some HEIs and some SMEs they were revised and adopted to online versions with 9 questions addressed to HEIs and 6 questions addressed to SMEs. The questions to the HEIs and the SMEs were dealing with similar issues in order to be able to compare as far as possible the answers from both sides. The questionnaires had 4-6 response alternatives to choose among plus also a possibility to give any comment to each question. Somebody could choose a maximum of three alternatives and place them in the rank of relevance. Besides the questions, there were also two open questions. To get the responses grouped country-wise a specific password for each country was used. To maximize the willingness to fill the questionnaires the ambition was to have them as short and simple as possible.
  • The developed questionnaire to catch the HEIs perspective in interaction with SMEs can be found  here
  • The developed questionnaire to catch the SMEs perspective in interaction with HEIs can be found here
Sampling strategy and data collection The HEIs and SMEs have been chosen to get a good distribution over the respective countries, age and size of the companies, personal contacts, and knowledge about possible ongoing HEI/SME collaborations. In most cases, the communication has been performed via e-mails but also interviews via telephone have been undertaken. In both cases, short information about the Gienahs project has been presented as well as further details about the specific aims with the questionnaire. The invitation letter has included a link[1] to the web page with the questionnaire and a specific password for each country. The information has been given that all responses are kept anonymous and that those who wish to get the results will have it and that the participation is voluntary. Selection criteria for SMEs.
Definition SME Size
Size Staff Turnover (€ M)
Medium <250 50
Small <50 10
Micro <10 2
Definition SME Line of Business
Classes Description
services supplier companies offering services
production/lateral production direct production (processes/goods) or lateral (assembly components of different companies)
start-up** Start-up companies (that can be of different size)
** this class is optional since it can be detected by the answer given in the column (established year)