Introduction

A Lutheran church contacted Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. for assistance in investigating the potential for including a child care center as part of their new church building. Based on the information needs of the church, Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. conducted a feasibility study to evaluate the potential of the child care center. The feasibility study included industry research, competitive research and potential customer research utilizing telephone surveys.

Research Objectives

After a meeting with Lutheran church administration and staff, the following research objectives were developed for this project:

• What are the current trends and issues in the child care industry, and how would they impact development of the child care center?
• What are the child care needs in the area, how are these needs being met, and are there needs that are not being met?
• Who is providing child development/child care services in the area, and what services are considered by people seeking child care services?
• What size of facility will the demand for services support in the area?
• Based on the information gathered to answer the first three issues: Is there market demand or need for a child care center? If yes, how much demand, services required, etc.?

Research Process

Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. completed the following activities for the Lutheran church:

1. Initial meeting with church staff, committee members and other interested parties to determine the project objectives and to begin development of the telephone survey.
   
2. Secondary research into preschool and child care issues, using existing data, reports and information. All current information on the child care industry was reviewed and analyzed for implication on the proposed child development center.
   
3. Developed a customized telephone survey, utilizing the ideas and concerns of the members of the church. The survey was drafted by Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. to meet accepted survey practices. The customized survey included approximately 30 questions, and lasted about five minutes.
   
4. Executed 200 telephone interviews with area residents who have one or more children ages 0-5. The sample was randomly drawn from the telephone prefixes in the area and executed during weekday evenings from approximately 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
   
5. Analyzed and summarized the secondary research and the survey data. The survey data was analyzed on a general level, and then by factors such as age, gender, household income or location to determine if there were statistically significant differences.
   
6. Examined the competition to the proposed child care center including locations, pricing and space availability. Each competitor was contacted by telephone to obtain this information.
   
7. Developed a final report and a recommendation as to the development of a new child care center. After the report was completed, Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. consultants met with the staff of the church and other interested parties to present the final report and answer any questions about the report and the recommendations.  

Reporting

Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. prepares a narrative summary report for every research project we complete. To see some sample pages from the narrative summary report for this project – click here:

Narrative Summary Report Sample (Adobe Acrobat format)

In addition to the narrative summary report, all research projects include a statistical reference binder with the statistical information from the report. To see some of sample pages from the statistical reference binder for this project – click here:

Statistical Reference Binder Sample (Adobe Acrobat format)