At the moment, I don't think it would be possible for me to visit organisations as my demographic is mothers working in the education sector and schools are pretty much on break for summer now, so I'm pretty much relying on online means like forums, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ etc.

I'm trying to aim for 50 at the very least, still about 20 responses away - I guess I probably should have visited or contacted schools earlier but I encountered a lot of problems with narrowing my research question and redrafting my research proposal that it was July before I knew it. Thanks for your replies guys, I guess I'll try harder with the pestering and persistence :)

Hey guys,

I have a question for anyone with experience doing MA dissertations that involve questionnaires/data collection with statistical analyses.

I'm in completion of mine in HR Management and I'm worried about failing because I'm struggling to collect enough questionnaire responses... My demographic is quite narrow as we have to focus on a specific industry and I've tried contacting several organisations for help with distribution but have yet to hear back from them. My supervisor expects me to collect around 100 responses and when I told her that I'm doubtful I would be able to, she just said that I need to distribute to 500 people - which is impossible for me because I don't even know 500 people in the industry.

I'm just wondering if anyone has ever used small sample sizes (under 50 responses via questionnaires distributed online, for example) and managed to pass their dissertation? I asked my supervisor this question but she just said I need to distribute to many more people. I know there'll be a large margin of error when it comes to statistical analyses with such a small sample size but I'm honestly running out of options and the worry of failing is affecting my motivation and concentration to start my write up.