SWOT analysis chart

I have found it useful to create a SWOT analysis chart which clarifies the positive and negative elements of my inquiry. By looking into the strengths and Weaknesses of my plan I am able to see where I have come across obstacles in the process so far and the strength of my plan at the moment. By identifying the opportunities and threats for the outcome of my inquiry I am able to predict how this may develop during the inquiry. The SWOT analysis chart for my impending inquiry is as follows:

Strengths	Weaknesses
·         Large and diverse network of people agreeing to participate in the survey and be interviewed. ·         Able to observe the industry first hand by participating in courses, watching presenters on television and speaking with an actual presenter and television expert. ·         Other dancers (on BAPP and outside) are directly involved in transition making them likely to have strong views, giving interesting and reliable data.	·         Limited existing literature on theories of dance and career transition. ·         Surveys are opinion based which could lead to inconclusive data. ·         Specific action plan (e.g. Gantt chart) not yet made.
Opportunities	Threats
·         Help other dancers by highlighting alternative career options from the research and findings. ·         Help myself become more likely to break into the television industry as a presenter.	·         Interviewees changing interview times/days which could interfere with the overall schedule and plan. ·         May receive fewer survey responses than predicted which could lead to unreliable data.

From identifying these various elements I can see how I may be able to eliminate certain problems before they even arise. For example, I have identified that I do not have a specific action plan with deadline dates yet; therefore my next task is to now make an action plan and stick to it wherever possible. I have also identified that my surveys are very much opinion based which could be a problem for data collection. Therefore I will now be aware of this when writing my surveys so I can add in questions which involve the participant rating their opinion on a scale of 1-10 or choosing from options instead of writing their thoughts in a comment box. This should help me gain more quantative data which will be useful in forming charts and seeing results.

I have also identified that a possible threat may be that I do not have a lot of survey responses. Since identifying this I have decided on a few ways I may be able to encourage people to participate. I am going to clearly explain to all of them exactly why I need a large amount of responses for my inquiry results and persuade them that this could benefit others as well in the long run. Hopefully this will persuade more people to give up some of their time to complete the survey as opposed to if they knew nothing about my inquiry and the reasons I need their responses.

I think that this chart will be useful for me to look back on after I have completed the inquiry process in order to see where my prediction may differ to the actual outcome and the threats I actually face while doing the inquiry. As this is my first inquiry project I am hoping that by making a note of the threats I find along the way I will be able to more accurately identify them at the beginning of the process if I undertake another inquiry in the future. This in turn should lead to any future inquiries being more efficient as I will be more prepared for the opportunities and threats to come.