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I am a first-time post-graduate student in an apparel design field, and I don’t understand statistics very well. I am doing a study on the adoption of 3D apparel design software by major apparel retailer design departments in my country.

I have identified only six retail groups that fit the criteria. I aim to collect data from various companies that fall within each group, but I suspect the each group would have design practices that extends throughout all their brands, as they are all situated in the same office buildings and ultimately overseen by the same merchandising directors.

So far, I have only obtained permission from two of the groups, and have warm leads from another two. The last two have both denied permission.

Would this study still be valid, and if so, how can I back this up statistically?

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  • $\begingroup$ At what level is this design software used: group, company or brand? What differences in usage would you like to detect? (Is there any chance individual companies or brand designers could be persuaded to participate even if 'groups' won't?) Do you believe willingness to participate is influenced by the kind or level of software usage? $\endgroup$
    – BruceET
    Sep 29, 2019 at 7:12
  • $\begingroup$ @BruceET thank you. Please excuse my lack of mathematical language, I have no idea how I should describe the situation for the sake of statistics. 3D software would be used in design departments of companies that fall under each of the retail groups. 2D design software has been the industry standard, but 3D design software is starting to replace traditional product development methods. I want to know whether major retailers in my country use 3D design software, and if not, whether they plan to adopt it. $\endgroup$
    – SneezYvi
    Sep 29, 2019 at 8:23
  • $\begingroup$ @BruceET The plan is to obtain permission from the appropriate group or company executives, and then distribute the survey to individuals heading up, or working within their product development/design departments. The aim is to obtain a generalised result. Participants answer anonymously and the company names are not requested in the survey. $\endgroup$
    – SneezYvi
    Sep 29, 2019 at 8:24
  • $\begingroup$ @BruceET It seems that willingness to participate is hindered by executives who don’t have time to communicate about matter trivial to them. The groups that that gave consent took the time to read through the description of the study. Their communication with me was detailed and interactive. The groups that denied consent were short in correspondence without supplying reasons for rejecting the request, leading to the assumption that they did not read through the description. $\endgroup$
    – SneezYvi
    Sep 29, 2019 at 8:24
  • $\begingroup$ How to approach this will be a matter of opinion. And opinions from statisticians who do not have detailed knowledge either of the industry or of your objectives might not be useful. Depending on objectives you may be able to get enough quantitative information to reach useful conclusions. But statistical analysis depends on good quantitative info, and cannot be a 'cure' for misleading info. // Maybe with a combination of surveys and in-depth interviews you can obtain genuinely useful insights. Maybe you can expand the study to other countries where 3D software is also beginning to be adopted. $\endgroup$
    – BruceET
    Sep 29, 2019 at 17:55

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