Posted by ripraprip | Posted in Internet Marketing | Posted on 09-08-2009
Tags: advertising, customer services, employee surveys, employer, feedback, market research, marketing, Online surveys, promotion, questionnaires, satisfaction surveys
How to create a survey using Survey Galaxy
Paid Surveys Etc.. #1 Survey Site.
Writing surveys is easy; or is it? The reality is that writing surveys is easy but writing surveys that will be effective is more difficult. The following tips will help you with your survey questionnaire design so you can write more effective surveys.
1. What is the survey’s purpose?
Surveys are conducted for many reasons. By correctly phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in a multitude of ways and for a variety of reasons. When designing a survey do not lose sight of its purpose.
2. Give the survey a good title
The survey title is key and an opportunity to instantly summarise a survey’s objective and grab the attention of invited respondents. Respondents need to invest time in completing the survey so you need to encourage them that their investment will be worthwhile.
3. The length of the survey needs to be as short as possible
Every question asked should be asked for a reason. Pay attention to the ‘need to know’ questions and minimise ‘nice to know’ information.
4. Use plain English, maintain consistency and avoid jargon, acronyms and asking questions that could result in ambiguous answers
Word the question carefully. If a question is unclear then there is every chance that respondents may understand the question differently to that intended by the publisher making any analysis of the data worthless or at the very least suspect.
5. Don’t have long questions
Where practical use concise sentences. Long questions tend to cause respondents discomfort and can lead to a higher level of incidents where respondents abandon a survey.
6. Ask only one question at a time
Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like ‘Do you like golf and tennis?’
7. Do not influence the answer
Avoid loading the question. ‘Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell tobacco to minors be prosecuted?’ is unlikely to have any value.
8. Ensure that the selected answer format allows the respondent to answer the question being asked
Allow the respondent to answer how they really feel or they may be inclined to abandon the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a “Don’t know”, “No comment” or similar response option.
9. When you are compiling your survey consider how the compiled data is going be analysed when the survey is complete
When asking questions that allow for a free text open ended response, such as when asking the respondent for their comments, appreciate that such information is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider how answers can be grouped. For example “How long have you worked here?” – ‘less than 3 year’, ‘between 3 and 6 years’ and ‘more than 6′.
10. Ensure that the questionnaire flows
Group questions into clear categories as this will make it easier for the participants completing the survey.
11. Target your respondents carefully
You may want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you can’t control who responds to your survey consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents who don’t fit your target profile.
12. Provide a channel for your respondents to expand on their answers or make comments
Allowing respondents to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Remember that for large sample collections that free text open ended responses may be difficult to analyse.
13. If the survey you are conducting is to be confidential ensure that your pledge is upheld
If you have assured the respondents that the survey is confidential ensure that the individual data is not to be shared with anyone and the information is not going to be used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained at all times and any contact information destroyed after the survey is complete.
14. Weigh up the advantages of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable
If your respondents are to be anonymous then you will be unable to follow up specific complaints or match “pre” or “post” surveys. However in some cases allowing people to remain anonymous will allow people to respond without possible peer pressure.
15. Consideration carefully the best response format
It is good practice to maintain a consistency in the format used for responses. When creating your survey keep in mind that when analysing the data radio buttons are easier to analyse than check boxes that offer the respondent multiple responses. If a radio response format can be used do not use a check box format.
16. Inform the respondent as to the approximate time it will take to complete the survey
If the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions then respondent drop out can occur. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so that the participants can determine the best time to complete the survey.
17. Inform the respondents of the survey end date
Try and encourage your invited respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advise the respondents of the survey’s end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.
18. Trial the survey
Before publishing a live survey publish the survey as a trial to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.
19. Before publishing the survey proof read the survey carefully
Check and then check again that a survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If possible get someone else to proof read the survey before you publish, if you are unable to do this then take a break before checking again.
20. Thank your respondents
To complete surveys respondents have to devote their time and should be thanked either in a covering letter, at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as entry into a prize draw or a reward.
Getting started is easy and there are many survey software websites to choose from.
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