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12. Allow respondent to expand or make comments
Allowing respondent to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and will also give valuable feedback on specific questions and/or survey as a whole. Remember though for a large sample collection it may be difficult to analyse free text open ended responses.
13. If survey you are conducting is to be confidential ensure that your pledge is upheld
If you have assured respondents that survey is confidential ensure that individual data is not to be shared with anyone and information is not going to be used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained at all times and any identifying information destroyed after survey is complete.
14. Weigh up benefits of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable
If your respondents are to be anonymous then appreciate that you will be unable to follow up 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. Give careful consideration to best response format
It is good practice to maintain a consistency in format used for responses. Keep in mind that when analysing data radio buttons are easier to analyse than check boxes that offer respondent multiple responses. Do not use a check box if a radio response would do.
16. Give respondent an idea of how much time survey will take.
Respondent drop out can occur if survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long survey is likely to take so respondents can choose best time to complete survey.
17. Inform respondents of survey end date
Encourage respondents to complete survey as soon as possible but advice respondents as to surveys end date so that they have opportunity to schedule necessary time.
18. Pilot survey
Before publishing a live survey publish a small pilot survey to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that survey is aesthetically pleasing.
19. Before publishing survey proof read survey several times
Check and check again that survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If possible get someone else to proof read survey before you publish, if no one else is available then take a break before checking again.
20. Remember to say thank you
To complete surveys respondents need to invest their time and should be thanked either in a covering letter, at end of completing survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as a prize draw or reward.
For more information visit http://www.SurveyGalaxy.com
Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy Ltd for more information please visit http://www.SurveyGalaxy.com