Designing Effective Surveys

Written by Eileen "Turtle" Parzek


© Eileen Parzek for SOHO It Goes!, March 2003

Asrepparttar web becomes more and more a part of both our personal and business lives, business people and marketing professionals have turned towards web surveys to do research, plan projects, get feedback and develop new products and services. The emergence of excellent web survey applications, complete with wizards to make creation fast and simple, templates to ensure attractive designs, and full suites of reports and statistical analysis, make this method of interacting with your customers very attractive and extremely cost effective. However, as with all computer applications,repparttar 121054 old adage "garbage in, garbage out" applies to surveys as well - if you do not know how to design an effective survey,repparttar 121055 results will leave much to be desired.

Introductions, first

Whether onrepparttar 121056 first page ofrepparttar 121057 survey, or inrepparttar 121058 cover letter inviting people to respond, it is important that you introducerepparttar 121059 theme and purpose ofrepparttar 121060 survey. This establishes in advance what types of questions you will be asking and putsrepparttar 121061 audience inrepparttar 121062 right frame of mind for answeringrepparttar 121063 survey. Additionally, it helps to tell them why they were chosen, to establish understanding and trust, and assure that their input will be confidential, and personal information will not be shared.

Organize Yourself

It is important thatrepparttar 121064 questions you ask fit withinrepparttar 121065 theme and purpose set down inrepparttar 121066 introduction. Create an outline, when you are first planning your survey, and then subgrouprepparttar 121067 questions into logical categories.

First think about what information you want to know, and develop your questions from that. Experiment with different groupings, until each question flows fromrepparttar 121068 previous, in logical order.

Give careful thought to how much you need each question -repparttar 121069 fewerrepparttar 121070 better, because people generally do not haverepparttar 121071 time or inclination to answer long questionnaires.

Respect your Respondents

Be careful not to use jargon and buzzwords, but also avoid being too simplistic by knowing your survey audience and findingrepparttar 121072 appropriate balance. Remember thatrepparttar 121073 respondent is taking time out of busy day to help you. Tell them inrepparttar 121074 introduction approximately how long it might take to complete, and let them know, as they go, how far along they are.

Carefully Craft Questions

When surveys are delivered by phone, trained surveyors usually conduct them andrepparttar 121075 respondent can get clarification without being led towards a particular answer. With self-administered surveys onrepparttar 121076 web, every question must be completely clear and understandable. Keep each question as short as possible, without losing meaning, and avoid jargon unless you are sure your audience understands it.

Be careful to ask only one thing at a time. If you have to ask additional questions onrepparttar 121077 same topic, do it as separate questions to avoid getting muddled responses. Be aware of inserting your own biases and intentions intorepparttar 121078 question, and try to keep questions neutral so that a "right answer" is not evident. The idea is to get truthful answers which go straight torepparttar 121079 heart ofrepparttar 121080 subject, andrepparttar 121081 simplest variations in a question can make this happen, or not.

Know Your Type

We are all familiar withrepparttar 121082 most common types of survey question formats - text, check boxes, yes/no, range responses - but there is a real science to knowing which type to use with which question to getrepparttar 121083 best results. For example:

How "Available" are YOU?

Written by Anna-Marie Stewart


How "Available" are YOU?

By Anna-Marie Stewart Venton

The internet can be pretty scary at times. Do you realise how easy it is to access your personal information? Your phone number, name, address? Even get driving instructions on how to get to your location (if you`re inrepparttar USA)??

Did you know that www.google.com works as a telephone directory?? If you`re inrepparttar 121053 USA, anybody can find you through their search engine. If you`ve got an unlisted number, this won`t apply to you:

Go type your phone number intorepparttar 121054 search box in this format 555 444 1212 (no dashes or anything). It`ll bring up your full name and address, and it`ll give you 2 map links. The yahoo map will even give driving instructions on how to get to where you`re at!!

There should be a telephone icon next to your listing. If you don`t want to be listed, click on that and request to be removed fromrepparttar 121055 service.

This one`s for USA only, too: Free Internet Access to Public Records

Listed are over 800 state, county, city and federal (court) URL's where you can access public record information for free. http://www.crimescreen.com/linkspage.htm

Don`t think you`re outtarepparttar 121056 woods just because you don`t live inrepparttar 121057 United States. There are worldwide lists too. Here`s an example: http://www.hansaprint.fi/eypeng.html This one`s a combination of worldwide yellow and white pages. A lot of them will link you to maps, where anybody can see your location.

Ok, here`s another one, this one is reliant on people giving accurate info though. Do you own your own registered domain? go do a "WhoIs" here: http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois Brings up a lot of info, huh?

So how can you stop your personal information from getting broadcast onrepparttar 121058 web? Maybe you can`t, totally, but there are a few guidelines, that if followed, will make you less "available"

Make sure your phone number is UNLISTED! A lot of online phonebooks are based on a database used byrepparttar 121059 telephone company. Which in turn leads to your address.

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