Survey Design
You want the best information possible from your survey, that’s why you are looking for help with your survey design. Survey design is the most critical element of the survey process. It’s the classic “garbage in, garbage out” scenario. If your survey questions aren’t clear, concise, unambiguous, understandable and unbiased then the quality of the information you get suffers. That’s why you come to Survey Design & Analysis, the place where professional surveys are done right.
It doesn’t take much to throw together a bunch of questions, but it takes planning, knowledge, experience and expertise to obtain meaningful information from a survey. Survey Design & Analysis has the expertise, knowledge and experience to design a survey to get you the information you need.
Your objectives drive your survey questions and Survey Design & Analysis understands this. You want meaningful questions that lead to meaningful results so that you can take action with confidence. Survey Design & Analysis completes a full evaluation of survey objectives and proposed actions to ensure that all possible issues are brought to bear on the design of the survey questions. Survey Design & Analysis looks at each question for relevance and clarity.
Regardless of you objective, it is good survey design that provides the foundation for solid decision-making. Survey Design & Analysis employs five guiding principles in its design process:
Focus – Clear, specific objectives drive the formulation of unambiguous questions. All survey questions need to tie back to a specific objective. This is the first principle of design that leads to obtaining quality information from your survey.
Connection - The quality of the information you obtain depends how well you connect with your respondents. The words and questions in your survey must let your respondent know that you understand their needs, want their thoughtful feedback and will listen to the feedback they provide.
Respect – Good survey design requires that you look at your survey from the perspective of the respondent and accordingly show respect for your respondent’s time. If you are trying to do too much, it shows and it will turn off your respondent. Include only relevant questions and never ask for information you already know or information you know you will not use.
Action - The only reason to do a survey is because you want to take some kind of action. That action usually means making a decision. It may be a decision to change the services you offer, build a park, not build a park or even start a company, but if you can’t touch on some action you don’t need to do a survey.
You want a survey design that will deliver actionable results, you want Survey Design & Analysis experts to help.
Engagement - The fifth principle for creating a good survey is ENGAGEMENT. This principle sums up the other four. If you follow the first four principles the result will be an engaged respondent and that will mean better response rates and better information.
You can further engage your respondents by offering to share a summary of your results with them and let them know what was done with the information they provided. That will keep them engaged and ready for your next survey!
Don’t just write a bunch of questions; create meaningful surveys that provide quality information through expert knowledge and planning.
Learn more about survey best practice here.