Conduct a Meaningful Planning Phase
Before you jump into surveying, there are numerous topics to think about that
can make or break the success of your survey campaign. Even in the beginning
phase of a survey project, it helps to think about the end-game. What insights
are you hoping to discover through analysis of survey responses? What actions
will you take based on those findings? Who will be taking your surveys? What are
their lifestyles?
The key in planning a survey project is to not be short-sighted. Think
long-term. Problems will always occur. However, careful mapping-out of your
initiative will ensure you are ready to address those problems quickly and
efficiently.
In this section:
Preliminary Steps: Basic Guide to Design
Online Surveys
Before you even begin to design your first survey question, answer some initial
questions that will guide your survey’s creation.
Define survey goals
Direct your project with concrete goals of what you seek to accomplish.
Identify who is involved
Who are all of the involved parties associated with the survey.
Research similar past surveys
Don’t double your efforts by running a survey that has been previously deployed
Survey length and number of questions
The length of your survey has a direct effect on its response rate.
Identify participants and their
survey history
Knowing how many times your participants have been recently surveyed allows you
to tailor your strategy and obtain a higher response.
Determine incentives
Incentives give participants who are on the margin of taking your survey that
added bonus.
Determine distribution mode(s)
How you reach participants and how they submit the survey has a great influence
on response rates.
Determine number of invites
and desired response rate
Set realistic goals of how many people you would like to survey and how many you
expect to actually respond.
Multiple languages?
Increase your survey’s reach by allowing participants to complete it in their
native language.
Online, offline or
both?
Effectively include individuals in your survey who do not have an email address.
Important
Concerns of Respondents
Privacy, confidentiality, spam, opt-outs and more
Open-ended and close-ended
questions
Determine the right balance of these two types of survey questions
Pre-population of know data
Shorten and personalize your surveys
Test survey invites
Sending a test invite helps administrators to objectively identify possible
edits and changes of a survey before it goes live.
Survey one time or multi-year?
Are you after one-time perceptions or longitudinal analysis?
Time survey invites for
convenience
Make sure you are sending invites at the optimal time for respondents to
complete the survey.
When will reminders be sent?
Sending them too early can portray you as desperate for responses and sending
them too late can negate sending reminders at all.
