"Survey Says..." Tips for Better Surveys

If you aren't already using them, online surveys are a great tool for quickly gauging the pulse of members when developing new projects, evaluating programs, or just getting a better understanding of what they are thinking.

There are several tools available at little or no charge depending on the features you choose and all can be customized to match the look and feel of your chamber brand. Some of the more popular include:

• Survey Monkey
• Zoomerang
• Cvent
• Survey Gizmo

Whichever program you choose, here are some helpful hints when desiging surveys to increase response rates and ensure valid data collection (from Survey Monkey's Best Practices in Survey Design):

For creating relevant questions to gather accurate responses consider:

• The intent of the question: Is it relevant to your objective, painless to answer, understandable to the respondent?
• The type of question: Is the style of the question appropriate to the desired responses (i.e., ranking vs. multiple answers, open-ended response vs. choice)
• The level of difficulty: Easing into more difficult or sensitive questions with easy opening questions makes the survey flow more coherently and helps to prepare the respondent. Also, more thought or effort required to answer, the less accurate the data is. In this case, a focus group or interview might be more appropriate.
• Good questions are brief, specific, and simple. Consider how much effort your responses would require if you were taking your own survey.

Survey Monkey also recommends strong introductions to your surveys to explain the survey purpose and build confidence in the respondent's answers. When the respondent is familiar with the administrator and why they are collecting data, the respondent will be more comfortable sharing information. Be sure to include the following information in your surveys:

• The name of the organization conducting the survey
• Information on the confidentiality of responses and how the data will be used.
• For longer surveys, how many questions are included and the approximate time required to complete the survey.
• General instructions for how to use the survey tool; this is especially important for respondents not familiar with the tool used.

When done using these tips, surveys are helpful for collecting data to make a case for new programs, engaging in an activity, or providing support for your decisions.

From SMART SURVEY DESIGN ©1999-2007 SurveyMonkey.com.