Online Surveys Done Right
Posted on | January 9, 2009 | No Comments
For many small businesses, hiring a market research firm to solicit information may not be feasible. However, that does not mean companies should go without gathering the necessary information they need to do business. A common solution is to use one of the many online survey software tools available to gather information and feedback.
Here are a few things to keep in mind if you do decide to write your own survey and gather your own market research:
1.) Make sure you have a clear objective for your survey. Before you start writing know the exact information you’re trying to obtain.
2.) Include only questions that pertain to your objective.
3.) Try to keep your verbatim responses to a minimum. Experts recommend having no more than two questions requiring a verbatim response.
4.) If you are going to use ’skip logic’ it helps to sketch out your survey on paper first to make sure the path the respondents will follow makes sense.
5.) When using yes/no questions allow the respondents the opportunity to explain their yes or no. You will be surprised how many, “yes, but…” you get.
6.) If you are going to provide respondents with a list of choices to pick from, limit the choices to no more than 5.
7.) If your list of choices must exceed 5, then set up the question in the form of a drop down box so the survey does not appear too long.
8.) If you set you your question in a radio button matrix format, avoid using N/A or ‘does not apply’ as an option. These answers always skew results ratings.
9.) When using a rating scale, the experts recommend using a scale from 1 to 7 rather than from 1 to 10.
In closing we would like to give a salute to our home town team… GO STEELERS !!!
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