A survey is a method of gathering information using relevant questions from a sample of people with the aim of understanding populations as a whole. Surveys provide a critical source of data and insights for everyone engaged in the information economy, from businesses to media, to government and academics.
What types of surveys are there?
There are four modes of surveys that are commonly used.
- Face-to-face surveys
- Telephone surveys
- Self-administered paper and pencil surveys
- Self-administered computer surveys (typically online)
While surveys vary widely in how they’re conducted, there are a number of common components. Many of these features have been studied in extensive detail by survey methodologists, psychologists, statisticians, and in many other fields of research.
In this article, we’ll go through the fundamentals — from the benefits of online surveys to how to use your results.
Millions of surveys are sent out each year. Online survey software has been the most popular way of conducting survey research for over a decade, and because getting faster insights is imperative to business success, more companies are migrating to digital solutions.
There are several benefits to online surveys over more traditional methods, such as paper surveys, and not just because of the money you can save.
Here are a few of the key benefits you should consider
More responses, faster
Unlike paper surveys that require you to wait for responses to be posted back, answers from an online survey can be gathered automatically. Survey respondents are likely to respond faster to your online survey too, because they can be completed with a few clicks.
They’re cheaper to run
Online questionnaires are significantly cheaper than traditional surveys. You don’t have to spend money on postage. And you don’t need the same resources and time to input responses on paper questionnaires into your database.
Online surveys are more accurate
Paper surveys have a higher margin for error because answers given via paper forms need to be input manually into your system to be analyzed. With an online survey maker, answers are entered directly into your system.
Results on tap
Survey data collection is much faster online because you don’t have to spend time manually re-entering responses from paper forms into your system, meaning you get real-time analysis of your data that can be broken down and interpreted much quicker.
Reach new audiences
Online surveys can be accessed by anyone, anywhere. This removes the limitations associated with paper surveys that need to be distributed by hand or post. Suddenly, you can conduct more comprehensive research at scale, getting a better understanding of your chosen topic or study globally.
Why create surveys using a survey tool?
It’s easy to create a follow-up or new survey with digital software. Qualtrics offers free survey templates you can download and use immediately. Digital software can save your organization time and money thanks to lower setup and administrative costs. It’s more convenient for the customer or respondent because they can take the survey on whichever digital device is most convenient for them (tablet, computer, mobile device, etc). It’s also more convenient for you, as you just need to send the survey link via email and you’ll have the data in your survey management software as soon as responses come in.
Digital surveys scale, too. You can send a survey to thousands of people and even translate it into multiple languages so a survey respondent can reply with ease (increasing the chance of gaining a reply).
Define your research question and goals
Defining the research question first is important to the success of a survey research project. What are you trying to find out? Do you want to understand what customers think of your latest product or your brand overall? Are you looking at what benefits your employees want, or if your employees are engaged at work through employee engagement surveys?
Without establishing a research question and the metrics you want to measure, a survey will only provide data, not the insights you need to make changes to your processes, product, or services.
Identify who you’ll be surveying
Who should answer your survey questions? Customers, employees, consumers who aren’t using your product? To run a good survey, you must identify this information and understand the best way to reach them (social media, email, your website, etc).
Design and pre-test surveys
Designing the questionnaire and pre-testing it is crucial to getting valid and reliable data. For example, careful survey design and pre-testing can help bring clarity and reduce the chance that respondents may interpret the meaning of survey questions differently.
Select a sample to survey
Selecting a sample is important for collecting valid and reliable data about the population as a whole.
If you’re sampling a large database of customer email addresses and only want one response per household, you should cross-check email addresses against mailing addresses and remove duplicates. Then you should draw a random sample from the remaining email addresses. Use our sample size calculator to determine how many responses you need to be confident in your data.
Another consideration in sampling is that your customers will not be an unbiased population for all types of research. If you’re launching a product for a new segment, your existing market may not be representative of potential buyers so any data gathered from them won’t be beneficial.
Send out your survey
When you send out your survey, it’s important to get responses from everyone in the sample, as this will determine the response rate of the survey. Create a plan to get a great response rate for your survey before you begin distribution so you can hit your target.
You can distribute your survey online using an email survey tool or an email management system (for example, using mail merge with Microsoft Outlook or Google forms).
Analyze the data
It’s often necessary to code and adjust the data before analyzing, particularly if open-ended questions were asked. Qualtrics Text IQ easily analyses data from open-text responses, giving you actionable insights. Your entire data set can then be analyzed, and you can make a plan for improvements. There are a variety of statistical analysis types that are well suited for survey data. We’ll cover them later in this article.
For more information on how to get started on your survey creation visit our complete guide on creating a survey.
Produce results using the right survey questions
There are more than 100 ways to ask a question. Question types have a direct impact on the survey results. For instance, text-entry questions are most reliable, but also lead to respondent fatigue faster, so you should limit their number.)
Simple questions are best, but you can pick and choose questions based on what you want to achieve. Here is a list of the most common question types, with example question text:
- Multiple choice: Multiple choice questions form the basis of most research. They can be displayed as a traditional list of choices or as a dropdown menu, select box, etc.
Analyze the data
It’s often necessary to code and adjust the data before analyzing, particularly if open-ended questions were asked. Qualtrics Text IQ easily analyses data from open-text responses, giving you actionable insights. Your entire data set can then be analyzed, and you can make a plan for improvements. There are a variety of statistical analysis types that are well suited for survey data. We’ll cover them later in this article.
For more information on how to get started on your survey creation visit our complete guide on creating a survey