Survey Design 101

1. Survey Design 101 Gay Hylton Institutional Research and Planning

2. What you’re trying to find out Often there is the temptation to skip on preparation in order to move to the field too rapidly. This temptation should be avoided. Ghislaine Delaine “The Social Dimensions of Adjustment Integrated Survey”

3. Information Wanted: • What information needs to be obtained to meet the objectives of the survey • Strategize with stakeholders • Questions that need to be answered • Focus groups • Has the information been gathered in the past • What are the outcomes desired • Will basic demographical data be required/confidential • How will the information be obtained? • Electronic survey • Mail • Telephone Interview • Personal Interview • Paper

4. Information Wanted: Continued • Determine what correlations of the data you want to see. • What will the answers to the questions allow you to determine • If X then Y

5. Who you ask One common misconception is that the adequacy of a sample depends heavily on the fraction of the population included in a sample. Floyd J. Fowler Survey Research Methods

6. Choosing The Population • All or representative sample • http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm • Is a comparative sample needed • Response rate • # of responses/ # surveyed • If survey needs to reflect the entire student body population of HSU, complete a survey request form at http://www.humboldt.edu/irp/survey.html

7. How you ask the question “The goal is to have differences in answers reflect differences in where people stand on the issues, rather than differences on their interpretations of the questions.” Floyd Fowler, Improving Survey Questionnaires: Design and Evaluation

8. Basics • Be aware of your own biases • Use language that survey participants will understand • Develop neutral questions • Ask enough to cover topic adequately while keeping the survey as short as possible • Pay attention to the order of questions • Provide exhaustive range of response categories • Write clear unbiased instructions

9. Basics - continued • Order • Matters • Start with easy - proceed to complex • Keep respondents interested • Vary the question type • Simple is better • Avoid technical jargons or concepts • Use the same definitions and scales throughout the form • Watch for “double-barreled” questions • Be specific

10. Types of Questions • Multiple Choice • Allow multiple responses? • Ranking • Scale • Open Ended

11. Specifics • Multiple Choice • Lists • Should be exhaustive while not being too long • Categories should be mutually exclusive • Allow respondents to provide multiple answers when relevant • When appropriate – use Other • Scales • Odd or Even • Likert or Numeric • Provide clear, concise instructions on scale meaning • Order matters – Positive to Negative vs Negative to Positive • Use the same scale throughout the survey

12. Specifics - continued • Open-Ended • Allows for spontaneous responses • Use when you don’t know the answer • Analyzing the responses can be difficult and time-consuming • Question Logic • Will all participants answer all questions?

13. How and When to Ask “The questionnaire is only one element of a well-done survey.” Don A. Dillman Mail and Internet Surveys – The Tailored Design Method

14. Before You Survey • Design your communication to participants • Personal or authoritarian • Confidentiality? • Explain the nature and reasons for the survey • How it benefits them • Include timeframe to answer survey

15. Before You Survey - Continued • TEST • Pilot the survey with colleagues or a small sample of the population • Include all communications they will receive with the survey instrument • Helps ensures the reliability and the validity of your survey • For electronic surveys check for the flow of logic questions • TRAIN (If survey is to be administered via telephone or personal interviewer) • All interviewers need to conduct the survey in the same manner, using the same language • Design response sheets that include instructions to interviewers

16. Increasing Response Rates “Sending questionnaires out is one thing; getting them back is quite another.” Bill Gillham Developing a Questionnaire

17. Timing Matters • What are your target population’s habits • Ask again but don’t ask too often • Choose a different time to ask for each additional request

18. Communication • Say please and thank you for your help • Show positive regard – provide the reasons for the survey and what the results will achieve • Asking for advice – “We need your input on this matter.” • Subject line of email – does it look like spam • Does it need to come from an authoritative source or a personal approach

19. Tools All tools have intrinsic politics and technology is the tool of now. Godfrey Reggio

20. Free or Not • Software • Survey Monkey • Zoomerang • Surveygizmo • And many more • Design help • Library – reference section “Survey Kit” , ebooks and books on survey design • IRP website has some links to reference material

21. Questions? “Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.” Francis Bacon