Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Member You - 25 Survey Design Tips
There is no surer guarantee of personal or business success than the power of belief. But belief is not something that happens to you. It is a conscious choice you make and, when combined with knowledge of what you do best, it gives you unshakeable confidence and profound focus.One of the key character traits of entrepreneurs is the power of belief grown from self-knowledge and the ability to understand the world of the problems they seek to solve. Entrepreneurs are no less risk-averse than anybody else. The difference is they choose their responses to the uncertainty of launching a new venture.We all suffer crises of self-doubt. What the power of belief does for you is enable you to see that self-doubt is the state of being in unreality. The power of belief gives you the perspective you need to observe and accept the undependable future and so avoid getting lost when self-doubt rears its ugly head.Cultivating the Power of BeliefThe power of belief is not a blind choice. It's a choice informed through careful self-examination and assessment of what you do best. Granted, we are infused with beliefs of many kinds during our formative years. Yet as fully realized adults we have the opportunity to decide what we believe and in so doing be fed by the power of conscious choosing.All factors being equal, successful human beings define for themselves what being successful means. They have the power to believe in their ability to handle whatever comes.Ask yourself today what success means for you. Write about it. How does what you believe about success affect how you live, what you do, who you choose to work with?What You Believe and What You Do BestA recent study by the SBA Office of Advocacy reports that successful entrepreneurs have the ability to assess the problem opportunity in the marketplace and understand how that translates to potential demand. But what's significant about their legendary risk-seeking behavior is that it is driven by their unwavering belief in what they are trying to accomplish. It is the power of belief that, for them, minimizes the risk in any endeavor.Thomas Alva Edison was a tireless investigator. He had a broad background in applied science and he persevered even in
13. Give products/services neutral names.
If you are comparing different products to find preferences, give each one a neutral name or reference. Do not call one "A" and the second one "B." This immediately brings images of A grades and B grades to mind, with the former being seen as superior to the latter. It is better to give each a "neutral" reference such "M" or "N" that do not have as strong a quality difference image.
14. Avoid acronyms and jargon.
Avoid technical terms and acronyms, unless you are absolutely sure that respondents know they mean. LAUTRO, AGI, GPA, EIEIO (Life Assurance and Unit Trust Regulatory Organization, Adjusted Gross Income, Grade Point Average and Engineering Information External Inquiries Officer) are all well-known acronyms to people in those particular fields, but very few people would understand all of them. If you must use an acronym, spell it out the first time it is used.
15. Providing all the answers - some examples.
Make sure your questions accept all the possible answers. A question like "Do you use regular or premium gas in your car?" does not cover all possible answers. The owner may alternate between both types. The question also ignores the possibility of diesel or electric-powered cars. A better way of asking this question would be "Which type(s) of fuel do you use in your cars?"
The responses allowed might be:
_ Regular gasoline
_ Premium gasoline
_ Diesel
_ Other
_ Do not
Have you ever met someone who hears you have your own business, and immediately they launch into what they dream being a business owner is? Sleeping in, watching Springer, getting a tan, Shopping….. If only!Starting your own business Requires: 1. Guts. Everyone thinks of starting his or her own business one day. It takes guts to walk away from your “day job” into the uncertain waters ahead.2. Being open to learning. Since I have started my business, I’ve learned more about marketing than I ever thought I’d need to know. Marketing is so much more than printing up brochures or placing an ad in the newspaper.3. Dedication. Yes, it’s so much easier to wake up and decide you don’t feel like working today, stay in your jammies and watch TV. But in order to succeed in business, you need to be dedicated to your business. You have to work at it every day. Most of the time longer hours than you ever worked at your “day job.”4. Passion. When you talk to truly successful people about what keeps them going, what encourages them, why they do what they do, it all boils down to passion. Running a business will take alot out of you. In order to keep going and not give up, you must have passion for what you do. If you’re doing something because someone else wants you to do it or for the money, it will get old real quick. If you don’t truly enjoy what you’re doing, you will never achieve the level of success that is attainable.5. Desire to help people. Yes, everyone wants to make money. But in order to make your business a success, you must feel a need to help people. When you’re doing something because you want others to succeed, it makes you work that much harder, gives you that extra push, and makes you connect more to your customers. Customers are savvy. They can smell a line of bull a mile away. But if you honestly want to help people, it will show through and that is what draws people to you and your business.6. Confidence. When you’re a business owner, you’re the face of your company. You need to have the self confidence and ability to talk to people about who you are and what you do. Most businesses rely, to some degree, on networking. If you lack confiden
1. Keep the questionnaire as short as possible.
It is statistically proven that more people will complete a shorter questionnaire, regardless of the interviewing method. If a question is not necessary, do not include it.
2. Get off to a good start.
Start with a Title (e.g., Leisure Activities Survey). Always include a short introduction - who you are and why you are doing the survey. If you are seeking critical feedback about how your brand stacks up against the competition, it is often a good idea to give the name of the research company rather than the client (e.g., XYZ Research Agency rather than the manufacturer of the product/ service being surveyed). Many firms create a separate research company name (even if it is only a direct phone line to the research department) to disguise themselves. This is to avoid possible bias, since people rarely like to criticize someone to their face and are much more open to a third party.
In some cases, though, it may help to mention the client. If you are surveying members of an organization, the members may be more likely to respond if they think the organization is asking their opinions on how it can best meet their needs. The same could be true when you are surveying users of a particular service.
3. Reassure confidentiality of responses.
Reassure your respondent that his or her responses will not be revealed to your client, but only combined with many others to learn about overall attitudes. Mention this in the opening text of the survey and also include a privacy policy in the footer of the survey page.
4. Include a good cover letter /email invite text.
Include a cover letter with all mail surveys. A good cover letter or email invitation to take a Web page survey will increase the response rate. A bad cover letter or none at all, will reduce the response rate. Include the information in the preceding two paragraphs and mention the incentive (if any). Describe how to return the questionnaire. Include the name and telephone number of someone the respondent can call if they have any questions. Include instructions on how to complete the survey itself.
The most effective cover letters and invitations include the following elements: Ask the recipient to take the survey. Explain why taking it will improve some aspect of the recipient's life (it will help improve a product, make an organization better meet their needs, make their opinions heard). Appeal to the recipient's sense of altruism ("please help"). Ask the recipient again to take the survey.
5. Always provide a space for their name.
You may want to leave a space for the respondent to add their name and title. Some people will put in their names, making it possible for you to contact them for clarification or follow-up questions. Indicate that filling in their name is optional. If the questions are sensitive in nature, do not have a space for a name. Some people would become suspicious and not complete the survey. If you hand out questionnaires on your premises, you obviously cannot remain anonymous, but keep the bias problem in mind when you consider the answers.
6. Consider survey software that support security.
If the survey contains commercially sensitive material, ask a "security" question up front to find whether the respondent or any member of his family, household or any close friend works in the industry being surveyed. If so, terminate the interview immediately. They (or family or friends) may work for the company that commissioned the survey - or for a competitor. In either case, they are not representative and should be eliminated. If they work for a competitor, the nature of the questions may betray valuable secrets. The best way to ask security questions is in reverse (i.e., if you are surveying for a pharmaceutical product, phrase the question as "We want to interview people in certain industries - do you or any member of your household work in the pharmaceutical industry?). If the answer is "Yes" thank the respondent and terminate the interview. Similarly, it is best to eliminate people working in the advertising, market research or media industries, since they may work with competing companies.
7. Recommended flow for your next survey.
After the security question, start with general questions. If you want to limit the survey to users of a particular product, you may want to disguise the qualifying product. As a rule, start from general attitudes to the class of products, through brand awareness, purchase patterns, specific product usage to questions on specific problems (i.e., work from "What types of coffee have you bought in the last three months" to "Do you recall seeing a special offer on your last purchase of Brand X coffee?"). If possible put the most important questions into the first half of the survey. If a person gives up half way through, at least you have the most important information.
8. Include all relevant alternatives.
Make sure you include all the relevant alternatives as answer choices. Leaving out a choice can give misleading results. For example, a number of recent polls that ask Americans if they support the death penalty "Yes" or "No" have found 70-75% of the respondents choosing ”Yes.” Polls that offer the choice between the death penalty and life in prison without the possibility of parole show support for the death penalty at about 50-60%. Polls that offer the alternatives of the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole, with the inmates working in prison to pay restitution to their victims’ families have found support for the death penalty closer to 30%.
So what is the true level of support for the death penalty? The lowest figure is probably truest, since it represents the percentage that favor that option regardless of the alternative offered. The need to include all relevant alternatives is not limited to political polls. You can get misleading data anytime you leave out alternatives.
10. Do not put two questions into one.
Avoid questions such as "Do you buy frozen meat and frozen fish?" A "Yes" answer can mean the respondent buys meat or fish or both. Similarly with a question such as "Have you ever bought Product X and, if so, did you like it?" A "No" answer can mean "never bought" or "bought and disliked." Be as specific as possible. "Do you ever buy pasta?" can include someone who once bought some in 1990. It does not tell you whether the pasta was dried, frozen or canned and may include someone who had pasta in a restaurant. It is better to say "Have you bought pasta (other than in a restaurant) in the last three months?" "If yes, was it frozen, canned or dried?" Few people can remember what they bought more than three months ago unless it was a major purchase such as an automobile or appliance.
11. Begin with the End in Mind.
The overriding consideration in questionnaire design is to make sure your questions can accurately tell you what you want to learn. The way you phrase a question can change the answers you get. Try to make sure the wording does not favor one answer choice over another.
12. Avoid biased words.
Avoid emotionally charged words or leading questions that point towards a certain answer. You will get different answers from asking "What do you think of the XYZ proposal?" than from "What do you think of the Republican XYZ proposal?" The word "Republican" in the second question would cause some people to favor or oppose the proposal based on their feelings about Republicans, rather than about the proposal itself. It is very easy to create bias in a questionnaire. This is another good reason to test it before going ahead.
13. Give products/services neutral names.
If you are comparing different products to find preferences, give each one a neutral name or reference. Do not call one "A" and the second one "B." This immediately brings images of A grades and B grades to mind, with the former being seen as superior to the latter. It is better to give each a "neutral" reference such "M" or "N" that do not have as strong a quality difference image.
14. Avoid acronyms and jargon.
Avoid technical terms and acronyms, unless you are absolutely sure that respondents know they mean. LAUTRO, AGI, GPA, EIEIO (Life Assurance and Unit Trust Regulatory Organization, Adjusted Gross Income, Grade Point Average and Engineering Information External Inquiries Officer) are all well-known acronyms to people in those particular fields, but very few people would understand all of them. If you must use an acronym, spell it out the first time it is used.
15. Providing all the answers - some examples.
Make sure your questions accept all the possible answers. A question like "Do you use regular or premium gas in your car?" does not cover all possible answers. The owner may alternate between both types. The question also ignores the possibility of diesel or electric-powered cars. A better way of asking this question would be "Which type(s) of fuel do you use in your cars?"
The responses allowed might be:
_ Regular gasoline
_ Premium gasoline
_ Diesel
_ Other
_ Do not
Capitalizing a new business entity is a critical step of the formation process. Failing to take the step can lead to serious legal problems if the entity is ever sued. So, what is capitalization and what steps must be taken?Capitalizing Your Corporation“Capitalization” essentially refers to funding your corporation. In essence, you are providing substance to the entity in the form of money or property. Typically, the funding process works in two ways.Corporate StockYou must own stock in a corporation to be considered a shareholder. You are already familiar with this concept if you trade on the stock market. For instance, assume you bought stock in Sirius Radio in anticipation of Howard Stern moving to the station. You purchased stock through a brokerage or retirement vehicle by exchanging money for shares. Technically, you are a shareholder in the corporation. Your own corporation is no different.The fact that you paid money to have a corporation formed does not make you a shareholder. You must exchange property, cash or services to obtain stock from the entity. Only then are you a shareholder in the entity. This is more easily explained with an example.Assume I start a corporation for the purpose of providing consulting services to other businesses. The corporation is formed with 10,000 shares and I am going to be the sole shareholder. I have cash and certain assets that I am going to use as part of the business. I decide to exchange $3,000, a copier, fax machine and computer equipment for stock in the entity. This exchange should be reduced to writing, but will constitute the capitalization of the corporation.Corporate LoanYou can also loan money to a corporate entity for start-up costs. There is no prohibition against a shareholder providing money to a corporation. The loan process should not completely replace the purchase of stock. From a tax perspective, however, dividing your initial capitalization into a partial loan can have distinct advantages.Inadequate CapitalizationState laws govern the formation of a corporation. Inevitably, these laws set forth amounts or formulas for determining the minimum capitalization amount required for a corporation. You must review the laws in your state
4. Include a good cover letter /email invite text.
Include a cover letter with all mail surveys. A good cover letter or email invitation to take a Web page survey will increase the response rate. A bad cover letter or none at all, will reduce the response rate. Include the information in the preceding two paragraphs and mention the incentive (if any). Describe how to return the questionnaire. Include the name and telephone number of someone the respondent can call if they have any questions. Include instructions on how to complete the survey itself.
The most effective cover letters and invitations include the following elements: Ask the recipient to take the survey. Explain why taking it will improve some aspect of the recipient's life (it will help improve a product, make an organization better meet their needs, make their opinions heard). Appeal to the recipient's sense of altruism ("please help"). Ask the recipient again to take the survey.
5. Always provide a space for their name.
You may want to leave a space for the respondent to add their name and title. Some people will put in their names, making it possible for you to contact them for clarification or follow-up questions. Indicate that filling in their name is optional. If the questions are sensitive in nature, do not have a space for a name. Some people would become suspicious and not complete the survey. If you hand out questionnaires on your premises, you obviously cannot remain anonymous, but keep the bias problem in mind when you consider the answers.
6. Consider survey software that support security.
If the survey contains commercially sensitive material, ask a "security" question up front to find whether the respondent or any member of his family, household or any close friend works in the industry being surveyed. If so, terminate the interview immediately. They (or family or friends) may work for the company that commissioned the survey - or for a competitor. In either case, they are not representative and should be eliminated. If they work for a competitor, the nature of the questions may betray valuable secrets. The best way to ask security questions is in reverse (i.e., if you are surveying for a pharmaceutical product, phrase the question as "We want to interview people in certain industries - do you or any member of your household work in the pharmaceutical industry?). If the answer is "Yes" thank the respondent and terminate the interview. Similarly, it is best to eliminate people working in the advertising, market research or media industries, since they may work with competing companies.
7. Recommended flow for your next survey.
After the security question, start with general questions. If you want to limit the survey to users of a particular product, you may want to disguise the qualifying product. As a rule, start from general attitudes to the class of products, through brand awareness, purchase patterns, specific product usage to questions on specific problems (i.e., work from "What types of coffee have you bought in the last three months" to "Do you recall seeing a special offer on your last purchase of Brand X coffee?"). If possible put the most important questions into the first half of the survey. If a person gives up half way through, at least you have the most important information.
8. Include all relevant alternatives.
Make sure you include all the relevant alternatives as answer choices. Leaving out a choice can give misleading results. For example, a number of recent polls that ask Americans if they support the death penalty "Yes" or "No" have found 70-75% of the respondents choosing ”Yes.” Polls that offer the choice between the death penalty and life in prison without the possibility of parole show support for the death penalty at about 50-60%. Polls that offer the alternatives of the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole, with the inmates working in prison to pay restitution to their victims’ families have found support for the death penalty closer to 30%.
So what is the true level of support for the death penalty? The lowest figure is probably truest, since it represents the percentage that favor that option regardless of the alternative offered. The need to include all relevant alternatives is not limited to political polls. You can get misleading data anytime you leave out alternatives.
10. Do not put two questions into one.
Avoid questions such as "Do you buy frozen meat and frozen fish?" A "Yes" answer can mean the respondent buys meat or fish or both. Similarly with a question such as "Have you ever bought Product X and, if so, did you like it?" A "No" answer can mean "never bought" or "bought and disliked." Be as specific as possible. "Do you ever buy pasta?" can include someone who once bought some in 1990. It does not tell you whether the pasta was dried, frozen or canned and may include someone who had pasta in a restaurant. It is better to say "Have you bought pasta (other than in a restaurant) in the last three months?" "If yes, was it frozen, canned or dried?" Few people can remember what they bought more than three months ago unless it was a major purchase such as an automobile or appliance.
11. Begin with the End in Mind.
The overriding consideration in questionnaire design is to make sure your questions can accurately tell you what you want to learn. The way you phrase a question can change the answers you get. Try to make sure the wording does not favor one answer choice over another.
12. Avoid biased words.
Avoid emotionally charged words or leading questions that point towards a certain answer. You will get different answers from asking "What do you think of the XYZ proposal?" than from "What do you think of the Republican XYZ proposal?" The word "Republican" in the second question would cause some people to favor or oppose the proposal based on their feelings about Republicans, rather than about the proposal itself. It is very easy to create bias in a questionnaire. This is another good reason to test it before going ahead.
13. Give products/services neutral names.
If you are comparing different products to find preferences, give each one a neutral name or reference. Do not call one "A" and the second one "B." This immediately brings images of A grades and B grades to mind, with the former being seen as superior to the latter. It is better to give each a "neutral" reference such "M" or "N" that do not have as strong a quality difference image.
14. Avoid acronyms and jargon.
Avoid technical terms and acronyms, unless you are absolutely sure that respondents know they mean. LAUTRO, AGI, GPA, EIEIO (Life Assurance and Unit Trust Regulatory Organization, Adjusted Gross Income, Grade Point Average and Engineering Information External Inquiries Officer) are all well-known acronyms to people in those particular fields, but very few people would understand all of them. If you must use an acronym, spell it out the first time it is used.
15. Providing all the answers - some examples.
Make sure your questions accept all the possible answers. A question like "Do you use regular or premium gas in your car?" does not cover all possible answers. The owner may alternate between both types. The question also ignores the possibility of diesel or electric-powered cars. A better way of asking this question would be "Which type(s) of fuel do you use in your cars?"
The responses allowed might be:
_ Regular gasoline
_ Premium gasoline
_ Diesel
_ Other
_ Do not
If you had just gotten out of prison and you are looking for a job there are many places you can go to get a high paying for rewarding job. If you are still in a halfway house you can get a job at a local car wash. Hopefully in prison you learned a little bit of conversational Spanish because most of the people working at the car wash for illegal aliens. Most car wash owners in my opinion having been in the industry for 27 years are unscrupulous and are looking for people to exploit.Since you are and Ex-con you will find that car wash owners are so happy to meet you and hire you immediately. They also know that if you are in a halfway house you cannot quit so you will be reliable and show up every day even if all the illegal aliens decide to go on strike at the local car wash.If you're not in a halfway house and you are annexed con and you need to get a job quickly I recommend getting a job as a truck driver because there is a shortage of 180,000 truck drivers in United States of America today and many trucking companies are hiring over the road truck drivers who are former criminals. This will give you a chance to be on the open road and see all that you have been missing, as well as travel around the country.So it appears that both car wash owners and trucking companies are willing to hire you to drive profits for their business. Many of the companies in these industry sectors do not pay as much his and other types of companies but you are insured you will be able to get a job. Isn't it great to know that you get a second chance at life to be exploited by people who do not give a crap about you? I am sorry I will not hire you in my company because I don't trust you because you are a criminal. But these other companies will still consider that in 2006.
7. Recommended flow for your next survey.
After the security question, start with general questions. If you want to limit the survey to users of a particular product, you may want to disguise the qualifying product. As a rule, start from general attitudes to the class of products, through brand awareness, purchase patterns, specific product usage to questions on specific problems (i.e., work from "What types of coffee have you bought in the last three months" to "Do you recall seeing a special offer on your last purchase of Brand X coffee?"). If possible put the most important questions into the first half of the survey. If a person gives up half way through, at least you have the most important information.
8. Include all relevant alternatives.
Make sure you include all the relevant alternatives as answer choices. Leaving out a choice can give misleading results. For example, a number of recent polls that ask Americans if they support the death penalty "Yes" or "No" have found 70-75% of the respondents choosing ”Yes.” Polls that offer the choice between the death penalty and life in prison without the possibility of parole show support for the death penalty at about 50-60%. Polls that offer the alternatives of the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole, with the inmates working in prison to pay restitution to their victims’ families have found support for the death penalty closer to 30%.
So what is the true level of support for the death penalty? The lowest figure is probably truest, since it represents the percentage that favor that option regardless of the alternative offered. The need to include all relevant alternatives is not limited to political polls. You can get misleading data anytime you leave out alternatives.
10. Do not put two questions into one.
Avoid questions such as "Do you buy frozen meat and frozen fish?" A "Yes" answer can mean the respondent buys meat or fish or both. Similarly with a question such as "Have you ever bought Product X and, if so, did you like it?" A "No" answer can mean "never bought" or "bought and disliked." Be as specific as possible. "Do you ever buy pasta?" can include someone who once bought some in 1990. It does not tell you whether the pasta was dried, frozen or canned and may include someone who had pasta in a restaurant. It is better to say "Have you bought pasta (other than in a restaurant) in the last three months?" "If yes, was it frozen, canned or dried?" Few people can remember what they bought more than three months ago unless it was a major purchase such as an automobile or appliance.
11. Begin with the End in Mind.
The overriding consideration in questionnaire design is to make sure your questions can accurately tell you what you want to learn. The way you phrase a question can change the answers you get. Try to make sure the wording does not favor one answer choice over another.
12. Avoid biased words.
Avoid emotionally charged words or leading questions that point towards a certain answer. You will get different answers from asking "What do you think of the XYZ proposal?" than from "What do you think of the Republican XYZ proposal?" The word "Republican" in the second question would cause some people to favor or oppose the proposal based on their feelings about Republicans, rather than about the proposal itself. It is very easy to create bias in a questionnaire. This is another good reason to test it before going ahead.
13. Give products/services neutral names.
If you are comparing different products to find preferences, give each one a neutral name or reference. Do not call one "A" and the second one "B." This immediately brings images of A grades and B grades to mind, with the former being seen as superior to the latter. It is better to give each a "neutral" reference such "M" or "N" that do not have as strong a quality difference image.
14. Avoid acronyms and jargon.
Avoid technical terms and acronyms, unless you are absolutely sure that respondents know they mean. LAUTRO, AGI, GPA, EIEIO (Life Assurance and Unit Trust Regulatory Organization, Adjusted Gross Income, Grade Point Average and Engineering Information External Inquiries Officer) are all well-known acronyms to people in those particular fields, but very few people would understand all of them. If you must use an acronym, spell it out the first time it is used.
15. Providing all the answers - some examples.
Make sure your questions accept all the possible answers. A question like "Do you use regular or premium gas in your car?" does not cover all possible answers. The owner may alternate between both types. The question also ignores the possibility of diesel or electric-powered cars. A better way of asking this question would be "Which type(s) of fuel do you use in your cars?"
The responses allowed might be:
_ Regular gasoline
_ Premium gasoline
_ Diesel
_ Other
_ Do not
As an executive you clearly recognize that the organization within which you spend your time has a psychological and emotional culture that is the synergistic sum of all of the beliefs as well as psychological dynamics that all of the people in that organization bring in the door with them.Such cultures often take on a life of their own despite the efforts of many to modify, change or manipulate them. The reason is that these organizational cultures often replay the early family dynamics of the individuals in them.Such family patterns are not only not well understood by HR departments they are also very difficult to shift once they become entrenched in an organization.What's more a given individual can have an enormous negative or positive effect on the organizational culture and therefore on the organization’s success or failure.Most managers are not only not aware of such issues they are also not trained in how to recognize or deal with them effectively.It has been my experience addressing such cultural issues that affect organizational success that they tend to revolve around commonly held but unspoken unconscious beliefs that must be made public and whose impact must be recognized.For instance, a common pattern that emerges is the issue of "mistrust of management". Such a mind set, if not recognized can spread like a cancer that can undermine organizational performance at many levels.Such a mind set may be brought into a healthily functioning organization by a single individual and can spread quickly. This is similar to the effect that a single cancer cell can have on a human body.Unless the mind set is recognized and dealt with effectively it can have devastating effects either acutely or in a more insidious fashion.There is a new modality called the Mind Resonance Process® (MRP) and its organizational counterpart the Organizational Resonance Process(TM) (ORP) that can help unearth such "cancerous" mind sets and release them easily and quickly.If this is something that is resonating with you and you’d like to arrange a consultation for yourself or your organization kindly visit the web link below.
So what is the true level of support for the death penalty? The lowest figure is probably truest, since it represents the percentage that favor that option regardless of the alternative offered. The need to include all relevant alternatives is not limited to political polls. You can get misleading data anytime you leave out alternatives.
10. Do not put two questions into one.
Avoid questions such as "Do you buy frozen meat and frozen fish?" A "Yes" answer can mean the respondent buys meat or fish or both. Similarly with a question such as "Have you ever bought Product X and, if so, did you like it?" A "No" answer can mean "never bought" or "bought and disliked." Be as specific as possible. "Do you ever buy pasta?" can include someone who once bought some in 1990. It does not tell you whether the pasta was dried, frozen or canned and may include someone who had pasta in a restaurant. It is better to say "Have you bought pasta (other than in a restaurant) in the last three months?" "If yes, was it frozen, canned or dried?" Few people can remember what they bought more than three months ago unless it was a major purchase such as an automobile or appliance.
11. Begin with the End in Mind.
The overriding consideration in questionnaire design is to make sure your questions can accurately tell you what you want to learn. The way you phrase a question can change the answers you get. Try to make sure the wording does not favor one answer choice over another.
12. Avoid biased words.
Avoid emotionally charged words or leading questions that point towards a certain answer. You will get different answers from asking "What do you think of the XYZ proposal?" than from "What do you think of the Republican XYZ proposal?" The word "Republican" in the second question would cause some people to favor or oppose the proposal based on their feelings about Republicans, rather than about the proposal itself. It is very easy to create bias in a questionnaire. This is another good reason to test it before going ahead.
13. Give products/services neutral names.
If you are comparing different products to find preferences, give each one a neutral name or reference. Do not call one "A" and the second one "B." This immediately brings images of A grades and B grades to mind, with the former being seen as superior to the latter. It is better to give each a "neutral" reference such "M" or "N" that do not have as strong a quality difference image.
14. Avoid acronyms and jargon.
Avoid technical terms and acronyms, unless you are absolutely sure that respondents know they mean. LAUTRO, AGI, GPA, EIEIO (Life Assurance and Unit Trust Regulatory Organization, Adjusted Gross Income, Grade Point Average and Engineering Information External Inquiries Officer) are all well-known acronyms to people in those particular fields, but very few people would understand all of them. If you must use an acronym, spell it out the first time it is used.
15. Providing all the answers - some examples.
Make sure your questions accept all the possible answers. A question like "Do you use regular or premium gas in your car?" does not cover all possible answers. The owner may alternate between both types. The question also ignores the possibility of diesel or electric-powered cars. A better way of asking this question would be "Which type(s) of fuel do you use in your cars?"
The responses allowed might be:
_ Regular gasoline
_ Premium gasoline
_ Diesel
_ Other
_ Do not
Hiring the right person is not always an easy thing to do, but using the right method of interview will substantially aid the process. The more you know about interviewing, the more likely you are to hire the ideal candidate.Four key methods of interviewing are as follows:1. Directive interviewsDirective interviews are highly structured and are probably the easiest type of interview to conduct. The interview is planned and directed by the interviewer, whose purpose is to obtain specific information about verifiable fact. These common interview questions ask for personal and straightforward information about you; such as, “What was your favorite subject in college?”… (age, education, etc…)2. Nondirective interviewsNondirective interviews are much less structured than directive interviews, allowing the candidate to guide the procedure through candid self-expression. Common questions here are open-ended, for example, “Tell us about yourself.”While nondirective interviews produce a great deal of personal information about the candidate and present new areas for inquiry, the lack of consistency in the questions can make comparing one candidate to another difficult.3. Behavioral interviewsBehavioral interviews include elements of both directive and nondirective interviews, and help interviewers predict how a candidate might handle a future work situation. The theory behind such interviews is that past behavior predicts future behavior. An example of this is, “Can you describe a time when you had to manage a difficult conflict?”While behavioral interviews may not provide the interviewer with a wealth of factual detail, they do reveal how job candidates might handle actual work situations that will inevitably arise.4. Patterned interviewsPatterned interviews are designed to cover specific, job-related areas. During such interviews, the interviewer asks candidates questions about such things as their abilities, skills, and knowledge.Common interview questions here, may be in sets, such as:“Can you tell us about your past job history?““What type of work are you most enthusiastic about?”“Can you tell us the specific qualifications you have for this work?“
13. Give products/services neutral names.
If you are comparing different products to find preferences, give each one a neutral name or reference. Do not call one "A" and the second one "B." This immediately brings images of A grades and B grades to mind, with the former being seen as superior to the latter. It is better to give each a "neutral" reference such "M" or "N" that do not have as strong a quality difference image.
14. Avoid acronyms and jargon.
Avoid technical terms and acronyms, unless you are absolutely sure that respondents know they mean. LAUTRO, AGI, GPA, EIEIO (Life Assurance and Unit Trust Regulatory Organization, Adjusted Gross Income, Grade Point Average and Engineering Information External Inquiries Officer) are all well-known acronyms to people in those particular fields, but very few people would understand all of them. If you must use an acronym, spell it out the first time it is used.
15. Providing all the answers - some examples.
Make sure your questions accept all the possible answers. A question like "Do you use regular or premium gas in your car?" does not cover all possible answers. The owner may alternate between both types. The question also ignores the possibility of diesel or electric-powered cars. A better way of asking this question would be "Which type(s) of fuel do you use in your cars?"
The responses allowed might be:
_ Regular gasoline
_ Premium gasoline
_ Diesel
_ Other
_ Do not have a car
If you want only one answer from each person, ensure that the options are mutually exclusive. For example:
In which of the following do you live?
_ A house
_ An apartment
_ The suburbs
This question ignores the possibility of someone living in a house or an apartment in the suburbs. Score or rating scale questions (e.g., "If '5' means very good and '1' means very poor how would rate this product?") are a particular problem. Researchers are very divided on this issue. Many surveys use a ten-point scale, but there is considerable evidence to suggest that anything over a five point scale is irrelevant. This depends partially on education. Among university graduates a ten point scale will work well. Among people with less than a high school education five points is sufficient. In third world countries, a three-point scale (good/acceptable/bad) may be all some respondents can understand.
Another issue on which researchers differ is whether to use a scale with an odd or even number of points. Some like to force people to give an answer that is clearly positive or negative. This can make the analysis easier. Others feel it is important to offer a neutral, middle option. Your interviewing mode can make a difference here. A good interviewer can often get a answer, but in a self-administered interview, such as a Web page survey, a person who is frustrated by being unable to give a middle answer may leave a question blank or quit the survey altogether.
16. Be sure any rating scale labels are meaningful. For example:
What do you think about product X?
__ It's the best on the market
__ It's about average
__ It's the worst on the market
A question phrased like the one above will force most answers into the middle category, resulting in very little usable information.
17. Use similar scales/questions to accurately compare trends.
If you have used a particular scale before and need to compare results, use the same scale. Four on a five-point scale is not equivalent to eight on a ten-point scale. Someone who rates an item "4" on a five-point scale might rate that item anywhere between "6" and "9" on a ten-point scale.
18. Be aware of cultural factors.
In the third world, respondents have a strong tendency to exaggerate answers. Researchers may be perceived as being government agents, with the power to punish or reward according to the answer given. Accordingly they often give "correct" answers rather than what they really believe. Even when the questions are not overtly political and deal purely with commercial products or services, the desire not to disappoint important visitors with answers that may be considered negative may lead to exaggerated scores.
19. Always discount "favorable" answers by a significant factor.
The desire to please is not limited to the third world. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule on how much to do this. It depends on the situation.
The desire to please translates into a tendency to pick agreeing answers on agreement scales. While logically the percentage that strongly agrees that "X is good" should exactly equal the percentage that strongly disagrees that "X is bad," in the real world, this is unlikely to be true. Experiments have shown that more people will agree than disagree. One way to eliminate this problem is to ask half your respondents if they agree that "X is good" and the other half if they agree that "X is bad." You could then reverse the answers given by the second group. This is extra work, but it may be worth it if it is important to get the most accurate percentage of people who really agree with something.
People sometimes give answers they feel will reflect well on them. This is a constant problem for pre-election polls. More people say they will vote than actually will vote. More people say they go to museums or libraries than actually do. This problem is most significant when your respondents are talking directly to a person. People give more honest answers when answering questions on a computer. Mail surveys are in-between.
20. Provide a mixed sample.
In personal interviews it is vital for the Interviewer to have empathy with the Interviewee. In general, Interviewers should try to "blend" with respondents in terms of race, language, sex, age, etc. Choose your Interviewers according to the likely respondents.
21. Leave demographics until the end.
Leave your demographic questions (age, gender, income, education, etc.) until the end of the questionnaire. By then the interviewer should have built a rapport with the interviewee that will allow honest responses to such personal questions. Mail and Internet questionnaires should do the same, although the rapport must be built by good question design, rather than personality. Exceptions to this rule are any demographic questions that qualify someone to be included in the survey. For example, many researchers limit some surveys to people in certain age groups. These questions must come near the beginning.
Leave a space at the end of a questionnaire entitled "Other Comments." Sometimes respondents offer casual remarks that are worth their weight in gold and cover some area you did not think of, but which respondents consider critical. Many products have a wide range of secondary uses that the manufacturer knows nothing about but which could provide a valuable source of extra sales if approached properly. In one third world market, a major factor in the sale of candles was the ability to use the spent wax as floor polish - but the manufacturer only discovered this by a chance remark.
22. Always consider the layout of your questionnaire.
This is especially important on paper, computer, direct, and Internet surveys. You want to make it attractive, easy to understand and easy to complete. If you are creating a paper survey, you also want to make it easy for your data entry personnel.
23. Try to keep your answer spaces in a straight line, either horizontally or vertically.
A single answer choice on each line is best. Eye tracking studies show the best place to use for answer spaces is the right hand edge of the page. It is much easier for a field worker or respondent to follow a logical flow across or down a page. Using the right edge is also easiest for data entry.
The Survey System lets you create a Questionnaire Form with the answer choices in two columns. Creating the form that way can save a lot of paper or screen space, but you should recognize doing so makes the questionnaire a little harder to complete. It also slows the data entry process when working with paper questionnaires.
24. Grid questions, while attractive and space saving, get annoying fast.
Questions and answer choice grids, as in the second of the following examples, are popular with many researchers. They can look attractive and save paper, or computer screen space. They also can avoid a long series of very repetitive question and answer choice lists. Unfortunately, they also are a bit harder than the repeated lists for some people to understand. As always, consider whom you are studying when you create your questionnaire.
Look at the following layouts and decide which you would prefer to use:
Do you agree, disagree or have no opinion that this company has:
A good vacation policy - agree/not sure/disagree.
Good management feedback - agree/not sure/disagree.
Good medical insurance - agree/not sure/disagree.
High wages - agree/not sure/disagree.
An alternative layout is:
Do you agree, disagree or are not sure that this company has:
Agree Not Sure Disagree
A good vacation policy 3 2
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.memberyou.net/article/25761/memberyou-25-Survey-Design-Tips.html">25 Survey Design Tips</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.memberyou.net/article/25761/memberyou-25-Survey-Design-Tips.html]25 Survey Design Tips[/url]
Related Articles:
Business Continuity Management: How Do You React When Your Business Continuity is at Risk?
How to get an Audience's Attention
Bookmark it:
|