Posts Tagged ‘Survey’
Posted by David McMurray on December 27th, 2012
Step Six – Communicate Your Results:
To complete your survey-experiment you must communicate results to others in a final report and/or debrief. The content of this report is geared to the audience. You also have the responsibility to communicate your results to a broader audience of customers and employees. This communication must be thorough and consistent. Remember that if you conduct a survey and do not communicate the results, participants will be less likely to support future survey efforts. Whenever possible, communication within an organization should also include an action planning step, where individual goals are set to address key issues.
By applying these steps of the Scientific Method, your survey efforts will provide much needed information and feedback from customers and employees. Information is power, and when properly used, will make a big difference in long-term success or long-term failure of the organization.
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Posted by David McMurray on December 19th, 2012
Step Five – Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion:
Once the survey experiment is complete, you collect your measurements and analyze them in light of the hypothesis. You should systematically look at the responses to each question and ascertain how well it answers the hypothesis behind each question. Drawing conclusions involves combining data: open-ended AND closed-ended responses, as well as rolling up questions to appropriate categories. You must consider response rates to ensure that the data is representative. You must make meaningful filters and comparisons. Data can be compared to previous surveys to discover meaningful trends. There is an array of statistics that can be used to help you understand the data.
Stick around, the final “Research Best Practice” post will be published next week.
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Posted by David McMurray on December 6th, 2012
Step Four – Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment:
The experiment tests the hypothesis. The survey instrument is this test. It is not as easy as it may sound. Surveys consist of questions (or items) and response scales, along with instructions and open-ended comments. The whole scientific method falls apart if the survey experiment is not valid. Remember that every aspect of the survey must pass the face validity test and support the hypothesis, or the survey should be scrapped!
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Posted by David McMurray on November 28th, 2012
Step Three – Construct a Hypothesis:
A hypothesis is an educated guess about how you think things are. To test whether you do or do not have a hypothesis, ask yourself, “Why are we doing this survey in the first place?”, or “What do we expect to learn from asking this specific question.” If you cannot answer these questions, you DO NOT have a hypothesis, and need to take a step back. Your hypothesis should be constructed in a way to help you answer your original question. Having a hypothesis will ensure that your research question is answered and that you meet the goals and objectives of the project overall.
Part 4 of 6 to be published next week
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Posted by David McMurray on November 20th, 2012
Step Two – Do Background Research:
Before beginning to construct a survey, it is important to have adequate knowledge about what you are trying to learn. This pre-survey research definitely includes reviewing past surveys, but also includes any other feedback and information you have received from customers and employees. This information comes from customer support groups, suggestion boxes, executive discussions, general and specific feedback, knowledge of industry trends, financial results, competitive awareness, etc. Surveys must never be created in a vacuum. You must understand the big picture before starting to focus on your specific need.
Stick around for Part 3 of 6 next week.
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