Surveys are fantastic tools for evaluation. They help your organization determine what is working, what can be improved, and provide information to tell your story of impact. Surveys also allow for more complex analyses using descriptive and inferential statistics. This blog provides 5 tips for creating a survey when your organization is ready for evaluation and has determined this is the best approach.
1) Define the Purpose
To start, first, think about the survey’s purpose. What is the question that you are trying to answer and how will it help your organization? Try speaking with staff or relevant stakeholders to get their input on the topic. Also, learn from past efforts. If your organization has already collected data, it may not be necessary to include those questions in the current survey.
2) Consider Qualitative versus Quantitative Questions
Next, as you create survey questions, consider how participants should respond. Do you want participants to provide open-ended feedback (i.e., “In what ways did this service benefit you?”)? Or do you want them to answer close-ended questions (i.e., “How would you rate this service?”)? If the goal of the question is to gain insight into the participants’ unique experiences, consider creating a qualitative question. If the goal is to capture trends numerically or compare findings within individuals, between groups, or across time, consider creating a quantitative question.
3) Determine the Flow
The basic structure of any survey should flow as follows.
- Introductory Paragraph
- State purpose
- Questions ( ordered by topic )
- Recommendations
- Final Thoughts
The flow and duration of a survey are extremely important. If too long, participants become fatigued and may not complete all the questions. If it bounces around too much from topic to topic, participants can become confused. The survey should have a clear path for participants to follow.
4) Include Incentives for Completion
How can you encourage more people to complete the survey? Consider providing incentives. For example, entering participants into a raffle to win a prize or providing small payments such as a gift card are all good incentives. By making participation easy and rewarding, people will be more willing to participate. Sometimes incentives are not needed, especially in the social sector as many individuals are grateful for the support they receive and want to give back.
5) Test
Once you have created your survey and are confident with the questions, it’s time to proofread. Make sure the survey is free of spelling or grammatical errors. Also, go through the survey to make sure the questions make sense and appear in the correct order. Complete a practice survey online or on paper to ensure your responses are captured as intended. If you have the resources, share the survey with target audience members to solicit their feedback.
In sum, applying these 5 survey tips will help your organization collect quality data! If you have any specific follow-up questions to this blog post or any other research and evaluation needs, please contact Dr. Annette Shtivelband.
Special thanks to Katherine McNeely-White for writing this blog post!
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