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Sponsored by: A Service Of: Online Survey Research: Harnessing the Power of “Big Data” Brandon Henderson May 29, 2012
Sponsored by: A Service Of:
Online Survey Research: Harnessing the Power of “Big Data”
Brandon Henderson
May 29, 2012
Sponsored by: A Service Of:
Protecting and Preserving the Institutional Memories of Nonprofits Since 1993
www.cjwconsulting.com
(866) 598-0430 [email protected]
Sponsored by: A Service Of:
Affordable collaborative data management in the cloud.
Sponsored by: A Service Of:
Today’s Speaker
Brandon Henderson Director of Marketing, Account Executive,
Qualtrics Hosting:
Cheri J Weissman, CJW Consulting & Services, Inc.
Assisting with chat questions: April Hunt, Nonprofit Webinars
+
Online Survey Research Harnessing the Power of Big Data
+Being a Quality Survey Researcher
Online Survey Research Opens Doors
Online Survey Research is Poised to Supplant Most Traditional Research Methodologies
As a Result, Survey Research Quality is More Important than Ever.
“BE-ING” a Quality Survey Researcher
+Be Well Though-Out
Avoid Placing Survey Questions Out of Order or Out of Context. In general, a funnel approach is advised. Place broad and general questions at the beginning of the questionnaire as a warm-up, followed by more specific questions, followed by more general easy to answer questions (like demographics) at the end of the questionnaire.
+Be Unbiased
Slight Wording Changes can Produce Great Differences in Survey Results. “Could”, “Should”, and “Might” all sound almost the same, but may produce a 20% difference in agreement to a questions: DNA modification of human food supplies could . . . should . . . might . . . Be allowed in the United States.
Strong words that represent control or action, (such as “prohibit”) produce similar survey results: “Do you believe that congress should prohibit gasoline refiners from raising prices?”
Biased wording or statements should also be avoided: “You wouldn’t want to go to Rudolpho’s Restaurant for the company’s annual party would you?”
+Be Specific
Unclear Survey Questions Produce Answers that Lack Meaning. The question “Do you like orange juice?” produces a less than meaningful answer, but is the respondent referring to taste, texture, nutritional content, vitamin C, the current price, concentrated, or fresh squeezed? Again, “Do you watch TV regularly?” begs for a definition of “regularity”. Specific questions produce specific understanding.
Questions Must Be Specific. Though intended as a question about taste, the question “What suggestions do you have for improving energy drinks?” may produce suggestions about texture, the type of can or bottle, mixing juices, additives, or something related to use as a mixer or in recipes.
+Be Exact
Avoid Double Barreled Questions. The question “What is the fastest and most economical Internet service for you?” is problematic because the fastest is certainly not the most economical. Two questions should be asked in one question.
Avoid Overly Compressed Answers. Make sure answers are independent and cover the landscape of possible answers. For example the questions “Do you think of basketball players as being independent agents or as employees of their team?” Some believe they are both.
Response categories for multiple choice survey questions should be mutually exclusive so that clear choices can be made. Likewise, questions that do not provide all acceptable or meaningful answers frustrate the respondent and make interpretation of results difficult at best. If you are unsure, conduct a pretest using the “Other (please specify)” option. Then revise the question making sure that you cover at least 90% of the respondent answers.
+Be Considerate
Avoid Intrusive Questions. Respondents may not have access to, remember, or want to provide the information requested. Likewise, privacy is an increasingly important issue. Questions about finances, income, occupation, family life, personal hygiene and beliefs (personal, political, religious) can be too intrusive and rejected by the respondent.
Avoid Techno-babble. Caloric content, bits, bytes, MBS, and other industry specific jargon and acronyms produce confusion. Your audience must understand your language level, terminology and above all, the question being asked.
Avoid Long Questions. Multiple choice questions are the longest and most complex to write. Free text answers are the shortest and easiest to answer. Increasing the length of questions and surveys decreases the chance of receiving a completed response.
Avoid Impossible Questions on Future Intentions. Yogi Berra once said that making predictions is difficult, especially when they are about the future. Predictions are rarely accurate more than a few weeks or in some cases months ahead.
+Distribution
Social Media – It’s Clicky.
Each social media outlet has its own “crowd”.
+Social Media Age Distribution
+Social Media Age Distribution+
+Social Media Age Distribution++
As a result of age discrepancies among social media platforms, how and when you present surveys for research varies greatly.
Greatest traffic for Facebook users (ages 35-44) will differ in time of day from those who most use Bebo (0-17) – plan posts, tweets, and shares accordingly.
Presentation is perhaps most important. To present a Sesame Street-esque skin on Linkedin or a Facebook IPO story on MySpace is to court a huge waste of time.
+Panels and Cookies
Panels: A group of respondents recruited to take part in a number of market research sessions or projects over a period of time.
Cookies: A small file that a Web server automatically sends to your PC when you browse certain websites. There are software solutions that collect this data and allow you to target individuals based on that “trail” or “behavior” collected.
+Print/Phone Research
QR Codes: The New Phone and Print
+Survey Platforms
+An Introduction to Qualtrics
Welcome to Qualtrics Video
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