Are Surveys Really Necessary?
First, why a survey? A survey is the most effective way of collecting qualitative data from a large population. No other mode of data collection can cover such a broad category. When done properly, surveys can provide solid numbers or otherwise unquantifiable entities such as a person’s opinions, how likely they are to repeat a particular behavior etc. For any commercial enterprise, having access to actual, quantified numbers about their demographic and their patterns of behavior is paramount to success. And the simplest and easiest way to achieve that is through a customer survey. However, designing that survey itself and gaining accurate data from it is not an easy task. Surveys are subject to various challenges ranging from biases of the observer to missing the end goals of the survey entirely through the questions. As the ‘Father of the Computer’, Charles Babbage himself said,” Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all”, Raw data needs to be properly analyzed to be of any importance in the real world. Survey data is no different. Learning to figure out whether people like blueberry ice cream or is it just a fad because of being featured in a recent blockbuster can make the difference between profits and wastage. You wouldn’t want to order a surplus amount of stock just because people were buying it a little bit more than usual and then end up with losses because the trend wore off. A simple survey could solve these problems.
Designed a survey? Now what?
Now that we have established why a survey is necessary, let us learn more about how to get the most out of your Survey data.
Open and close-ended questions:
Open-ended questions are questions that do not necessarily have a correct answer. They allow someone to give a free-form answer. Closed-ended questions can either be answered with “Yes” or “No,” or have a few limited options. Although Close-ended questions are the basis of statistical analysis techniques applied to surveys, Open-ended questions give us a better insight into the thoughts of individuals as to why they might like or dislike something; it is qualitative data. The combination of both of these presents a well-rounded survey to the participants to fully gauge their range of understanding. While analysing a survey, knowing which questions are qualitative and which questions have a quantitative response makes the difference between good data and insignificant data.
Make sure your sample size is sufficient:
In survey research, drawing including a particular topic requires a reasonable amount of confidence in having an accurate and sufficient sample size. Otherwise, there is a very high probability of the data being biased, insufficient or unable to draw proper conclusions about the target population. That is why most survey results start-off with a heading of how many people it studied right at the beginning itself, for eg: “we asked a 100 men what their preferred car would be”, etc. The importance of curated sample size cannot be overemphasized. As our sample size increases, the likelihood of our estimate also increases and we have greater precision and accuracy.
Data centralization
Centralizing data significantly reduces data redundancy which in turn minimises errors and eases access to information. Everything is based on the same set of data and the same set of rules. If you’re a budding enterprise, looking to enter the market and are studying your target population, you should consider investing in a Data Management Platform (DMP) or Customer Relationship Management(CRM) like Survey Analytica to get the most efficiency out of your survey data
Remember your end goal:
Survey goals define the ‘issue’ of the survey. They help reflect the purpose of the study and use the right questions for the right target groups. Establishing clear survey goals is extremely essential to reteaching a satisfactory conclusion. Throughout your survey, you need to remind yourself of what the purpose of the survey is and not deviate too much from the original as it will produce inconsistent results. Using a third party to create your survey might also help bring a breath of fresh air into your research and reduce biases from the study to achieve the end goal as precisely as possible.
Visualize your data
Although this one is a no-brainer, you need to visualize your data in the form of a graph or a table. You can’t make heads or tails of any data if it isn't presented in a visually understandable format. Bar graphs, pie charts, and line charts are a surveyors or an analysts' best friends at work. They make the data understandable for the layperson and bring a sense of clarity to your work. (put a picture of the client’s graphical software here) Various online platforms help you visualize the collected data without any hassle of coding or immense formatting, Survey Analytica being one of them.
Use AI or third party apps to analyse your data:
Human beings, no matter how talented, are sometimes just not adequate to handle large amounts of data. A slight error in our calculations might cause irreparable damage to our conclusions and make the study unpublishable. For optimal results in your enterprise, you should consider using AI or third party vendors to analyze and process your data. You cannot afford any mistakes in your research, lest you lose credibility or customer loyalty which is incredibly difficult to come by once lost.In conclusion: What did we gain
Knowledge is power, and surveys are a great tool for collecting knowledge from a large population. No other mode of inquiry provides these many facilities in a single protocol. However, you generally need multiple resources from various sources to design a precise survey. That is, until now. If you’re looking for an easy way to Create and Conduct your surveys then read further Presenting Survey Analytica: a no-code online survey and customer experience SaaS platform that hosts hundreds of different cross-industry templates and provides data visualization, data centralization and management software at little to no cost for your study. We integrate our services well into the framework of your study and provide a unique perspective on survey and data management unlike anywhere else.