“Data, whether qualitative or quantitative, is an integral part of any academic or commercial research project. It is virtually impossible to produce accurate and useful information unless your data is objectively collected in a consistent, structured manner. Surveys are the simplest and most efficient way of obtaining reliable and robust scientific data. Thanks to the internet, a global network, gathering survey data has been simplified. For your convenience, here is a SWOT analysis of an online survey as a research method for the collection of data.
Strengths
Aside from AI-aided data analysis, surveys have the following strengths.
Objectivity
Being objective in nature would mean that if two different experts are interpreting the data, their findings should be similar. It's an indicator of reliability. Surveys are highly objective since they can be worded in a way that respondents don’t misinterpret. The questions would have the same meaning for everyone.Economical
The cost per response of an online survey is lower in comparison to any other research method. You don’t have to invest in a supervisor to conduct it, unlike other modes. Even if you give something to each respondent in exchange, the costs are minimal.Time-saving
According to several experts, they receive 50% to 60% of responses within 3-4 days. Additionally, curation is made easier because data is directly entered into the digital database by the respondent.Flexibility
Conducting a pre-screening is possible in an online survey. This allows you to collect data from the most relevant sample population.Weakness
An online survey can have the following weaknesses:-
Opportunities
An online survey gives you the following opportunities:-
Threats
One considerable threat to an online survey is the bias of respondents. What if the person responding is perplexed or has poor self-awareness? Academic research may suffer significant data loss in such a scenario. Additionally, if the respondent is in a bad mood, it can taint the results. They might, for instance, decide on an extreme stance when a subtle or neutral one would have been preferable due to their foul mood. Furthermore, respondents may find the survey to be too long or boring to be motivated to respond thoughtfully.
Concluding remarks
In a nutshell, an online survey is incredibly inexpensive and accurate. It does have some flaws. They can, however, be overcome if the questions are fluently structured and all of the steps of a scientific study are followed. The template of a survey plays a pivotal role in making the survey respondent friendly. Survey Analytica offers an endless array of tools and templates for you to make your online survey fundamentally robust, organized, objective, and simple. Qualitative data that captures the essence of the target group can be challenging to gather at times. With strategies like sentiment analysis and ML models, Survey Analytica assists you in assessing and dealing with real-world data. It is a no-code online survey and customer experience SaaS platform that allows you to create, conduct, and analyze survey research data with the click of a button! Visit surveyanalytica.com to learn more!