Survey Design and Administration

• Designing and administering surveys is a systematic process of gathering information on a specific topic.
• Information is gathered through asking questions of individuals.
• The results are then generalized to the groups represented by the respondents.

Design the Survey Process

• The usual goal of a survey is to describe a population, for example, the group of people using certain services.
• Another common goal is to make comparisons between groups.
• Surveys are often used to get feedback from a specific group of people and/or learn about their wants and needs.
• If the target population is small and easy to contact, it is often feasible to survey the entire population.
• When the target population is large or widely dispersed and the survey is part of a rigorous research project, a "sampling" process is typically used to select and survey only a subset of the total population of interest.
• Developing a timeline is a crucial step in planning a surve.
• The timeline should include; when the survey is needed, best time to contact potential participants or whether you want to survey during a break or during an activity.
• The combination of choices made about contacting sample members, administering questions, and recording responses is called the "mode."
• Mode is influenced by survey population, study topic, and use of the gathered information.
• A survey question measures things that are not directly observable.
• Survey questions should have two characteristics: reliability and validity.

Develop Question

• Reliability is the extent to which repeatedly measuring the same property produces the same result.
• Each survey question should mean the same thing to everyone, including those administering the survey.
• This requires careful design and refinement.
• Validity is the extent to which a survey question measures the property it is supposed to measure.

Tips For Writing Good Questions

• Effective survey questions provide context and definitions for the respondent by announcing the topic and defining the timeframe for events or behaviors to be included.
• Avoid using complex words, technical terms, jargon, and phrases that are difficult to understand in the questions.
• The structure of the question should be simple and easy for respondents to comprehend.
• Questions should have only a single subject and verb, and should not combine two questions into one.
• A closed question provides a list of acceptable responses; like checklists, multiple choice questions, true/false questions, and attitude scales.
• Open-ended questions allow respondents to answer in their own words, for example by posing the question What is the most important problem facing our department?"
• The reference period is the time frame the respondent is being asked to consider when answering a question.
• The reference period needs to be made explicit, rather than leaving each respondent to make an assumption about how far back they should try to remember.

Response Format

• Ensure questions match the desired format of the answer.
• If providing separate blanks for city and state of residence, ask "In which city and state do you live?" instead of "Where do you live?"