A survey is only as successful if its purpose is carefully determined. This makes the survey
far easier to carry out. In order to do this, these three questions are inescapable and the other questions can be built:
- What is my research question?
- Why am I collecting this information?
- Who can I collect this data from?
Having tackled this, it is easier to determine what outcomes to expect from each question and
create indicators attached to be able to measure these outcomes qualitatively or quantitatively. Now that you successfully determined the questions and possible outcomes of your survey;
picking the most suitable methodology to utilize this is the next course of action.
Some of the methodologies are:
- Observation – best in cases that require minimal intrusion during data collection.
- Questionnaires – these are the most popular methods in used today and can be distributed as
hard copy or soft copy. - Interviews – getting into meaningful conversations can help the data analyst make better
judgement on previously collected data. - Focus group discussions – this is a broader version of the interview as it involves more
individuals with diverse backgrounds and are usually employed in complex issues.
It is important to take note of the various advantages and disadvantages of each method as it
will help you to make your choice on which method would be best for your survey. Quantitative research produces countable or numerical results while qualitative research results
are non-numerical; they usually investigate the ‘why’ and ‘how’.
Qualitative research is usually employed in exploratory research to get insights. Quantitative
research on the other hand is employed when trying to compile statistics to uncover patterns. Take note of and include these five keys when setting up a survey –
1. An introduction to the survey – this should be elaborate and reveal the importance of the
survey to both parties involved.
2. Identifiers which include name age, sex etc
3. Consent
4. Open-ended fields where you encourage the individual to submit any other related details that
may have not been captured in the questions.
5. Validation.
In this age of Google forms and GPS, data collection though not entirely seamless has been
made it a lot easier for both the data analyst and the respondent. Having succeeded in streamlining and deciding on the most relevant questions to ask let’s talk about what format your questions should be presented in. One very vital framework that guides data analysis is the MECE framework. MECE stands for “mutually exclusive collectively exhaustive”. When designing a questionnaire, it is important to ensure that all the different questions are mutually exclusive meaning no question should be repeated and collectively exhaustive meaning questions should be chosen in such a way that captures all the required information. Every question in the survey will either be open or close-ended questions knowing the difference between both will give you a better direction on which one to use.
Close-ended questions have a limited number of options for the answers to the questions. This
questions are often in form of multiple-choice or scale questions. However, open-ended questions have infinite responses, so they are often employed during preliminary research, expert interviews or with a small sample size and at the end of any survey. Although it is ideal for a survey to gather information on every member of the targeted population, this is only possible if the population is small enough and the researchers have enough resources to reach out to everyone.
