How to Create A Survey

Surveys are a great tool to obtain quantitative data on a range of reactions from your customers. In order to create a successful survey, it must be carefully planned out and organized. By doing so, you will be able to gather important information from a large population.

Things You'll Need

• Pen
• Paper
• Computer

Instructions

1. First start off by developing the survey objectives. You will need to know what information you are trying to gather and who you are trying to target. Setting an objective is the most important part of creating a survey.

2. Write draft questions and determine the measurement scale. The draft questions will be determined based on the objective that you set. The measurement scale will be designed based on the type of questions that you ask and the replies you are looking for. For example, it may be best to use a number scale (rate 1-10) or a quality scale ( good, very good, poor, etc) or even yes/no or open ended questions.

3. Determine the required sample size to make your survey statistically meaningful. Depending on the population size of your intended audience, a certain number of samples will be needed in order to make the survey results statistically significant. There are many calculators available on the Internet that will calculate the sample size needed. I have used one on isixsigma.com. but there are many others that are available.

4. Determine the method of distribution to your target audience. You can use the internet, direct mail, or handing out questionnaires. You just need to make sure to keep it anonymous so that you get a greater number of responses and more accurate responses. I like to use the website surveymonkey.com which will assist you in preparing the survey and obtaining anonymous responses.

5. Now that you have the questions and method of distribution, now it is time to design the survey. Taking the questions that you developed, this step involves putting them together in the method of distribution that you chose and double checking that the survey is complete and will allow you to reach your objective.

6. Send out the survey to your target audience.

7. Compile and analyze results. If the survey was successful, you would be able to achieve your objective that you set out to obtain. You should now be able to make decisions based on the feedback that was received.

Tips & Warnings

• Place a deadline on when the survey needs to be completed by so that the participants are aware.

• Send out more survey invitations then you need because many people will either overlook, ignore or forget to complete the survey.

• If you can find a cheap incentive to encourage people to complete the survey, you should use it to increase the number of respondents.