March 22,2007 Lisa A. Lauxman, Ph.D

On-Line Surveys

Arizona Cooperative Extension

Professional Development Workshop

Survey Design Fundamentals

• Survey is a method of gathering data• Information collected may include people’s

ideas, feelings, plans, beliefs, social, educational, and financial background.

• Questionnaires and interviews are the most commonly used surveys

Survey Purposes

• Survey purposes and methods fall on a continuum. Some have far-reaching generalizable effects

• Other are conducted to meet specific needs • Identify purpose of survey

• Program evaluation• Research• Policy needs

Survey & Questionnaire Components

Questions Instructions Sampling and design Data processing and analyses Pilot testing Response rate Reporting results

Types of Questions

Close-ended survey items Open-ended survey items: Do you get any

satisfaction? – Find out whether people are satisfied with

product, service or program– Are particularly appropriate when collecting info

about what people like best or least

Writing Items

Survey items may take the form of questions– Example of open-ended question

How courteous are the people who make your appointments?

Survey items may be worded as statements– Example of close-ended statement

Circle your agreement or disagreement with the following: 2) The people who make my appointments are

(a) definitely courteous(b) agree(c) disagree)(d) definitely disagree

Rules for Writing Forced Choice

Each question should be meaningful to respondents

Use standard English Make questions concrete Avoid Biased words or phrases Check your own biases Each question should have only one thought

Examples of Scales Used for Forced Choice

Yes or No Checklist- provides a series of answers.

Respondents may choose just one or more answers Rating scales- 4 types

– Nominal or categorical responses, i.e.. Male or Female– Ordinal- require respondents to place answers in a rank

order, i.e.. High, medium or low – Interval – These have measurement choices with real

meaning between the numbers, i.e.. Annual income– Ratio- Has real meaning between numbers with

equidistance between the numbers. Ex- height and weight

Putting Questions in Order

All surveys should be preceded by an introductions First set of questions should be related to topic described Ask relatively objective questions before subjective ones Move from familiar to the least Follow natural sequence of time See to it that all questions are independent Relatively easy-to-answer questions should be asked at end Avoid items that look alike Sensitive questions should be placed well after the start but

also well before the end Questions should be asked in logical order

Response Scales-Likert-Type

Likert-type Scales– Balance all responses ex. 4, 6– Use neutral responses ( no response, don’t

know)– Use 4 to 7 point scale– Put negative end of scale first– Use meaningful scale

Test the Survey

Ease of recording responses Check for typos, misspelled words Length Understanding of questions- easy? Difficult? Test for readability Are questions appropriate for people who will be

surveyed? What about data collected? Does it make sense?

How useful is the data? Check for cultural sensitivity

Response Scales- Checklist

Use ranking only if respondents can see or easily remember all choices

Respondents over-report frequent behaviors Big events are more easily remembered Use list to help jog memory (Yes/No to each)- Break

into components Behavior

– Time– Duration– Frequency

Survey Monkey.com

Professional Growth and Development Survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=33828911949

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=407513266153

Creating Your Own Survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/

http://info.zoomerang.com/