Before you start creating your survey for use at LSBU, ask yourself the following questions:

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2 Before you start creating your survey for use at LSBU, ask yourself the following questions: Does your proposed survey answer a real need? Is it the only/most effective way of gathering the data? What are you actually going to do with the results? If they won t contribute to a decision, result in an action, are required by a for example, funding body why are you gathering this data? What are you asking and why? If gathering personal information, is it essential to know this? How will it be stored? Who has access to it? How long will it be kept? Are you asking because you need to know, or would like to know/are interested? If the latter, this means you should not collect that information in your survey. Has anyone else at the university conducted a similar survey before? Check to see whether you can use the results from previous surveys rather than creating your own. This will avoid survey duplication Always check to see whether anyone else at the university is running a survey at the same time with the same audience you do not want to overload people! 2

3 Online survey tools LSBU has a licence to use Bristol Online Surveys (easiest and best for most surveys) and Questback (has ability to do more complex branching surveys). Support for creating surveys Contact Lise Foster in ICT for information about getting accounts. Contact Russell Kenny in OSDT if you need training in using either of these tools. Contact Tim Brunwin or Bhupinder Sanghera in the Marketing and UK Recruitment department for advice about questionnaire content. They would also be happy to check over proposed questionnaires. Here is a link to online support for Bristol Online Surveys Here is a link to a quick tour of Questback features 3

4 Prepare your survey in advance Do a complete outline of your survey in Word or on paper before even logging in to your online survey tool. This will give you the opportunity to consider the wording of each question, the full set of responses, possible ambiguities in questions and the overall structure of a survey. Good structural design is important, especially if you use features such as filtered or conditional questions or pages, which will tailor the size of the survey delivered according to the respondents' input (see below). Check what else is going on so you don t add to survey fatigue. This will help maximise your response rate. Test your survey thoroughly Get colleagues to try it out both at the draft stage and when set up online. This will help eliminate ambiguities, determine which questions should be compulsory/optional, check the flow and ensure it s easy to complete. Keep your survey simple and short The more questions you ask, the fewer respondents are likely to stick with it to the end. Only ask the crucial questions that you want answers to, and get rid of questions that are really just nice to know. If you really want to explore a topic in some depth, consider whether a focus group wouldn t be a more effective means. You can always invite people to sign up for further surveys perhaps by offering an inducement/prize 4

5 Structure your surveys logically On the first page, make it clear what the aim of the survey is. Generally, keep personal identification questions to the end ( , name, etc.) so respondents can get straight into the questions. Group relevant questions together, and use conditional pages/questions, so follow on questions are only asked when relevant. Don't confuse multiple and single choice options A common mistake in survey design is using a multiple choice question style for a question where you are only seeking a single answer. Think carefully for each question whether you want respondents to select just a single option, or whether you want to leave open the possibility of several responses. For example, consider the difference between these two questions: What age group do you fall in? 15-25, 26-45, 46-65, 66+ (single choice) What continents have you holidayed on? Europe, Americas, Africa, Asia, Oceania, None (multiple choice) Don t make other classic mistakes, such as age groups 15-25, 25-35, 35-50, or create questions impossible to answer. Always consider whether Other should be included as a response. Using scales Likert scales are used to indicate levels of satisfaction/dissatisfaction on a scale (insert image) Consider whether to force a definite response e.g. have a range of 1-4, or to allow your respondents to be undecided e.g. a range of 1-5 where 3 would be neither one nor the other. 5

6 Brand appropriately When surveying on behalf of the institution, you should ensure the logo is included to give authority. Your survey should also clearly include details of the originating department and contact details should anyone have any queries. Be aware of the Data Protection Act 1998 You don't need to be an expert on this, but you must always bear in mind that anything you include in your survey and any personal data you gather should comply with legislation on these issues. If you are collecting personal data, you must be clear why you need it, how and by whom it will be kept, the security of the data and when it will be no longer current and then destroyed. Always safest to anonymise data unless there is a clear business driver for collecting personal information. Ask nicely Remember that your respondents are doing you a favour by filling in your survey. It is a good idea to include a greeting message at the start of a survey that is brief, and explains the reason for the survey and, possibly, when and where results will be available. If you are asking for personal information, spell out exactly what your privacy policy is. A simple short thank-you message is always required at the end of the survey. If you are gathering addresses for future research, why not put a short opt-in to see if they'd be prepared to take part. 6

7 Use incentives if appropriate An incentive (such as a store voucher, an mp3 player or even real money) can improve the response rate of your survey but a short effective survey that people can see the purpose of can be at least as effective If you are using an incentive: Make the incentive appropriate to your audience. It's unlikely that anyone will be deterred from taking your survey because of an incentive. Don't make the incentive too big this doesn t necessarily lead to more responses Mention the incentive at appropriate places (see below). Think carefully about the wording of your invitation Your to a potential respondent has to feel like a personal invitation. The subject line has to show benefit or value to the respondent because that may be all they read. Keep it short but meaningful or it will be deleted straight away. The text of the should be brief and direct. In the body of the Explain why you are contacting them ("As a xxx we'd really appreciate your comments on xxx..."). If there is an incentive then mention it. Include a call to action ("Click the link below to start the survey") Remember to say "Thank you" Put a real person's name and job title at the end. Keep it brief. People rarely read unsolicited s more than once or bookmark them for later attention. You want them to read the and act on it immediately. 7

8 Send the invitations at times that match your respondent's habits If ing staff then consider sending s to arrive when the recipients are likely to have a little "down time". Just after lunch on a Friday is often a good time. s which arrive at work addresses on a Monday morning will be buried amongst the weekend's spam and so will be easily lost (or inadvertently deleted). HTML or plain text? HTML s are increasing in acceptance and can make it easier to brand your invitation as coming from a trusted source, and catch people s attention. Don't put any vital information in an image unless it is repeated in the text. Many programs don't show images automatically. Make sure the content and purpose of the is clear without any images. Promoting a survey on your web site When promoting a survey via links on a web page include all the courtesy, enticement and calls to action that should be included in an invitation. Avoid automatic pop-ups - they're likely to be blocked. Don't display a survey automatically. A visitor who has clicked a link to a survey (because of your carefully worded invitation) is far more likely to answer it honestly and complete it than one who is shown it involuntarily. 8

9 Top and tail your survey The survey itself has to follow the same rules as the invitations. Have an opening page which thanks the respondent for taking the survey and tells them its purpose and how long it will take. If there is an incentive show a picture of it with a brief description. Put a real person's name and job title at the end of the first page if appropriate. At the end of the survey, once again thank people for completing it. It is always good practice to delete any data (including sample information) from the survey system once the surveys have finished and the data downloaded. A further useful presentation about creating questionnaires: Interviews%20and%20Questionnaires.pdf These guidance notes are adapted from this source: By Lise Foster, Tim Brunwin, Kate Kwafo-Akoto, and Russell Kenny 9