How to Conduct a Survey

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Identify your objectives.

   Before you begin to ask people questions, you need to understand why you are conducting your survey in the first place.
   
   Is it to complete a class assignment? Is it to get feedback on a particular product? Then, start to think about who you should talk with and what you should ask them to get at your larger goal.For example, your objective might be to determine how many people in your class will attend the school dance.
   
   This could be a relatively quick yes/no survey unless you want to add additional layers about motivation, dress, or other factors.
2. 2

   Step 2: Set the parameters of your survey.

   Decide when you will start and stop the surveying process.
   
   Determine how many people you want involved either as interviewers or data analysts.
   
   If this is a solo class project then that answer is easy! Formulate the instructions that you will include with your survey to guide respondents.With the instructions you may ask them to complete the survey in a certain time frame or perhaps only using pencil.
   
   There are many options here.
   
   You may also want to craft a brief statement as to your intentions or goals with the study.
   
   This is particularly important if the survey is not face-to-face.
   
   You can make people more likely to trust you and respond if you let them know, for example, that this is part of a college project. , This is one of the most critical steps.
   
   Now that you’ve identified your objectives, think about what kind of information you need to get in order to make your survey worthwhile.
   
   Would you be satisfied with simplistic, basic answers or are you interested in more elaborate narrative responses?If you are trying to get an indication as to a person’s feelings then an open-ended narrative response will be more helpful.
   
   However, if you need to quantify emotions then you may need to go with a ranking question.
   
   For example, “How angry are you about X? Choose from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the angriest).” , Do you want to present your respondents with multiple answer options or just a single choice? Once you’ve made these decisions start to write out your questions and then narrow down the list to your final choices.
   
   An open-ended question could be, “Tell me about your childhood.” A closed question would be, “Was your childhood happy? Answer yes or no.” The design of your survey can also limit the space allowed to answer open questions, limiting the length., If you intend to analyze the final responses while taking into account demographic categories, then you will need to formulate these questions as well.
   
   You do not have to ask about every category, so decide which ones relate the most closely to your overall objectives.
   
   You might ask respondents about their income, marital status, sex, ethnicity, age, or race.
   
   Many of these questions will be formatted as lists in which the respondent will choose the appropriate option.
   
   For example, “Please circle your marital status:
   Single or Married.” , You will generally want to start with the easier questions and work up to the more complex ones.
   
   This allows your respondents to grow comfortable with the survey process before they are asked to provide intimate or challenging information.You should generally place your demographic questions either at the very beginning or the very end of your survey.
   
   The danger of placing them at the end is that many respondents, if not asked in person, will skip this section. , You may want to divide up the task of writing questions.
   
   Ask each of your group members to contribute a few and then work together to finalize the list.
   
   If everyone is focused on the same core objectives, this collaborative process should yield a more focused and precise set of questions., You’ll want to keep the total survey process somewhere around 5-10 minutes ideally.
   
   This is the total time that it should take a respondent to complete the survey.
   
   You will notice that your response rate will drop if your time commitment goes up.
   
   You can sometimes counter this by offering a gift., A researcher is only as good as their records.
   
   You will want to keep a detailed accounting of your methodology, the interview process, and the final results.
   
   Everything should be documented when possible.
   
   This process starts as soon as you begin brainstorming objectives and only ends when your results are presented.
   
   For example, if you are working with a team of researchers it is important to know who conducted each interview, on what day, and other details.
   
   Keep documentation as to which questions were removed from the initial list and why.
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   Step 3: Match your questions to your objectives.

4. 4

   Step 4: Understand the differences between open and closed questions.

5. 5

   Step 5: Remember to include demographic questions.

6. 6

   Step 6: Pay attention to question order.

7. 7

   Step 7: Ask everyone to contribute

8. 8

   Step 8: if working in a group.

9. 9

   Step 9: Keep your survey short.

10. 10

    Step 10: Maintain careful records.

Detailed Guide

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