DESIGN A RESEARCH SURVEY PLAN

Design a research survey plan

Design a research survey plan

A survey usually originates when an individual or institution is confronted with a business problem and the existing data are insufficient. At this point, it is important to consider if the required information can be collected by a survey. If you need input from a number of people, must get results quickly, and need specific information to support business decisions, then a survey is the most appropriate technique.

Many studies start with a general hope that something interesting will emerge, and often end in frustration. A careful survey plan will help you focus your project, while guiding your implementation and analysis so the survey research is finished quicker. You can then concentrate on implementing well-supported decisions.

A well-designed plan answers the following questions:

Questions

Benefits

What will be learned?

Generate data that answers the business questions you have

How long will it take?

Keep the survey project focused and on schedule

How much will it cost?

Anticipate direct and indirect project costs

You can only answer these questions if you draft a plan prior to implementing your survey. Hence, an integral part of a well executed and a successful survey is the " planning quality."

Creating Effective Survey plan

Depending on the scope of your survey, there could be many interrelated issues. Every survey plan should include consideration of the following six areas:

Survey Value

Survey Cost

Defining the Project

Defining the Audience

Defining the Project Team

Project Timeline

Survey Value

The first step in defining your survey project is to understand its scope and importance to your organization and how the information you gather can realistically benefit your work. Survey value depends on three main factors. They are:

A clear definition of the decisions you need to make

The relative cost of making an error in those decisions

The amount of uncertainty the survey will reduce

Defining the Project

At this point, you need to plan the elements of the survey process and define the project. By setting a measurable objective, you can learn the effectiveness of your survey and it will help you in reinvesting the information you learned for future surveys. A good example of an Objective Statement would be:

Measure site visitor demographics daily for the next eight weeks to see how effective our online advertising campaign is at drawing our target audience.

Calculate how long the survey will take, including time to invite the respondents, gather data, enter and ...