Developing Surveys

John C. OryChris Migotsky

Center for Teaching Excellence249 Armory

3-3370 ory@uiuc.edu

Know your….

Topic

Respondents

Costs

Time

Purpose

Survey Examples

Annual Campus Senior Survey

Proposed General Education Survey

From 40 Suggestions …..About questions• “Is this question worth asking?”• Keep items short as possible• Avoid double-barreled wording

Rate the quality and value of the capstone course

• Focus response choices “Rate the quality of …” Use P-F-G-VG-EX rather than

“The capstone was excellent.” SD-D-A-SA

• Balance your scales Poor Fair Good VG Excellent

• Decide on number of scale points4 or 5 or 6?

• Should you use “Neutral category” or “Don’t know”

• Place positive responses to right Poor=1, Fair=2, etc…

About survey

• Make the questionnaire “eye-appealing”professional with plenty of white space

• Group items into logically coherent sections

• Avoid putting important items at the end

• Do you need demographics?

GETTING RESPONSES

Phase I: Getting their attention

• If your survey arrives in style, it may not get tossed in trash

• If your survey appears seductive, the respondent may be attracted

• If your survey appeals to a basic value,, it may get read.

• If your survey arrives at the right time, it has a chance of being completed

Phase II: Keeping their attention

• If the students know what it is for and why it is important, they may want to respond

• If you give them something for their effort, they may expend the effort to respond

• If it is easy to complete, it might get completed• If you ask questions that “grab” students, you

might get responses

Phase III: Getting their feedback

• If you keep it confidential, they may feel “safe” to respond

• If you make it easy to return, you might get it back

• If you follow-up, you even can get a better return rate

E-mails and Cover Letters

• Date letter or e-mail of the day it actually goes out• Use letterhead when possible• Personalize salutation• Explain purpose

• Describe who is sponsoring• Provide name and phone for further info• Consider sending advance e-mail or letter• Consider other methods to publicize survey

• Explain how respondents were chosen

• Explain how and when to return survey• Describe incentives• Provide a realistic time required to complete survey• Explain how the confidentiality of the respondent and

data will be protected• Identify deadline for returning

How to get 75% Return

4 mailings 2 weeks apart = 40+20+10+5

Send complete package on 1st and 3rd mailings (cover letter, questionnaire, envelope with stamp)

Send reminder cards on 2nd and 4th mailings

E-mails or Cover letters are different:

1st thorough content2nd gentle and friendly reminder3rd emphasize confidentiality and stress importance4th set a final deadline

A handy campus tool for developing electronic surveys -

Public Affairs’ Web Services Toolbox

Presented by Chris Migotsky

Web Surveys in the Toolboxhttp://www.webservices.uiuc.edu

Info

Main Toolbox Page

Let’s Create a Survey!

Web Services Toolbox

http://www.webservices.uiuc.edu/

Other web survey tools– Survey Monkey– Snap Surveys– Zoomerang