Surveys: What They Are, Characteristics & Examples

We often hear the age-old question, “what do customers really want?” The answer is simple: ask them! Surveys are indispensable in obtaining data to develop effective strategies and keep employees and customers happy. Through a well-designed survey strategy, we can acquire information that gives us a competitive edge and enables us to stay ahead of the curve.

By analyzing the results, we can seek solutions to keep our customers returning for more and ensure high employee motivation, resulting in top-notch service. Guesswork can be inaccurate and lead to misguided business decisions. So why not take the direct route and ask customers directly? These valuable insights are worth their weight in gold. Let’s talk about surveys!

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What are Surveys?

Surveys are a method of gathering information from a group of individuals by asking them questions. Surveys can be conducted through various mediums such as paper and pencil, online forms, telephone, or face-to-face interviews.

The main goal of a survey is to collect data that is representative of the group being surveyed, allowing researchers to make informed decisions or draw conclusions. To create a successful online survey, it’s essential to craft questions that are clear, concise, and unbiased, avoiding leading or loaded questions that could influence the answers.

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Surveys are a powerful tool for data collection, enabling us to collect valuable data quickly and efficiently. By understending the purpose and process of surveys, we can gather accurate and meaningful data that can inform our decisions and lead to successful outcomes.

The process involves asking people for information through an online or offline questionnaire. However, with the arrival of new technologies, it is common to distribute them using digital media such as social networks, email, QR codes, or URLs.

What about Online Surveys?

An online survey is a set of Structured Question that the respondent completes over the Internet, generally by filling out a form. It is a more natural way to reach out to the respondents.

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It is less time-consuming than the traditional way of gathering information through one-to-one interaction and is less expensive. The data is collected and stored in a database, which an expert in the field later evaluates.

As an incentive for respondents to participate in such online research, businesses offer rewards like gift cards, reward points they can redeem for goods or services, free airline miles, discounts at gas stations, etc.

Research studies with rewards are a win-win situation for both businesses and respondents. Companies or organizations get valuable data from a controlled environment for market research.

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Advantages of Online Surveys

The advantages of taking surveys online are endless. This method allows you to collect information from a large number of people in a concise time. Since surveys are currently a commonly used tool, they have managed to delve into different sectors such as government agencies, universities, non-profit organizations, etc.

When you take surveys online, you get several advantages over traditional methods. To understand the concept more elaborately, let’s dive into the key benefits of using an online survey.

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1. Accuracy: In an online research study, the margin of error is low, as the respondents register their responses by easy selection buttons. Tradition methods require human interference, and according to a study, human intervention increases the margin of error by 10%.
2. Easy and quick to analyze: Since all the responses are registered online, it is straightforward to analyze the data in real-time. It is also ready to draw inferences and share the result.
3. Ease of participation: In this new-age technology-oriented universe, most people on this planet have access to the internet. Respondents prefer receiving the survey over email. Ease of participation dramatically increases as the respondents can choose a suitable time and place to register their responses according to their convenience.
4. Great branding exercise: In an online design, organizations or businesses have this opportunity to develop their questionnaire to align with their brand. Using logos and similar brand language (color and fonts) gives the companies an advantage as respondents can connect better with the brand.
5. Respondents can be honest and flexible simultaneously: According to a study, researchers have found increased participation by respondents when deployed with online surveys rather than answering lengthy questions. By designing questionnaires that ask relevant questions, respondents are honest with their answers and can skip the questions or respondents to a more neutral option, increasing their flexibility to respond.
6. Survey templates: Leading online research tools have expert-designed ready survey templates that make it easier for researchers to choose from and conduct their research study. These templates are vetted questionnaires specific to every industry, making the study even more efficient.

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Good Survey Templates and Examples

A researcher must conduct surveys using the right questions and medium to administer and track responses. QuestionPro is a platform that helps create and deploy different types and sets of questionnaires, polls, and quizzes.

We have 350+ varieties of survey templates, including:

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) + Net Promoter Score (NPS) Survey: We repeatedly hear that the customer is king, which is true. A satisfied customer is a customer that helps your brand and organization grow through direct means as well as being an advocate for your brand. This template talks about the goodwill your brand has created and how referenceable it is.
• Employee Satisfaction Template: This template is the perfect fit for organizations that want to measure their employees’ satisfaction levels. This template will give you insights into your organization’s culture and job satisfaction of your workforce planning within that culture.
• B2B Survey Templates: The business-to-business templates are efficient modes of collecting feedback around entities that directly contribute to your business. These may include vendors, clients, their experiences, and so on.

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• Company Communications Evaluation Template: This example is essential to analyze employee perspectives about the subject of internal company communications, topics to cover in the newsletter, updates on the bulletin board, the efficiency of an organization’s management in conversation, etc.
• Hardware Product Evaluation Template: Improving hardware product features isn’t a straightforward proposition due to a lot of elements like raw materials, supply chain, and manufacturing lines getting affected by it. Hence, while eliciting feedback for hardware, it is essential to be as objective as possible. It helps us understand the kind of necessary product innovations.
• Strategic Planning Survey: Innovation methodology is essential to any organization’s product or service lines. Hence, implementing customer support and making product or service tweaks when required is necessary for the sustenance and growth of an organization. This template helps organizations chalk out their business strategy.
• Business Demographic Survey: This template asks demographic questions and examples that help gain information on occupation, the primary area of business, job function and description, the organization’s gross income, etc.

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• Course Evaluation Survey: This template helps educational institutions conduct period feedback on their course and if students find it helpful or not if it’s stimulating enough and students to see this is as value for money along with accentuated learning.

How to create a survey with a good design?

As explained before, a survey usually has its beginnings when a person, company, or organization faces a need for information, and there is no existing data that is sufficient. Take into account the following recommendations:

• Define objective: The survey would have no meaning if the aim and the result were unplanned before deploying it. The survey method and plan should include actionable milestones and the sample planned for research. Appropriate distribution methods for these samples also have to be put in place right at the outset.
• The number of questions: The number of questions used in a market research study depends on the research’s end objective. It is essential to avoid redundant queries in every way possible. The length of the questionnaire has to be dictated only by the core data metrics that have to be collected.
• Simple language: One factor that can cause a high survey dropout rate is if the respondent finds the language difficult to understand. Therefore, it is imperative to use easily understandable text in the survey.
• Question types: There are several types of questions that can go into a survey. It is essential to use the question types that offer the most value to the research while being the easiest to understand and answer to a respondent. Using close-ended questions like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) questions or multiple-choice questions help increase the survey response rate.
• Consistent scales: If you use rating scale questions, ensure the scales are consistent throughout the research study. Using scales from -5 to +5 in one question and -3 to +3 in another question may confuse a respondent.
• Survey Logic: Logic is one of the most critical aspects of the survey design. If the logic is flawed, respondents will not be able to continue further or the desired way. Logic must be applied and tested to ensure that only the next logical question appears when selecting an option.

Characteristics of a Survey

Surveys represent one of the most used techniques for collecting information on a topic or about people to describe, compare, explain or predict their knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors. Simply put, it is a tool used to obtain necessary information.

1. Sample and Sample Determination

First, a sample also referred to as the audience, is needed, which should consist of a series of survey respondents’ data with required demographic characteristics who can relevantly answer your survey questions and provide the best insights. The better your audience’s quality, the better your response quality and insights will be.

LEARN ABOUT: Survey Sample Sizes

The characteristics of a survey sample are:

• Determining sample size: Once you have determined your sample, the total number of individuals in that particular sample is the sample size. Selecting a sample size depends on the end objective of your research study. It should consist of a series of survey respondents’ data with required demographic characteristics, who can relevantly answer your survey questions and provide the best insights.
• Types of sampling: There are two essential types of sampling methods: probability sampling and non-probability sampling. The two standard sampling methods are:
  • Probability sampling: Probability sampling is a method where the respondent is selected based on probability theory. The major characteristic of this method is that each individual in a population has an equal chance of being selected.
  • Non-probability sampling: Non-probability sampling is a sampling method where the researcher selects a sample of respondents purely based on their discretion or gut. There is no predefined selection method.

2. Survey Questions: How to ask the right questions?

Valuable questions are the cornerstone for the success of any survey and, subsequently, any research study.

The characteristics of the survey questions are as follows:

• Data collection: Whether it is an email, SMS, web intercept, or a mobile app survey, the single common denominator determining how effectively you can collect accurate and complete responses is your survey questions and their types.
• Fundamental levels of measurement scales: Four measurement scales are crucial to creating a multiple-choice question in a survey. They are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio measurement scales without the fundamentals of which, no multiple-choice questions can be created. Hence, it is essential to understand these levels of measurement to create a robust research framework.
• Use of different question types: Multiple choice questions are the most common type of survey questions, in which some of the popular question types are: dichotomous question, semantic differential scale questions, rank order questions, and rating scale questions. Open-ended questions help collect in-depth qualitative data.
• Administering the survey: It is essential to plan the type of survey to ensure the optimum number of responses required for your study. It could be a mix of interviews and questions or a questionnaire. Interviews could be telephone, face-to-face, online, and questionnaires, personal intercepts, or web surveys.

3. Survey Logic: Skip logic and branching

Logic is one of the essential characteristics of a survey. Using logic in a study is to move a respondent based on their current selection to a question. Survey skip logic and branching provide the ability to create “intelligent” surveys, meaning respondents can answer relevant questions based on their answers to screening questions. The characteristics include:

• Design: In this phase, the users design their logic and set it up so that irrelevant questions to each respondent don’t appear as part of the survey.
• Application: Survey logic can be applied using conditional or unconditional branching. Other parameters that form the basis of a logic depending on the objective of the study, are piping data, question randomization, link quota, etc.

4. Survey Methods

Survey methodology studies the in-depth sampling of individual units from a population and administering data collection techniques on that sample. It includes instruments or processes that ask different question types to a predefined sample, to conduct data collection, and increase the survey response rate.

The two distinctive member types are professionals in the field that focus on empirical survey errors and others that work to design surveys and reduce them. The primary tasks of an admin while deploying a survey is to identify and create samples, validate test questions, select the mode to administer questions, and verify data collection methods, statistical analysis, and data reporting.

Survey Methods based on Design

Research studies are of the following types:

• Cross-sectional studies: Cross-sectional study is an observational research type that analyzes data of variables collected at one given point of time across a sample population. Population or a predefined subset. This study type is also known as cross-sectional analysis, transverse study, or prevalence study. The data gathered in a cross-sectional study is from people who are similar in all variables except the one under study. This variable remains constant throughout the cross-sectional study.
• Longitudinal studies: Longitudinal study is an observational study employing continuous or repeated measures to follow particular individuals over a prolonged period, often years or decades. The longitudinal research collects data that is either qualitative or quantitative. In a longitudinal study, respondents are under observation over a period, ranging from months to decades, to observe any changes in them or their attitudes. For example, a researcher wants to find out which disease affects young boys (in the age group of 10-15). Then, the researcher will observe the individuals over that period to collect meaningful data.
• Correlational studies: Correlational study is a non-experimental type of research design where two distinct variables are studied. Statistical analysis helps to examine the relationship between them without the interference of external “variables.” This study aims to understand the change and level of change in one of the two variables in the study if the other variable changes. For example, if an ice cream truck has a jingle that can be loudly heard, people start to understand which ice cream truck is in the neighborhood and how far it is from the person’s location.

LEARN MORE: Descriptive Research vs Correlational Research

Survey Methods based on the distribution

There are different ways of survey distribution. Some of the most commonly used methods are:

• Email: Sending out an email is the easiest survey method. The respondents are targeted, and there is a higher chance of response due to the respondents already knowing about your brand. You can use the QuestionPro email management feature to send out and collect responses.
• Buy respondents: Buying a sample helps achieve many of the response criteria because the people being asked to respond have signed up to do so. The qualifying criteria for the research study are met.
• Embedding on the website: Embedding a survey on a site ensures a very high number of responses. Embedding a survey can be done while the person enters the website or is exiting it. A non-intrusive method of collecting feedback is essential to achieve a higher number of responses. The responses received are also honest due to the top brand recall value, and the answers are quick to collect and analyze due to being digital.
• Post to the social network: Posting on social networks is another effective way of receiving responses. The survey is published as a link on social media, and people that follow the brand can be the set of audiences or respondents. There is no upper cap on the number of survey responses required and is the easiest and fastest way of eliciting responses.
• QR code: QuestionPro QR codes store the URL for the survey. You can print/publish this code in magazines, signs, business cards, or any object/medium. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application can scan the QR Code’s image to open the survey in the phone’s browser.
• QuestionPro App: The QuestionPro App allows the circulation of surveys quickly, and the responses can be collected both online and offline.
• API: You can use the API integration of the QuestionPro platform for potential respondents to take your survey.
• SMS: Using SMS surveys are another quick way to collect feedback. This method can be used in quick responses and when the survey is simple, straightforward, and not too long. This method increases the open and response rate of collecting feedback.

Distribution allows using one or a mix of the above methods, depending on the research objective and the resources being used for any particular survey. Many factors play a part in the mode of distribution of surveys, like cost, research study type, the flexibility of questions, time to collect responses, statistical analysis to be run on data, and willingness of the respondent to participate in the study.

You can conduct a telephone or email survey and then select respondents for a face-to-face interview. Survey data are sometimes also obtained through questionnaires filled out by respondents in groups, for example, a school class or a group of shoppers in a shopping center.

You can also classify these by their content, using open or closed questions to know, for example, opinions, attitudes, details of a fact, habits, experiences for a later classification, and unit of analysis of the obtained results.

In the same way, you can use some sample survey questions; ask for the classification of different alternatives. You can do a concise survey with items that can take five minutes or less to answer, or it can be a very long survey that requires one hour or more of the interviewee’s time. For example, those who need to know about in-depth behavior or attitudes of people prefer to use, in addition to surveys, a panel, or an online community.

5. Survey Data Collection

Conclusion

Surveys are a valuable tool for collecting data from a specific target audience, allowing researchers to gather important information and insights that can be used to inform decisions and strategies. By designing effective surveys that are clear, concise, and relevant, researchers can obtain reliable and useful data to help them meet their research objectives.

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The characteristics and examples of surveys we’ve discussed today offer a foundation for anyone who wants to design effective surveys and use them to understand their target audience better.

We must remember to keep our questions simple and focused and to take advantage of the various distribution methods available to get our surveys in front of the people who matter most. With a well-designed survey and a little effort, we can gain valuable insights to help us make informed decisions and drive success in whatever endeavor we pursue.

QuestionPro enables users to easily design the perfect survey, distribute it, and analyze data in real-time. Add multiple question types, logic, and branding. Preview your surveys and send them to start collecting valuable feedback and insights. Start today!

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