A Practical Guide for Designing Better Surveys
Surveys That Work explains a seven-step process for designing, running, and reporting on a survey that gets accurate results. In a no-nonsense style with plenty of examples about real-world compromises, the book focuses on reducing the errors that make up Total Survey Error—a key concept in survey methodology. If you are conducting a survey, this book is a must-have.
After earning a degree in mathematics at Oxford University, Caroline started work as a software engineer, moving rapidly into project management across a variety of industries, including electronic point of sale, process control systems, telecommunications, and optical character recognition of printed and hand-written documents.
Caroline started her business, Effortmark Limited, when she discovered usability and realized that all along she’d been much more interested in what computers are for than in how they are put together.
She became fascinated with the problem of getting accurate answers from users when she was consulting with HM Revenue and Customs (the UK tax authority) on how to deal with large volumes of tax forms. She became an expert in forms design, and is co-author of Forms that Work: Designing Web Forms for Usability.
Along the way, she completed an MBA with the Open University, which led to co-authoring the textbook User Interface Design and Evaluation and also to continuing work on the design of the university’s vast web site.
Her interest in surveys began when she discovered that academics tend to frame the challenge of getting accurate answers from users as a problem in survey methodology rather than forms design. She has been writing and presenting on survey design since 2002.
Caroline is a Chartered Engineer, Society for Technical Communication fellow, and co-founder of the Design to Read project, which aims to bring together practitioners and researchers who are working on designing for people who do not read easily.
Read MoreChapter 0: Definitions Chapter: What Is a Survey? And the Survey Octopus
Spotlight A: Four Different Types of Surveys
Chapter 1: Goals: Establish Your Goals for the Survey
Spotlight B: The Net Promoter Score and Correlation
Spotlight C: Satisfaction
Chapter 2: Sample: Find People Who Will Answer
Spotlight D: Statistical Significance
Chapter 3: Questions: Write and Test the Questions
Spotlight E: Privacy
Spotlight F: Questions to Ask When You Choose a Survey Tool
Spotlight G: Choose Your Mode—Web, Paper, or Something Else?
Chapter 4: Questionnaire: Build and Test the Questionnaire
Spotlight H: On a Scale from 1 to 5: (Likert and Rating Scales)
Chapter 5: Fieldwork: Get People to Respond
Chapter 6: Responses: Turn Data into Answers
Spotlight I: A Good Chart Is Easy to Read and Honest
Chapter 7: Reports: Show the Results to Decision-Makers
Chapter 8: The Least You Can Do