SPSS Breaks Down Survey Dos and Don'ts

When planning a survey it’s important to recognize several key factors, and while the range of survey experience often varies from one organization to another, SPSS (News - Alert) Survey Tips can help anyone plan, develop and execute a proper survey.

 

SPSS, a provider of predictive analytics technologies in industries including telecommunications, banking, finance, insurance and healthcare among others, has created this latest booklet that is divided into four major sections with each related to a stage in the survey research process and containing numerous tips.

 

While SPSS breaks down the tips in four stages, the company says they should not to be considered in isolation. A decision made at one stage may influence your work at other stages. Also, in some situations you may work on several stages simultaneously, rather than sequentially.

 

In addition, SPSS has included a glossary of terms frequently used in survey research.

 

 

The Chicago-based company suggests defining your mission before getting started. It can help to ask yourself a few questions starting with: Do you know why you and your organization want to conduct this survey?

Once you answer this to everyone’s satisfaction, use these reasons to develop your survey’s mission. This is key to help refer to your mission throughout the survey process to make sure that every action taken supports it.

 

According to SPSS, Its imperative to know why your organization wants to conduct the survey, otherwise you may be collecting unnecessary data.

 

 

Now its time to develop and  implement your plan. Be prepared to know how to work your statistics, and even which ones to use, while figuring out what initial relationships and patterns you expect to find.

 

For example, if you want to predict purchase patterns based on known demographic characteristics, you need to specify the demographics you think may be relevant, according to SPSS.

 

Because mapping an action plan can greater increase your chances of success and helps you justify your study and budget, it is also important in order to determine the scope and size of a survey.

 

Of course, when it comes to expenses the prime costs of a survey is in data collection and data entry. SPSS has some suggestions including e-mail or online surveys which often have lower costs.

 

 

Now that we’ve come this far, and have planning, an outline and budget in place, the final piece to the start of this puzzle is determining a sample size.

 

The appropriate sample size for a survey is so important because it can not only  influence the overall purpose in conducting the  survey, and of course the budget, but also plays a factor in what research is covered.

 

If it is too small, you could miss important research and if  it’s too large, you could waste  valuable time and resources, according to SPSS.

 

Of course, the study has much more information to share. IF you’d like to learn the ins and outs of creating a survey, check it out here.