survey

Conducting an Effective Survey

Mathilda Harris

One of the most credible means of collecting data is a well crafted survey. This can be an invaluable tool for proving your research. An effective way to assess your questions is to determine the existing situation, and then measure the differences between the before and after data. Prior to conducting a survey, carefully consider the following:

  • Is the group being surveyed representative of your population?
  • Is your sample size appropriate?
  • Has the sample been randomly selected?
  • How have you validated your questionnaire?

The Question and Objectives of Your Proposal

All proposals must address the problem, the idea, and the question. Your survey will depend on the question of your research. For example, what are the eating habits of adolescents who are obese and diabetic, and what is the intake of sugar and fat consumed by this population? The objectives that parallel these questions are: 1) determine the meals eaten per adolescent, per day, during a one-month period; 2) assess the average intake of sugar and fat per meal per day, over a one-month period; and 3) identify food preferences via an attitudinal questionnaire, issued once per week over a one-month period.

Sample Population

To ensure that the survey instrument you develop is appropriate for your audience, you must specify who you are measuring at the beginning of your study. Are you testing all adolescents or a specific group in one area with a high incidence of obesity and diabetes? Either way, you will need to field-test your questionnaire with a group similar to your population before distributing it among your sample. Language barriers, cultural bias, dialects, and regional differences are all factors you should take into consideration.

Collection Methods

How will you administer your questionnaire? Choosing a uniform approach for collecting data will reduce errors. Mail, telephone, email, and face-to-face interviews could each give different results, depending on the population to be interviewed. Some of the factors to consider are the optimal time of day, the neutrality of the location, and maintaining a consistent interview approach.

Measurement

The method of measurement will depend on your specific objectives, evaluation, outcomes, and impact. You must consider the factors you want to measure. A mixed research method of quantitative and qualitative data collection will best ensure a broad validity of your study. For example, your quantitative measures will be the number of meals and the amount of sugar and fat consumed by a group of obese adolescents with a high incidence of diabetes in a specific area. Meanwhile, attitudes, habits, feelings, and/or family influence will comprise the qualitative data.

Best Practices

  • Instructions should be simple and direct
  • Your language should be as precise and plain as possible
  • Ask one question at a time
  • Target what you want or need to know, and stay focused on answering those questions
  • Focus on your most important questions first, so that you capture the responses that are vital for your study before the respondent becomes fatigued

Developing an effective survey is both an art and a science that will provide the data that supports your research. To be successful, you will need to ask uniform and non-leading questions to measure exactly what you want to know. Most importantly, a mixed methods approach is the best option to tackle your study from every relevant angle.

Mathilda Harris

Director at Grant Training Center
Over the past 18 years, she has written grants, conducted capital campaigns, developed strategic plans for grant procurement, and assisted individuals and institutions to write winning proposals for various donors.

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