Questionnaire surveys are an invaluable method of determining the views of your customers and stakeholders, and provide excellent intelligence for you to base the future direction of your organisation.
However, the biggest problem with this type of research is that most organizations think it’s an easy job to do it themselves. They think it’s just a matter of devising some questions and giving it out to people to answer.
Wrong!
Questionnaire surveys have to be very carefully planned, particularly the questions. The content, tone and sequence of questions is critical, otherwise you end up with misleading information rather than insight.
And the method of undertaking the survey requires careful planning too. What sample size should you use? How do you distribute and return the questionnaires? How do you capture and analyse the data resiliently? All these questions and more face anyone wishing to undertake a questionnaire survey.
Our best tip is to advise any organization wishing to undertake a questionnaire survey to use a professional marketing company to assist them. However, for those who do wish to do it in-house we strongly recommend buying the book ‘Questionnaire Design’ by Ian Bruce. This book tells you how to plan, structure and write survey material for effective market research and is published by the Market Research Society.