How to get better results from a survey: Meet the Survey Octopus

Editor's Notes

• #6: People will only respond if they trust you. After that, it's a balance between the perceived reward from filling in the survey compared to the perceived effort that's required. Strangely enough, if a reward seems 'too good to be true' that can also reduce the response.
• #7: This is a genuine invitation from local government, but the layout and images in the invitation make it look as if it's an approach from some sort of spammer or scammer.
• #8: The survey sits between 'what you want to ask', 'who you want to ask' and 'the number'
• #12: The survey octopus has 8 tentacles. We'll visit each one in the next few slides. We’ll get our survey to the people who will answer in what the survey methodologists call ‘fieldwork’ – that might be a pop-up a website, a mail survey, or face-to-face interviews.
• #13: The octopus again. This time we're looking at 'the questions we ask'.
• #14: The resources you have will help you to decide on the reward you’re offering
• #15: Prank leaves Justin Bieber facing tour of North Korea By Daniel Emery Technology reporter, BBC News 5 July 2010 Image caption It is highly unlikely Bieber would be given permission to enter North Korea Canadian singer Justin Bieber's has become the target of a viral campaign to send him to North Korea. A website polled users as to which country he should tour next, with no restrictions on the nations that could be voted on. There are now almost half a million votes to send the singer to the secretive communist nation. The contest, which ends at 0600 on 7 July, saw North Korea move from 24th to 1st place in less than two days. Many of the votes are thought to originate from imageboard website 4chan, which has built a reputation for triggering online viral campaigns.
• #16: The octopus, with focus on "the ones whose answers you use"
• #17: The octopus, with focus on 'The list you sample from'
• #19: The octopus again; we've looked at 6 of the 8 tentacles.
• #20: The octopus, looking at two tentacles that are about response: 'The ones whose answers you can use’, and ‘the answers that you get’
• #22: We're looking at the last tentacle of the octopus, this time 'The answers that you use'
• #23: The 8 tentacles of the Survey Octopus are: Left side: Goals: the resources you have Questions: the questions you ask Response: the answers you get Insights: the answers you use Right side: The list you sample from The sample you ask The ones who answer The ones whose answers you use
• #29: Two questions from a survey: '24: Do you use a Windows or Mac computer'? '25. What is your gender'?
• #30: Photo of a Samsung (android) mobile with the same questions as previous slide. If you only have an Android mobile, how do you answer ‘do you use a Windows or Mac computer’ when the answer options are ‘Windows’, ‘Mac’ and ‘Both’?
• #37: A process starting with one person face to face, continues through 10 people by phone, gets to 100 people by email or pop-up. It’s best to check that your question works with one person before you hassle 10 people with it. Then check it works with 10 people before you send it to 100. Once you’ve tried it on 100 people, you might be more interested in a new question than getting more answers on this question
• #41: Photo of a Samsung (android) mobile with the same questions as previous slide. There aren’t any options for ‘other’, but some people don’t use a Windows or a Mac. Most people identify as ‘Male’ or ‘Female’ but some people don’t.
• #42: A model wears a t-shirt with Gender: 'Male' (crossed out), 'Female' (crossed out) and 'Other' (added and ticked'.
• #44: People will only respond if they trust you. After that, it's a balance between the perceived reward from filling in the survey compared to the perceived effort that's required. Strangely enough, if a reward seems 'too good to be true' that can also reduce the response.
• #45: Obvious questions require no effort to answer. Interesting questions are rewarding to answer. Appropriate questions are ones that inspire trust in the respondent.
• #46: People come to the web with their own questions, so they’re likely to know why they are on your website. It’s a relatively interesting question to answer, and it’s appropriate to ask visitors why they’re visiting.
• #56: This is a more conventional way of looking at the octopus tentacles
• #57: If we just look at the issues (no tentacles) we get this slide
• #58: This slide translates the issues into the technical terms used by survey methodologists