Survey Design Training OFFICE OF PLANNING, RESEARCH & INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS CAÑADA COLLEGE

Goals for today  Understand purpose of survey  Develop survey objectives  Develop research questions  Develop survey questions  Survey implementation options and considerations  Simple data analysis techniques  Available resources  Remember: Process is iterative

Why conduct a survey  Discover what’s going on  Provide an opportunity to discuss key topics  Prioritize your actions based on objective data

How to develop survey objectives  Determine what you most want to learn  List resources that are available to address what you want to know  Who do you want to gather information from?  Identify survey constraints o How much time do the respondents have to complete the survey? o Is the survey optional or required? o How often do you want to collect information?

Activity 1  Develop your survey objectives  Identify possible resources  Possible constraints

How to develop research questions  Survey questions should address your survey objectives  Types of research questions o Satisfaction about a program, service, or class o Knowledge gained on a specific topic o Types and frequency of programs or services used o Feelings or opinion about a specific topic o Meeting (program) objectives—quantitative and qualitative

Activity 2  Develop your research questions

How to develop survey questions  Identify survey questions that will address your research questions  Gather and use existing surveys as examples o Gather more example than you need initially  Refine and revise base on constraints of your survey sample  Pilot survey  Consider how you want to analyze the responses

Types of survey questions  Structured  Yes/No  Multiple Choice  Rating  Ranking  Non-structured  Free response  Including “Other” as an option (partially non-structured)

Activity 3  Identify student characteristic data to collect (if needed)  ID  Demographics  Course  Create some survey questions

How to implement a survey  Consider your sample and the constraints  Paper vs. online  How and when to send out and close the data collection period o Consider how many other surveys your respondents are taking  Monitor your live survey o Improve response rate

Activity 4  Create your survey implementation plan

Analysis and reporting  Frequency counts and percentages  Averages o Missing values  Crosstabs  Summary statements about your data

Before your survey goes live  Pilot with a small group of respondents  Check with your researcher

Technical support  Create your online survey  NOVI Survey  Support your survey deployment  NOVI Survey  Assist in developing your survey report