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Selection of the best blog posts in 2015

Sep 16 2015

Here are some of the best posts from our database of blogs posted in 2015. They should be interesting to anyone interested in Web Survey Methodology, Marketing Research and similar topics. Posts can be accessed by clicking on the title of the post. 

 

Is Online Sample Quality A Pure Oxymoron?

In this post Scott Weinberg talks about survey quality. He thinks that some companies focus too much on panel sample quality and not enough on survey quality.

Quota Sampling Effectively -How to get a Representative Sample for Your Online Surveys

Rick Penwarden of Fuild Surveys explains how to get a representative sample for your online surveys. He also talks about quota sampling and how to use it.

Survey length matters – especially on mobile

Zontziry (Z) Johnson of QuestionPro explains why survey length matters. He argues that that is especially the case for mobile surveys. He also argues that  long is becoming shorter.

Sensitive Sruvey Data? Protect What You Share

Sensitive survey data should not be shared to people that are not  entitled to it. This post tells us how to correctly manage sensitive survey data.

7 Survey mistakes you don't want to make

Gert Van Dessel of CheckMarket writes about 7 common survey mistakes that could and should be avoided. He believes incentives and branding should be used. He also warns not to to forget thank-you page.

Open-Ended Questions: Valuable or a Waste of Resources?

This post from infosurv is about pros and cons of open-ended questions in surveys. Author belives that you should first determine what are you going to do with open-ended responses.

Agree or disagree? 10 tips for better surveys – Part 1

Agree or disagree? 10 tips for better surveys – Part 2

John Kleeman of Questionmark shares 10 tips for better surveys in this two part series. Some tips are definetely useful.

Online samples: Paying attention to the important stuff 

Reg Baker or shouild I say The Survey Geek talks about the importance of online samples. He says: »The irony in all of this is that the potential harm caused by a few poor performing respondents pales in comparison to the risk of using samples of people who have volunteered to do surveys online, especially in countries with low Internet penetration. »

How Long is too Long an a Mobile Device

Stefan Kuegler of GMI Lightspeed explains how long should a mobile survey be. He says it should be as short as possible, because it takes longer to complete a survey on a mobile device and because dropout rate is higher on mobile devices.

How to Offer Survey Incentives Without Sacrificing Good Data

Sarah C of Survey Monkeys tells us how to correctly offer survey incentives without sacrificing good data. She says: »When it comes to increasing response rates, previous research has shown that cash is king, boosting survey response rates the most. And non-monetary incentives like a thank-you gift aren’t as effective as monetary incentives when it comes to increasing response rates.«

10 Tips For Crafting Good Survey Questions

Sandy McKee of Survey Gizmo shares her tips for crafting good survey questions. She concludes her post by saying: »Surveying takes careful planning. Doing the hard work up front will save you time and effort later. Good survey questions lead to good results!«

How to Avoid Survey Fatigue

Susanne Ross of Inquisium tells how to avoid survey fatigue. Best ways to avoid survey fatigue according to her are: having goals, keeping it short and simple, making it look good and offering an incentive.

Tips on customer surveys using online survey software

Elizabeth of Novi Survey shares some of her tips on how to best use online survey software. She concludes by saying this: »Although you can get a snapshot of your customers’ point of view on your company with a single online survey software questionnaire, it’s always a good idea to conduct a number of these surveys over a certain time period. This will allow you to measure results more effectively to help improve customer satisfaction.«

How Language Proficiency Can Impact Survey Response

Greg Timpany of Research Access shows if languege proficieny can impact survey response. In USA  this can be problem as we can see from the following paragraph: »According to the US Census Bureau one of out of five US residents does not speak English at home. To add to this, for those who typically speak Spanish at home, less than 44% reported they spoke English “very well”. So the language we offer our surveys in does make a difference. Some findings from a survey that Peanut Labs conducted have a direct relationship to data quality.«

The Rise and Fall of Mobile Surveys: Where are we now?

In this post from Kinesis main topic is the current state of mobile surveys. This paragraph summarizes the post well:« If respondents receive a survey designed for a mobile device it is usually more fun, shorter, and without the verbosity that market research is known for. Advances in mobile devices and UIs, including the ability to quickly expand online images without scrolling, continually improve the mobile experience.«

5 ways to turn a really boring survey into a less boring innovative survey

 This short post by Annie Pettit of Peanutlabs gives us advice on how to make surveys less boring and more interesting for respondents. One trend that can be spotted elsewhere as well is present in the following qoute: »Challenge yourself to #NoMoreGrids. You know respondents hate them so here’s your change to drop any questions that aren’t 100% essential and format the remaining questions to be friendly.«

Your checklist for approaching sensitive research topics

Some topics are more sensitive for respondents. In this post Sabrina Sandalo of Quirk deals with how to get the most of the respondents when talking about sensitive topics. This part of the post is particulary interesting: »9. Be prepared to share yourself. Traditionally moderators are trained to keep themselves out of the conversation but to encourage sharing on sensitive topics, sharing something about yourself helps to build rapport and open the conversation. Just keep the self-sharing to a minimum so you’re not influencing them but rather showing that you can relate. Making them feel connected will generate a better conversation. »

7 Reasons to Use Open-Ended Survey Questions (And 5 Reasons to Avoid Them)

Kyley  McGenney of Pew Research shares some tips on creating web surveys for Mobile devices. The importance of customizing web surveys for mobile devices can be figured out from this qoute: »With so many respondents taking Web surveys on smartphones, creating surveys with smartphone respondents in mind is critical. This includes both writing the questions with mobile respondents in mind and ensuring that your software properly renders the questions regardless of the type of device respondents are using.2«

Tips for Creating Web Surveys for Completion on a Mobile Device

This post from Pew Research talks about differences between web surveys and surveys apps for smartphones.

Why the long survey is dead

Ray Poynter talks about extinciton of long surveys. He argues that surveys that are long are not suitable for mobile devices. He believes the main reason for furhter existence of long surveys is tradition.

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