IBM SPSS Survey Tips - A handy guide to help you save time and money as you plan and execute your data mining

IBM SPSS Survey Tips A handy guide to help you save time and and money as you develop time money as you plan,plan and and execute your data mining projects surveys Table of Contents Introduction 4 Planning 5 Define your mission 5 Outline your research 5 Establish a budget 6 Develop a schedule 6 Define the population 6 Determine your sample size 7 A second approach 8 Select a sampling technique 9 Choose a survey method 10 Questionnaire design 14 Determine your survey’s length 14 Balance length and Information 14 Choose appropriate question formats 15 Design your response choices 19 Use professional formatting 21 Conduct a pilot study 24 Finding problems in your survey 25 Data collection 27 Use incentives as appropriate 27 Give clear instructions 28 Interviewer-administered surveys 29 Telephone surveys 29 Mailed surveys 32 Online surveys 34 Survey field times 36 “Ideal” response rate 36 Analysis and reporting 37 Use a unique identification variable 37 Clean and verify your data 37 Analyze open-ended questions 38 Keep track of your analyses 39 Design readable reports 43 Conclusion 45 Glossary 46 About IBM Business Analytics 52 IBM SPSS products for survey and market research 53 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011 3 Introduction A list of IBM SPSS survey research products Are you currently involved in survey research? can be found on pages 53–58 of this booklet. Or are you developing a survey for the first time? Keep IBM SPSS Survey Tips by your side during Regardless of your level of experience, IBM the survey process and use it to help you save SPSS Survey Tips can help you plan, develop money, execute your survey in a timely manner, and execute surveys. and get the highest response rate and the most This booklet is divided into four major sections, useful results. If you have questions about each related to a stage in the survey research conducting or analyzing your surveys, call your process and containing a number of tips to guide local IBM office. We offer a variety of training you through it. Please remember that these and consulting programs to assist you. stages are not to be considered in isolation. A Information is available at www.ibm.com/spss/ decision made at one stage may influence your training. work at other stages. Also, in some situations you may work on several stages simultaneously, Stage one: Planning rather than sequentially. Define your mission Do you know why you and your organization After the tips, you’ll find a glossary of terms want to conduct this survey? If so, use these frequently used in survey research. These terms reasons to develop your survey’s mission. Once are boldfaced the first time they appear in the developed, refer to your mission throughout the text. As you read, you’ll see symbols that will survey process to make sure that every action help you better understand the information in this taken supports it. If you are uncertain about why booklet. you and your organization want to conduct the survey, and what you plan to do with the results, The § symbol indicates that the figure shown is you may be collecting unnecessary data. based on a survey of a very large population, such as a national survey. When questioning your organization, if you get an answer such as, “We do it every year,” dig deeper for the real reason. This symbol indicates an example illustrating a particular tip Outline your research Develop a plan to implement your mission. Be This symbol highlights IBM SPSS products that prepared to know which statistics to run and help you perform a particular action or specific survey application more effectively and what initial relationships and patterns you productively. expect to find. 4 5 If you want to predict purchase patterns based One age group may prefer phone or mail on known demographic characteristics, you surveys, another online surveys. need to specify the demographics you think may be relevant. A young child may be able to pay attention to your questions for as little as five minutes, or Establish a budget may not understand all of the content. Older Mapping an action plan helps you justify your respondents may not understand new phrases or jargon. study and budget. It also helps determine the scope and size of your survey. Typically, the Consumers reached by phone at home may be distracted by other activities and unwilling major costs of a survey are data collection and to spend more than 10 minutes being data entry. Some methods, such as email or surveyed. online surveys, typically have a lower cost-per- If any of your questions are gender-specific, returned-questionnaire and may help you stay be careful to avoid unintentionally offensive within your budget. language, and be sure that questions are directed at the right audience. Before beginning, be sure to ask how much your survey will cost and how long it will take Determine your sample size to complete it and deliver results. The appropriate sample size for your survey is influenced by your purpose in conducting the survey, and by your budget. If your sample size Develop a schedule is too small, you could miss important research If you’re new to survey research, assume that findings. But if it’s too large, you could waste the process will take longer than you expect. valuable time and resources. There are software When creating an entirely new survey, allow time tools that enable you to determine critical for review and performing a pilot study. With variables anticipated effect, size, confidence, any survey, be sure to allow enough time for statistical power and sample size) before you data collection, analysis and reporting. spend valuable time and resources. Try to anticipate what tables and graphics should be constructed, so you can begin There is usually no reason to survey more than these early in the process. 1,000 to 1,500§ respondents. While the precision of results tends to improve as the sample size increases, the increase in precision is negligible when sample size is Define the population greater than 1,500§ respondents. Before you can develop questions and format your survey, you need to consider the population you will be contacting. The age, attention span and gender of potential respondents will influence the design of your survey and the data collection methods you use.