Last week I’ve received an email from a colleague of my design management network; maybe some of my readers got this as well ;-) Anyway, the email pointed to an online survey ‘designed’ and conducted by some students from an US Eastern Coast design management program about the current and future social/business impact of “bottled water”. Great topic indeed!
Since I’m always happy to support design management students with their work I’ve followed the link to the survey and started clicking optional answers over a myriad of pages. The students did make use of a (free) online survey service so to a certain degree I think they can’t be blamed for any disruption in terms of poor usability & graphics. In contrast what has been terrible way the user experience in terms of the design of the questions.
Maybe I’ve been too lazy to frame my experience and feelings about this questionnaire in my own words, but I was happy when I’ve noticed a posting by my #1 blogroll author Steve Portigal. He wrote a professional, but at the same time emotional and passionate review about his experience which exactly matches mine. Needless to say that I would have wished to have this written if I wouldn’t have been too lazy (Oh, did I mention this already ;-)
Unfortunately my second comment to this posting seems to be eaten away by some technical gremlin between my computer and Steve’s blog. It has been a response to a student’s comment (Eling Lee) complaining that no one at the according college has ever told him/her how to design a questionnaire. For sure this is poor support by the course instructor since a simple amazon.com search with the words “survey design” would have revealed a comprehensive list of books to choose from.
In the meantime Core77 picked up the topic as well in their weekly newsletter and today Steve has been so kind to post a link to a (free) resource which concisely explains the Do’s and Don’ts of Survey Design. So no excuses any longer and special thanks go to Steve!
Steve Portigal Says:
February 15th, 2007 at 3:35Visit Steve Portigal
Sorry about the gremlin. I’ve heard reports of commenting troubles, which makes me wonder how many of those go unreported. Yet comments do come through. I can’t get anyone to reliably try and debug things with me, so I don’t know what the problem is - it’s only happening to someone else, not me. I think it may be an anti-spam thing where someone - my ISP? Wordpress? Is trapping some forbidden words or phrases?
DB9 Says:
February 15th, 2007 at 15:32Visit DB9
I got a chance to fill out that survey, apparently that survey is not on a free service as we have used that site several times for our own research. Also Mr. Portigal’s harsh and amateurish bashing does not help anyone either. After reviewing his blog it seems more personal than professional.
Ralf Beuker Says:
February 15th, 2007 at 15:48Visit Ralf Beuker
Hi Steve, it might have been caused by the amazon link I’ve tried to post in that comment which I’ve then converted via the TinyURL service; maybe a hint?
DB9, thanks for the hint that Zoomerang is not free; while looking at their website howver I understand that they are offering some basic free services/surveys. After all the question of “Free or not” is not addressing the key question of the case IMHO. I’ve tried to lay out my point on this in my posting. Regarding your criticism on Steve’s tone, well that’s what blogs are about and who says that professionalism and subjectivity exclude each other?
Steve Portigal Says:
February 15th, 2007 at 16:41Visit Steve Portigal
Someone using the name DB9 left a comment on All That ChittahChattah, followed by another comment from the same IP address, (Bristol-Myers-Squibb), but with a different name and different email address. The same person is posting as multiple individuals making comments in the same vein. Not very smart, or very cool. Look up “sock puppet” and look up “troll”
Ralf Beuker Says:
February 15th, 2007 at 19:50Visit Ralf Beuker
Even though I don’t like to do this I’ve decided to delete the last comment of DB9 since it clearly demonstrated non constructive feedback and somehow destructive wording.
As Steve seem to have done the same on his blog I conclude he had similar reasons as well!
Nick Says:
February 16th, 2007 at 13:56Visit Nick
Steve not a good idea to try to defame 3rd party entities here.
Alfred money Says:
September 22nd, 2008 at 21:17Visit Alfred money
Questionnaires ca be tricky, I tend to find that results are all over the place and prefer focus groups where more detail can be gathered as well as better understanding o the logic behind peoples answers.
Daniel Miller Says:
December 31st, 2008 at 6:19Visit Daniel Miller
Alfred I agree that questionnaires can be tricky. But I’ve found them to be much more effective at receiving meaningful responses from target groups.
If designed correctly. And if the process is right.
The problem with focus groups is that people sometimes say things when surrounded by others that they don’t actually believe. Even 1 on 1 style focus session paid or otherwise can deliver unreliable results … because again people may say something to end the session more quickly or for other such reasons.
In many consulting situations I recommend sending people that are already looking for the information to a survey page that when answered provides ‘real actionable insight’ into what your target group or prospective customers ‘really’ believe.
No method is perfect though.
Newbie Affiliate Martketing & Paid Survey Adivce Says:
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:33Visit Newbie Affiliate Martketing & Paid Survey Adivce
Paid Surveys are one of the best ways to make quick money online. Most payout via paypal though some only send out checks thru the mail. Here are a few tips to get the most out of paid online surveys.
1) NEVER EVER EVER pay for a survey database or list. NEVER. You can get the same information by using google.
2) Join 8-10 survey panels to start. That will give you enough to keep you busy with a steady flow of daily surveys without overwhelming you.
3) Create a brand new email account with Gmail strictly for surveys.
4) Be conistant in your answers don’t try to cheat the surveys.
If you do it right you can make decent money, n ot enough to create a full time income but enough to by yourself a big ticket item every 3 months or so.
Hope this helps
Design Software Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 12:27Visit Design Software
Interesting article I agree that you can get an awful lot of free information from Google nowadays particularly with the webmaster tools opening up.
Design and Print Says:
February 23rd, 2009 at 21:38Visit Design and Print
hey there just wanted to say that i really found your site really interesting thanks .. have added it to me favourites x
Best paid online surveys to make money at home Says:
March 14th, 2009 at 14:33Visit Best paid online surveys to make money at home
How To Make BIG Money Online? The Best Paid Survey Online Are Proven To Generate A Pretty Good Sizable Income For Those Who Want To Work At Home Or Work In Their Own Terms, Not Anyone Else’s.
However, you can go work a job, maybe make some good money, but, no matter what your situation is at your job, you will never have total control of what you can do at your job, like what happened to me.
Despite trying two other businesses, I never made any money. In fact, I got sucked into a $750 purchase of merchandise and never got to sell them except had to put all of them up on eBay. I joined another company and have spent thousands trying to be in business. Results weren’t fruitful. Things got worst. I felt like I’ve been sold something that didn’t work and despite asking for help, I got no response. The person who enrolled never returned calls. Once I got fed up with that, I quit that business too. Although I didn’t have to deal with the expense of running that business, I still need to find a way to work from home. With the economy and the gas prices situations getting worst, most of us need to find a way to make some decent money to help with the expenses.
So I found a one that allows me to work at home. I’m not going to say that this business is going to be easy, nor a get rich quick scheme, but it has brought me enough money to position me to leave my job or for some of you, you many not have to look for a job to keep your stay-at-home status. We have an opportunity that you may like to do and that is in Paid Surveys!!!
Home Design Says:
April 8th, 2009 at 12:14Visit Home Design
your information is so interesting. Thanks for the post!
work management Says:
April 9th, 2009 at 9:53Visit work management
Your post give me some inspiration about survey. thanks!
quick money Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 19:24Visit quick money
With free paid surveys always involved the risk. But quite difficult to believe overkill offers. Even so, the gain is also worth your time and effort, although it is impossible to survive on just incentives from surveys.
Instant payday advance Says:
July 14th, 2009 at 21:28Visit Instant payday advance
The problem with a focus group, is it’s not the whole audience, and it’s a few people. If you have a questionair, you can reach more and get more points of view
bestpaidsurveyportal.com Says:
July 29th, 2009 at 3:22Visit bestpaidsurveyportal.com
found great post here,
The biggest thrill when you are paid to take survey questionnaires, complete and submit them is that you are doing so from the comfort of your own home.thanks for sharing. i’ll be looking forward to your next post :)
dekorasyon Says:
July 29th, 2009 at 17:48Visit dekorasyon
dekorasyon The problem with focus groups is that people sometimes say things when surrounded by others that they don’t actually believe. Even 1 on 1 style tadilat focus session paid or otherwise can deliver unreliable results.
Alex Says:
August 27th, 2009 at 10:15Visit Alex
“He wrote a professional, but at the same time emotional”
Are professional couldn’t be emotinal in his work?
Typing Jobs Says:
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:54Visit Typing Jobs
Thanks for your wonderful tips. It still amazes me today how you can search the internet for damn near anything and come up with quality content like this one here.
Thanks again!
eddy @ fill out surveys for money Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 18:05Visit eddy @ fill out surveys for money
Thanks for the interesting tips about survey designs. I look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Billig Reisen Says:
October 9th, 2009 at 20:14Visit Billig Reisen
design management students - did not have known that design managment is a course of studies but when I read your post I get the feeling ii is very complex. Thank you for the introduction.
autos versicherung Says:
October 15th, 2009 at 1:45Visit autos versicherung
So many ideas about design and education - thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. I will come back for other posts :-)
goldring Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 6:43Visit goldring
of my design management network, that is great if you can hark back to your colleague because design managment is very important for social business.
Goldring
goldring Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 6:44Visit goldring
of my design management network,…. that is great if you can hark back to your colleague because design managment is very important for social business.
Goldring
Brand New Surveys Site! | 7Wins.eu Says:
November 26th, 2009 at 19:21Visit Brand New Surveys Site! | 7Wins.eu
[…] Survey Sites Paying Points/Gift Certificates/Merchandise | Survival Guide to Online SurveysVol. 2: design-management.de » How To Design A Survey […]
Schufa Says:
February 8th, 2010 at 15:09Visit Schufa
Deisgn management network is very importent if you have it. I made the experience that in this case it is very importent that people work as a team which enlarge the productivity.
Tropical fish Says:
February 13th, 2010 at 11:48Visit Tropical fish
“…they can’t be blamed for any disruption in terms of poor usability & graphics.” I always thought this includes also design management? Well as I see I never stop learning new things :-)
treatment for acne scars Says:
March 2nd, 2010 at 20:59Visit treatment for acne scars
Interesting article I agree that you can get an awful lot of free information from Google nowadays particularly with the webmaster tools opening up.