Online Survey
Online Survey gathers information and opinions from a (randomly) selected audience by asking a set of multiple choice or open-ended questions..
Level of participation
Consultation
Duration of participation process
Preparation:Couple of weeks for questioning and contacting the target group.
Implementation: Couple of weeks
Follow-up: 1-2 days
Target group size
50-100 people
>100 people
>1000 people
Costs
$
Human resources needed
At least one person for designing the survey, implementing and reporting
The method: what is it, when to use it and what outcome to expect
Surveys can be implemented in various different ways, that is not only face-to -face, but also via telephone, per Mail or relying on an online platform or an online tool. An online survey is a method used to gather information or opinions from a given population relying on stand-alone tools (such lime survey or survey monkey) or online platforms (such as Adhocracy+).
An (online)-survey comprises a collection of questions requiring answers from participants, either qualitative (open ended) and/or quantitative (with a limited choice of answers; numerical value). The results can be visualized in the form of graphics and charts. Online surveys enable decision-makers or civil society organizations to collect valuable information that might be fed in further processes and planning.
The process: how to conduct it in an in-person setting or online using a PC/laptop with video option
- Preparation: Define the goal of the survey and a timeframe for answering the survey
Define the target group and identify the way of reaching them out (mail, internet search, newsletter…). Find a suitable tool or platform to carry out your process. Draft your survey with clear questions. Have them reviewed by someone in order to be sure that they are understandable.
- Survey Set-Up:Enter the questions defined in the previous stage into the online-tool. Draft an emailto contextualize your survey and invite participants to answer the survey
- Pre-Test:make an internal test by sending the invitation and survey to someone order to be surethat everything works as expected. Check the answer provided through the pre-test and bring some modification if necessary.
- Online Survey: Send/communicate the invitation for the participating in the survey to your targetgroup. Depending on the context and the complexity/length of the survey,and also the response rate, the period of answering can vary a lot. Do not hesitate to send a reminder in the middle of this stage.
- Evaluation:Prepare the results of the survey. Interpret,analyse and compile the results into a report. Communicate the results to the target group and interested stakeholders.
Blended participation
Online survey can be used in the end of a process and have an evaluative function.. it might be useful to combine online and analogue surveys. Using various methods to diffuse the survey might help in getting a higher response rate.
Digital communication
To ease communication with specific target groups, you might need to rely on small and direct sentences that you can also translate via an online translation sofware
Good to know
- Read further: https://participedia.net/method/565
- To ease participation of some target groups, you might need to provide technical support to the tool and/or secure access to ICT infrastructure.
- An online-survey can be:
–> suitable for: starting participation processes and gathering opinions
–> used several times during a participation process in order to assess the changes in opinions -Deliberative Polling.