Have you ever found yourself walking down the street when suddenly you're approached by someone with a clipboard, asking if you have a spare few minutes to answer some questions? If so, chances are that this person was asking you to fill out a survey.
Fig. 1 - A survey is a list of carefully formulated questions that often give multiple-choice answers.
If this doesn't sound like a familiar experience, then perhaps you've been asked to rate a company, restaurant, or service provider based on your experiences with them. Or, you might have been sent an email asking you to use a sliding scale to provide feedback on different parts of their service.
These are examples of a survey too.
This article is all about surveys. What are surveys? What types of surveys are there? How do we identify a survey? And why are they important in research?
These are all questions that you'll have the answer to by the end of this article!
Surveys Definition
To start things off, let's look at a definition of survey. The word "survey" can mean several things, so it actually has more than one definition.
The first definition uses survey as a verb:
To examine and carefully record the details of something. (E.g., The police officer said she was going to survey the evidence before submitting it to her Seargeant.)
The word survey can also be a noun:
The process of ensuring a large-scale project or building is executed correctly and to high standards. (E.g., The contractors completed a survey of the site before handing it over to the developers.)
The definition of survey that we're concerned with in this article is:
A list of questions aimed at obtaining specific information from a targeted demographic or participant group. Surveys are a common tool in research.
The manager of a restaurant wants to know how satisfied the restaurant's patrons are with the service they receive from the staff. The manager decides to give each table a brief survey when they pay for their meals. He can then use the data gathered from the survey answers to ascertain the level of satisfaction felt by the customers, and whether there are any sticking points or areas for improvement.
Fig. 2 - Restaurants, hotels, and other service providers often use surveys for feedback.
Surveys in Research
Surveys are a key research method and can be used to research many different kinds of topics.
One of the main things to note regarding surveys in research is that they fall under the umbrella of quantitative research methods. What does this mean?
Quantitative research is concerned with gathering data that is countable or measurable in some way. The data collected from quantitative research is often statistical or numerical in nature, although this is not always the case.
In the next section, we'll look at how surveys fit into this category of research by highlighting some of the key features of surveys.
Surveys Characteristics
There are a few different research methods that can seem similar to surveys. These include questionnaires and polls, for example. So, how can we tell them apart? We'll begin by looking at the key characteristics of a survey, and then we'll cover some definitions and characteristics of the other research methods.
Survey Methods
A survey method is a technique used to gather data during the research process. Although we're most concerned with surveys in this explanation, there are a couple of other survey methods to be aware of, such as polls and questionnaires. By the end of this section, you should have a decent grasp of what each method entails and how to recognize them.
Surveys
These are some of the key characteristics of surveys:
Measurable. The data obtained from surveys must be measurable or quantifiable in some way. Often this is achieved by providing participants with a range of predetermined answers. (E.g., "On a scale of 1-10, how friendly was your server?")
Carefully considered survey question design. Before writing a survey, you need to think about exactly what information you hope to gain. This means writing carefully thought-out questions that are specific and clear so that participants don't get confused, or you don't end up with lots of data that doesn't answer your research brief.
Multiple-choice questions. Surveys often make use of multiple-choice questions, as again, this is a good way of obtaining measurable data. Using open-ended questions would introduce too many variables that the researcher could not control, making collating and analyzing the data much more complicated.
A variable is an aspect, feature, or characteristic of something that is likely to change. In research, variables are the elements that can be investigated. For example, if you were researching the effect of wind on the growth of a sunflower, the wind would be a variable.
Specific and targeted sampling. When using a survey for research, there is no point in handing out a survey to every person you meet (unless you're looking for opinions from the general population). You should have a clear idea of a target participant group in mind and should only use your survey within this group. This will ensure you are given more relevant and useful data.
A target group or target participant group is the group of people you wish to gain data from. Target groups are usually demographic-related, such as men between the ages of 40 and 50, senior students in Manhattan high schools, or female head chefs. Each of these examples is a target group.
Polls
Now that we know what to look for as far as surveys are concerned, let's learn a bit more about polls which are another type of survey method. Here's a quick definition for reference:
A poll is when a person is given a choice between several options, and they must then vote for or select their preferred option.
The most common type of poll that you'll be familiar with is a voting poll for an election. You would definitely have heard the phrase, "Candidate X has gone up (Y number) points in the election polls." Polls are not always for serious decisions such as elections or referendums but can be used for lots of things. They are essentially a very quick way to gather data about a group's opinions.
The key characteristics of a poll are:
Limited choices. Most polls (regardless of the topic) will only give participants a few options to choose from. For example, if a group of friends is trying to decide what movie to see over the weekend, they might create a poll with the options for everyone to vote on. They might include three or four options to keep things simple.
Minimal detail. Whereas surveys can ask more detailed questions about topics, and the participant can decide to what extent they agree, polls are more concerned with getting participants to make a choice rather than quantifying their opinion on something. For instance, in elections, a poll will simply ask the voter to choose a candidate, whereas a survey might ask the voter how much they agree with each candidate's policies.
Fig. 3 - Government elections are a common type of poll.
Questionnaires
With surveys and polls now under our belts, it's time to take a brief look at one last type of survey method: the questionnaire.
A questionnaire is a set of questions used for research purposes, comprising closed or open-ended questions, or both. Questionnaires are used to gather data from the participants about their opinions or experiences regarding the research topic.
The key characteristics of a questionnaire are:
Combination of closed and open-ended questions. One of the key features of questionnaires is that they can feature both closed-ended questions and open-ended questions. This is a key distinction between questionnaires and polls and surveys, as polls and surveys tend to ask only closed-ended questions. Questionnaires allow for more detailed responses due to the open-ended questions.
Surveys Examples
Now that we know how to distinguish a survey from a questionnaire or a poll, we can look at the different types of surveys. There are three key types of surveys that we're going to focus on here:
Exploratory Surveys
Commonly used in the marketing and business sectors
Concerned with obtaining ideas, opinions, and visions rather than factual, statistical data
Often used for identifying areas for improvement within businesses
An example of an exploratory survey is when a hotel sends you an email after your stay asking you to fill in a survey for feedback. A question included in a survey like this might go something like:
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how friendly were the reception staff you encountered during your stay?"
This question is looking for information about the guest's opinions of the service they received. This information could be used to identify areas where service quality needs improvement.
Descriptive Surveys
More carefully planned than exploratory surveys and more structured
Data obtained from descriptive surveys can be easily collated and applied to the participant population
Concerned with ascertaining a specified group's opinions or views on a particular topic
An example of a descriptive survey could be a teacher giving their students some questions to determine their preferred learning style. The teacher knows what kind of information they are looking for and formulates the survey questions to elicit specific details. An example of a descriptive survey question could be something like:
"Given the choice between watching a documentary, reading a textbook, or carrying out a group presentation, which option is the most desirable?"
The responses to this question could then be collated, and the teacher would be able to see what proportion of the class favors each learning style.
Causal Surveys
Designed to enable gathered data to be translated into cause and effect correlations
Used to better understand the impact different variables have on a research topic
Often used by businesses to improve engagement and sales
An example of a causal survey could be a cereal brand deciding whether or not to change its packaging by seeking consumer feedback. An example causal survey question could be:
"Look at the two packaging options below. Would you be more inclined to purchase the red box or the blue box?"
The answers to causal survey questions give the researcher information about people's motivations and the factors influencing their choices. In this example, the researcher would be able to see how color and design impact consumer decisions.
Surveys - Key Takeaways
- Surveys are a method of quantitative research.
- Surveys are a list of questions that are often multiple choice or have limited possible answers.
- The purpose of a survey is to obtain information from a specific participant group or demographic.
- There are three key types of surveys: exploratory, descriptive, and causal.
- Surveys are similar to polls and questionnaires, but there are key distinctions between the three research methods.
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