Dr. Nolinske’s second article in her series is online over at NBRI, “Methods of Survey Data Collection”.  As always, she is insightful and interesting.

As a compliment to her article, I have listed some questions that will help you determine which data collection method is best for your survey.  I welcome your input.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

1.    What type of survey?

• Employee Survey
• Customer survey
• Political Poll
• Market Research
• Other

Over at NBRI, Dr. Terrie Nolinske has begun a new series of articles aimed at explaining the benefits and pitfalls of conducting a survey.  I enjoy Dr. Nolinske’s writings so much that I decided to mirror each her articles with one of my own to bring some of her discussions over to SSO.

Dr. Nolinske’s inaugural article this week is entitled “Minimizing Errors in Survey Research”.  She discusses the potential errors in the layout and design of a survey instrument.  I decided to add to this by giving examples of errors in the wording or phrasing of survey questions.

Common Errors in Creating Survey Questions

Oftentimes those uninitiated in the formulation of survey questions want to go to a website and find questions or a survey template that fit their needs; cookie cutter questions that appear to ask what it is they want to know from customers, employees, voters, or consumers.  This is good if the original author of those questions is knowledgeable and the questions ask exactly what you are attempting to find out from your survey audience.

We all have to work to live. Work can be enjoyable and even fun at times. But work is mostly something we do because we have to do it. That doesn't mean you should give up one third of your life and wonder every day if what you do for a living is worth the trouble.

If your company does not engage its employees - recognizing and rewarding measureable contributions by everyone in the work force to the company's success and profitability - you feel like your efforts are wasted or no different than any other person in the office.  If you’re in management, you may wonder if the people working for you even care if you succeed. Your company's future is at stake - and that's the message of the MacLeod Report.

In May I wrote an article about the 2010 Census and the extraordinary difficulties that will be involved in the national survey this time around. I talked about the difficulties that Census Chief Robert Groves will encounter with this undertaking. I mentioned that the costs will be higher, district restructuring will be more heavily contested, some minority groups are planning to resist being counted, and countless other headaches involved.

However, I did not discuss the potential dangers derived from negative feelings towards the federal government in these difficult economic times.

Many times rural areas are hit the hardest by a recession. If you think it is tough to find a job in New York, Dallas, or Los Angeles these days, try Manchester, Kentucky. Hard times make for hard feelings. Imagine trying to feed your family while the government is handing out billions in free money to organizations that have proven themselves unsustainable in the current economy.

Innovation can take many forms. An organization develops a new product or service. A new business model offers customers a new brand experience. A new strategic partnership is formed, resulting in new customer segments and new distribution or communication channels.

More than ever before, organizations view innovation as a strategic priority, giving them a competitive advantage over others, at a time in which most employees are asked to do much more with much less. Who has time to innovate? It’s tough enough to slog through daily operations without having to think up new ways of doing business, too.

Making innovation a strategic priority often requires that stakeholders make a shift in their thinking to make innovation a consistent, repeatable part of their daily business routine.