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March 2001 Volume 2.05
Is a Web based survey what you need?
by Rodger Gallagher
Doom and Gloom
 It
seems that every day the mainstream media report on the demise of
the Internet. Our experience with the Internet is otherwise. Since
introducing World Wide Web based surveys to New Zealand a few years
ago we have seen a huge increase in their use by our clients. We
have conducted Web based surveys with participants located around
the world. Every research project has been completed successfully
due to evaluation of the situation and a flexible approach to overcoming
any obstacles along the way. Recently, some of the larger market
research companies have added these Web based techniques to the
services they provide. It is good to see a competitive choice of
services being provided using various Web survey software products.
With this range available, it is important that the research situation
is examined to determine if Web based surveying is appropriate.
In the right situation Web based surveys are economic and a more
rapid approach. But it may be better not to use Web based surveying
in certain situations. Instead, traditional techniques, such as
a mail out questionnaire, or computer assisted telephone interviewing
are better options. As always, the place to start examining the
options is with the information needed by the client. To provide
the required information do we need to capture the views of the
users, installers, decision maker customers, distributors, or retailers?
Once we have decided this we can see whether the population has
suitable characteristics for a Web Based survey.
Does the population pass the basic checklist for a Web based
survey?
There are some very basic conditions that must exist before a Web
based survey can be considered:
1. Computer
Do more than 95% of the population to be surveyed have access to
a computer and are they familiar with using them? Each person does
not need to have a computer, but they do need to have access to
a computer. If less than 95% of the population have access to a
computer, then the research would cover only the views of people
with computers which might be different than for people without
computers. Or the views of people without computers would need to
be captured with another survey format. And of course using two
survey formats adds to the cost.
2. Web Browser
Although everybody in the population may have a computer, it is
essential that the computers are equipped with a Web browser such
as Netscape or Internet Explorer. Many older computers can only
handle specific text based programs. These are not suitable for
a Web based survey. Sometimes we have encountered situations in
businesses where the Web browsers were installed, but hidden from
the users. And even if everybody in the target population has access
to a Web browser, do they have a current version available? Early
versions of Web browsers had limited functionality, which does not
support the forms function typically used in Web based surveys.
3. Internet Access
Many businesses have found Intranets to be useful ways of providing
access to and sharing information within an organisation. In these
situations users may have Web browsers but not have access to the
public Internet, and onto the computer where the Web based survey
is being hosted. So it is important to check this out with the business's
information technology department, so that this situation can be
overcome.
4. The People
While the technical items on basic checklist are important, even
more important are the people in the target population. Young employees
in a high tech company might just love to complete a Web Based survey
and a very high percentage would do it without much incentive, but
would the same apply to the manager of an accounting practice used
to delegating any computer work to others? Or perhaps people in
a call centre do not have enough computer time available in between
answering phone calls to complete the survey. Clearly the type of
people in a target population and their job activities are critical
factors to consider and manage. Response rates in excess of 50%
are possible even with customer groups consisting of business managers
in industries such as information technology or travel, where people
use email and Web technology every day.
5. Inviting People To Participate
The final point on our checklist relates to inviting people
in the target population to take part in the survey. The simplest
approach is to email an invitation to a sample of people randomly
selected from the target population. And of course in addition to
this, a list of email addresses in database format is needed. While
it is fairly easy to generate this type of list for an employee
survey, it is more difficult to do it for a customer survey or for
a survey of your competitors' customers. For these surveys it may
be necessary to build email lists from the individual contact list
maintained by Account Managers and other customer contact people.
Another approach for employee surveys, where companies operate Intranets,
is with a clickable button. A link is established to the survey
from the clickable button on the home page of the Intranet.
After the checklist
The five points listed above are some of the key basic criteria
to be considered before investigating a Web based survey. Each of
these points covers a broad area worthy of further investigation.
For example, even though everybody in an organisation might have
a computer with a Web browser, how robust is the computer system?
If a business's computer system has difficulty supporting normal
everyday computing needs then this is not a good situation for a
Web based survey. And even if everybody in an organisation has Internet
access, we have found that some businesses have tightly dimensioned
links to the public Internet. One New Zealand corporate managed
to crash its public Internet link when it ran survey software designed
for generously dimensioned American corporate situations.
With thorough planning, Web based surveys work well, providing an
economical rapid method of carrying out survey fieldwork.
BEGONIAS AND JAZZ
 Each
year in February, Hamilton Gardens has its summer festival. The
Gardens are developed into theme gardens based on cultures from
around the world. Some of my favourites are the Japanese Garden,
the Italian Renaissance garden, and the English Flower Garden Display
House. This last one includes a music conservatory with the seating
area surrounded by all shades of begonias. We spotted a Twilight
Jazz session on at the conservatory one evening and as Gaye Jurisich
was singing we made sure we went. Accompanied by intuitive pianist,
Kevin Field, Aaron Coddel playing double bass, drummer Vincent Pavitt,
and Grant Mason on trumpet, Gaye sang jazz standards such as 'Slow
Boat to China'. As twilight fell it was time to think about eating.
We knew that the restaurant in the Gardens was under new management,
so we decided to try it.
The restaurant has a beautiful setting overlooking Turtle Lake in
the Gardens. The restaurant has gone through several owners since
it opened and I've always thought that the setting deserved more
that the poor service and average food served up over the years.
Well, now the restaurant has changed its name to the Garden Terrace.
More importantly the service is fine and the food is great. I tried
the Tortellini with spicy sausage while Virginia had the Chicken
breast. Both meals were served after a reasonable wait even though
many diners had arrived at about the same time as we had. They were
cooked superbly and complemented by Hardys Insignia Shiraz.
Now the service and the food complement the beautiful setting.
Regards,
Rodger Gallagher
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