How to Conduct a Survey – Intro

Conducting a survey can seem like a very daunting process, but it is not as complex as you might think. Don’t take that the wrong way. Conducting a survey is a science. It follows the old computer adage, garbage in – garbage out. If you do not conduct your survey in a strict scientific manner you can end up with a lot of useless data and wasted months of work. Worse yet, you could create action plans based upon that data and do more harm than good. However, the basic structure of a survey is easily understood.

Over the next few weeks I will unravel the mystery behind conducting surveys. I will convey a base understanding of surveys, how they are conducted, and how you can create and deploy one. This series of posts will be very basic for two reasons:

These articles are aimed at newcomers. Many people who are searching for surveys are doing so for the first time. They may have little knowledge of what questions to ask and what to do with the answers.
NBRI has a cadre of Organizational Psychologists who have dedicated their lives to surveys and statistics. If it is hard-core survey information that you are looking for, please read our highly informative white papers on customer and employee surveys.

You may find this is a refresher course if you read the NBRI blog. If you are new, I hope this helps you make informed decisions on conducting surveys.

Let’s start by talking about survey basics.