SURVEY PLANNING
2. Do We Have the Time & People
Power?
Most surveys take a lot of time to develop
and require people willing to develop and distribute the
survey. The time spent on the survey will vary depending
on a number of factors. Many groups take one to two months
to develop the survey, taking advantage of membership meetings
to decide on a list of areas your group wants the survey
to focus on and then using a survey committee or smaller
group to turn the list into questions. Distributing and
collecting the survey will also vary in time. Some groups
prefer taking one to two days to distribute the survey door-to
door in a neighborhood, mail out or post on a website. Others
may need three, four or more months to have the survey spread
through the community. This is up to your group to decide
after taking into account costs, your people power and what
kind of survey people will respond to best. You will also
want to factor in enough time to input the data into a format
where you can analyze the results of your survey. This is
a good piece for volunteer graduate students or others who
have skills using Excel or other software and may be looking
for ways to get more involved in the community, to work
on.
The key to cutting time and resources is to
bring in people to help with the project. Setting up an
advisory committee is a great way to draw in people who
have experience in developing surveys (and entering and
analyzing data) and who possibly bring financial resources
for the project. Advisory committees can include academics
with experience in survey and statistical research, union
leaders, and community members with experience in the area
you are researching. The advisory committee can help you
with questions that may arise, assist in any research or
pilot testing that may need to be done before the survey
goes out, and vouch for the rigor of the survey methodology
if the findings are put under public scrutiny. Being clear
about the responsibilities of the advisory team is important
to ensure that your group remains in control of the direction
of the survey project.
