Tips for Developing And Administering Effective Organizational Surveys
Description
The help guide contains basic recommendations for
developing, administering, analyzing, and reporting the results of
organizational surveys. This information covers general issues and
considerations relating to the survey process.
Surveys can provide valuable information if done correctly. They can suggest
ways to increase productivity, boost morale, and reduce costs, while serving as
vehicles for employees to communicate with management or participate in decision
making. Before any of these goals can be accomplished, several tasks must be
completed by the group or individual overseeing the survey process. These tasks
include:
· Identifying the topics for the survey.
· Constructing the specific survey items and response scales.
· Identifying the participants of the survey using sampling techniques.
· Administering the survey
· Analyzing the survey data.
· Providing feedback of the results.
· Developing action plans.
Each of these tasks is explained in a separate section of this online help
guide. Each section begins with questions that should be addressed and
recommendations that summarize the issues.
Contents (click on a link to view that section)
Overview
Advantages and Disadvantages of Survey Research
The Survey Process
Focus on Issues
Identify Key Topics
Target Groups
Survey Design
Invitation to Participate
Question Development
Response Scale
Web Principles
Open-Ended Questions
Employee Characteristics
Pre-testing
Survey Administration
The Sample
Response Rates
Communication
Distribution
Confidentiality
Data Management
Data Cleaning
Sample Quality
Data Analysis
Probing Analysis of Open-Ended Questions
Survey Feedback
Action Plans
Overview
Organizational surveys are extremely useful tools for assessing the current
state of any organization and can provide useful information for organizational
change efforts, guiding strategic decision making, and enhancing productivity
and employees' quality of work life.
Organizational surveys also communicate a message to employees. Ideally,
surveys can signal to employees, customers or other stakeholders that their
opinions are valued, that the organization is committed to them as individuals,
and that their input is being used in decisions that affect them. Transmitting
these messages can have a powerful influence on the desired outcome (e.g.
performance, employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction)
When done incorrectly, surveys also can communicate the wrong messages as
well. For example, surveys can show employees that their opinions don't matter
if the organization doesn't use their input to make decisions or communicate the
survey results.
Surveys can also be used to clarify the expectations the organization has of
its members (awareness of organizational strategies, goals, values, missions) in
the feedback process. For instance, surveys may be used to assess members'
knowledge about their benefits and other aspects of compensation.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Survey Research
Using our system to conduct a survey is relatively inexpensive, although it may
become costly if the project is large-scale and intended to serve a strategic
purpose. If a survey is designed properly, the cost of the project is far
outweighed by the usefulness of the information obtained from the survey.
Alternatively, if the survey is not designed to meet an organizational purpose,
it may be of little value.
Surveys also have some potential disadvantages. Some people are skeptical
that employees' feelings and values can be expressed as numbers. More
importantly, surveys are specifically designed to be "standardized"
Every employee receives the same questions and must respond using the same
constraints. This often does not provide enough information to tell you why the
employees answered the way they did. However, this information can be
supplemented with information gathered from interviews with individuals or
groups of employees or with open-ended questions present in the survey itself.
Ideally, a data gathering project in the organization uses a triangulation
method in which managers and leaders are interviewed to get one perspective on a
topic, a select number of focus groups are used to generate and validate items,
and finally a survey is sent to a representative sample of employees.
The Survey Process
Before beginning the survey process, form a survey steering committee. The
committee should be composed of representatives from different parts of the
organization, but who have unique areas of expertise that relate specifically to
the purpose of the survey. They will oversee the process and facilitate
communication throughout the organization and report progress to the project
sponsors.
The chief responsibility of this team is to develop a strategy for handling
all phases of the survey project before data collection. This ensures that
foreseeable events are addressed and increases the speed and efficiency of the
latter phases of the project.
Effective surveys require communication at all levels of the organization.
Employees need to see a link between survey results and actual organizational
changes.
To accomplish its goal, the following steps should be followed in a survey
research project.
Focus on the Issues
Design Survey
Administer Survey
Present Feedback Results to Management and Stakeholders
Develop Action Plans
Focus on Issues
Identify Key Topics
One of the critical decisions in constructing a survey is deciding what
information the organization wants from the survey. This task requires a
thorough consideration of the key topics of interest to the organization and the
kind of information the organization wants on each topic. Identification of
these key topics assists in the process of survey construction, analysis, and
reporting. It also has implications for the choices of employee groups to
complete the survey and the process of administering the survey.
Some possible uses of organizational surveys include:
· Pinpointing areas of concern: Surveys permit general evaluations
of satisfying or dissatisfying aspects of work and can be used to identify
possible areas for organizational development interventions.
· Observing long-term trends: Surveys can track changes in morale
and other factors over time. This increases the organization's ability to
respond to problems before they become crises.
· Monitoring a program's impact: Surveys can measure reactions, for
example, to training programs.
· Providing input for future decisions: Surveys can provide the
basis on which to make informed decisions on issues such as which benefits
should be added to the current compensation program to meet employee needs,
and which benefits are rarely used.
· Adding a communication channel: Surveys provide employees with an
additional communication path to senior management.
· Performing organizational behavior research: Surveys guide
strategies for changing employees' behavior.
· Assessing organizational change and development: Surveys can
guide self-assessment and be used to assess the effectiveness of changes or to
stimulate continuous improvement in the organization.
· Providing symbolic communication: Surveys send symbolic messages
to employees such as, "We care:" Surveys can also send negative
messages if the questions are loaded or seen as inappropriate, if feedback is
not provided, if promised actions are not taken, if data are ignored, or if
responses are covered up.
· Improving perceptions of fairness: Decisions that are made with
employee input are more likely to be seen as fair than decisions that are
simply "handed down" by management.
Once the general purpose of the survey is identified, the organization can
begin to determine the specific topics to be covered. In some cases, it may be
useful to conduct focus groups with a small group of employees to identify their
concerns with specific topics. In others, it may be advisable to use
standardized questionnaires.
It is important that the purpose of the survey be explicit, agreed upon by
senior management, and communicated to employees before conducting the
questionnaire. When no explicit purpose is communicated to employees other than,
"We are interested in your opinion on several topics" employees often
expect questions concerning their satisfaction with compensation, supervision,
and work conditions. Then, if these questions are not included, employees may
feel that the survey is of limited relevance and not put much effort in
providing meaningful responses. They may not even return the survey.
If a specific purpose is explicitly communicated (e.g. to establish
organizational values), employees are less likely to expect such general
questions.
Target Groups
The target group is the group of individuals or constituencies that is
affected by the survey. The information provided by the survey respondents must
be applicable to the target group as a whole or the survey is of limited value.
For example, potential target groups within an organization include:
· The organization as a whole.
· Certain demographic groups.
· Certain job/functional groups.
· Work teams.
Surveying the entire organization has symbolic value. It communicates to
employees that their opinions are important. Conversely, excluding certain
groups of employees from a survey may send a negative or threatening message.
However, surveying the entire organization is often unnecessary for valid and
reliable data. Surveying a sample group of employees allows the organization to
conduct more surveys without "burning employees out" on responding to
them.
In some cases, a certain demographic group will be of interest. For instance,
an organization might be interested in how members of a minority group are
faring in the organization.
Various job functions or work teams might be the focus of the survey. If one
job function is of interest, then it may be advisable to limit the survey to
that group and distribute the questions that are relevant to all employees to
the entire workforce. It is generally not recommended to include questions that
are applicable only to one group of employees on a survey of the entire work
force.
Management Commitment
The survey steering committee may also want to include people whose support
is needed to accomplish the purpose of the survey, even if their actual input is
unnecessary.
Participation by top executives may increase their level of involvement in
and commitment to the survey process. Including supervisors reduces the
likelihood that they will perceive that the HR department or an external
consultant is "going behind their back" and will help build their
commitment to the project.
Top management commitment ensures that the importance of the survey is
emphasized to managers and that first level managers are expected to follow
through on changes deemed important by the survey.
The key to gaining top management commitment is effective communication of
the benefits of the survey to the organization.
Group Size
Another decision the committee must make is how many individuals should
participate. There are two principle advantages to larger numbers of
respondents: more opportunity for organizational members to participate and
reduced margins of error in the data.
Of course, the tradeoffs for increased participation are project cost and
completion time, and potential burnout of the survey population.
If the company wants to compare the responses of two or more groups, then
each group needs to be of similar size to have a similar margin for error.
Survey Design
The process of designing, implementing, and reporting the data back from an
organizational survey is as important, if not more important, than the actual
results. It is important to remember that the survey is a means to an end, not
an end in itself. Given this, there are several considerations to the construction of an
effective survey:
· The invitation to participate.
· The instructions.
· The wording of the questions.
· The use of open-ended questions.
· The response format for the questions.
· Decisions about background questions.
Invitation to participate
Any survey should include a description of the purpose of the project. This
description should establish a need for the project and attempt to overcome
participant anxieties about the purpose of the project. Employees will want to
know the answer to three questions:
· Why was I chosen to participate?
· What will be done with the data?
· How will the survey affect me?
These questions can be addressed in the invitation to participate and
specific language addressing the 3 questions above should be included in the
invitation whether by e-mail, regular mail, or by survey facilitators if the
survey is administered in the workplace.
The invitation to participate should also include assurances of
confidentiality. Employees should be assured that:
· The survey is not a test. (There are no wrong answers and honest
answers are best).
· Only group level data are examined, not individual data. (For
example, the data is analyzed in terms of how the entire Accounting Department
responded, not in terms of any accountant's individual responses.)
· Individual employees cannot be identified from their responses to the
questionnaire.
· Individual surveys are not made available to managers, or anyone
else.
Another set of fears employees may have is that the survey will be used to
take away resources from departments, cut staff, or cut compensation and
benefits packages. These anxieties are likely to influence employees'
willingness to complete questionnaires and may affect the honesty of their
responses should they choose to participate.
If the organization uses the survey to "take away' something, employees'
trust in senior management is likely to be severely damaged and the organization
will have difficulty building trust in other organizational development efforts.
If possible, provide assurances that the project has no malevolent intent.
This can be done through advance notification of the purpose of the project.
Supervisors should also communicate the nature of the survey to their
subordinates, and, if relevant, provide examples of how similar surveys have
been used in the past.
If the survey is indeed intended to "take away" something (e.g.,
increased costs require some benefits to be discontinued), it is extremely
important that the purpose of the survey be made clear from the beginning.
Although the survey will certainly not endear management to the employees,
soliciting employee opinions will ensure that the decision-making process and
resulting decisions are more likely to be seen as fair.
Instructions
Surveys should include clear instructions for accessing and completing the
survey on the Internet. Our system provides the opportunity to create
customized instructions at the beginning of the survey and on each page of the
survey. In order to combat the effects of fatigue induced by having to fill out
lengthy surveys, it may be useful to break up the survey into sections. Each
section should have an explanation of its purpose and instructions how to use
the response scale.
The instructions can include tips like choosing the best answer (where
applicable), where to write responses, and whether the questions refer to the
employee or to employees in general.
The following is a set of sample instructions:
The following set of questions have to do with what you personally think
about Company XYZ's work environment. For each item, indicate your agreement
with the statement using the scale below.
1=Strongly Disagree; 2=Disagree; 3=Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4=Agree;
5=Strongly Agree
Include detailed instructions for the first section or two of the instrument
(clarifying all the steps in the task such as, "...then select the
appropriate response option using the radio button/drop down menus provided……..")
and then use brief instructions for subsequent sections.
Survey designers should be careful to avoid leading instructions. Leading
instructions refer to instructions that structure the respondent's perceptions
in such a way that one response or another is preferred.
As an example, compare these two sets of instructions:
A recent survey showed that most bridges in America are in serious need for
repair. If these problems are not addressed, the lives of American motorists may
be in danger. Do you support the federal government spending additional money to
repair bridges?
vs.
It is important to maintain American bridges to ensure the safety of
motorists. However, to accomplish this purpose would require a 1 % income tax
increase at a time when many Americans feel that too much of their money is
taxed. Do you support the federal government spending additional money to repair
bridges?
One might expect that for some people, particularly those without strong
opinions, the wording of the first set of instructions may influence their
answer to the question.
Question Development
A good guideline for organizational research is that "you only get what
you measure" and, conversely, "if you don't want to know, don't
ask."
The data obtained from a survey are only as good, specific, or as broad as
the questions in the survey.
Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when constructing questions:
· Keep questions short. Unless a detailed explanation or
clarification of an issue is absolutely necessary keep questions short.
· Avoid ambiguity. Questions should be specific, avoiding
generality. For example: "On a scale from 1 to 5, how popular is
President Bush at this time?" This example begs the question,
"popular with whom?" Some respondents will answer an item like this
in terms of how they, personally, would rate him; others will answer in terms
of popularity with their peers, and still others will answer according to
their recollection of the last opinion poll.
· Avoid unfamiliar terms and jargon. For example, "Does your
department support expatriate research?" Terms such as expatriate may not
be well understood by typical employees. When a term that is not in common
usage must be used, it is wise to precede the item with a brief explanation of
the unfamiliar term.
· Avoid requiring inaccessible information. An item may use terms
that are familiar to employees while requiring information that they would not
know or do not have access to. For example, "My company offers benefits
that are superior to those offered by other companies" assumes that
employees are familiar with both the benefits their employer offers and those
offered by other companies.
· Avoid hypothetical questions. Questions that begin with
"What would you do if…" are difficult for employees to answer.
They require greater mental effort on the part of the employee, and take
longer to answer.
· Be cautious with questions that ask employees to rank order lists. Ranking
can be a challenging task. Generally, employees should not be asked to rank
order more than four or five items. Beyond that point, employees may begin
giving arbitrary responses just to get past the item.
· Write questions in clear and common language. People's ability to
recall the past is limited. The more current and specific the question, the
better. If a recall question is necessary, (e.g., "Over the past six
months, I haven felt harassed at work") the time frame should be as
recent as possible, and not over six months unless the reference is to a major
event (e.g., marriage, buying a car, changing jobs).
· Write questions in clear and common language. Use words that all
employees understand. Most word processing programs include reading level
indices that indicate the level of difficulty of the wording of the questions.
· Specific questions are likely to be more useful than general
questions. Generally, more specific questions are more useful than broad
or vague questions. Employees also find specific questions easier to answer.
For instance, it is more informative to ask employees how satisfied they
are with specific elements of their job than it is to ask employees about the
job in general - particularly if the purpose of the survey is to identify
specific components of the job that might be changed. If the purpose of a job
satisfaction question is to simply have a general assessment of satisfaction,
the more global question may be sufficient.
· Do not use questions that could cause anxiety. Some questions may
cause anxieties about employees' futures. Where possible, avoid these
questions (e.g., "I would feel nervous if my organization was laying off
employees.")
· Offer a no opinion option. If employees are forced to offer an
opinion, they probably will. Although offering a "don't know" or
"no opinion" option for attitudinal or perceptual questions is
sometimes perceived as losing information, forcing people to express an
opinion may lead to misinterpretations of the data. Forcing a choice distorts
the responses of employees who genuinely have no opinion, are genuinely
unsure, or who genuinely do not care.
One solution is to include a second question that allows employees to
express how important the issue is to them. The combination of agreement and
importance can provide a great deal of meaningful information about employees'
perceptions.
· Use positively worded questions. Although not all researchers
agree, we recommend using positively worded questions for organizational
surveys measuring workplace perceptions.
The issue is whether the response to a positively worded question such as,
"I am satisfied with my working schedule" produces comparable
information to a negatively worded question on the same topic such as, "I
am not satisfied with my work schedule." Theoretically, strong agreement with
the first question should mean the same thing as strong disagreement to the
second.
There are at least two reasons why this may not be the case. First, some
respondents may agree with any statement that is presented to them. If
employees respond in this way, the results of the survey are difficult to
interpret. The second reason concerns carelessness. If employees miss the
"not" in the second question, they may misinterpret the question.
Stress the importance of reading each question carefully in written (and
verbal) instructions.
· Do not use "double-barreled" questions. Double-barreled
questions are questions that tap more than one topic. These questions can
introduce ambiguities into responses. An example of a double-barreled question
would be, "I am happy with my pay and benefits" If employees
disagree with this statement, they may be expressing dissatisfaction with
their pay, their benefits, or both. Generally, the use of conjunctions like
"and" or "or" should be carefully considered.
Double-barreled questions should be separated into two questions.
· Avoid questions that everyone will agree or disagree with. The
purpose of the questionnaire is to provide information about the target group
of individuals. To be useful, a question must be able to distinguish among
groups of respondents. For example, a performance appraisal system where every
employee is rated as outstanding will not help the organization determine
which employee should be promoted. Questions should be written to measure a
topic and distinguish among employees.
· Use multiple measures of the same topic. If a survey is designed
to assess attitudes or opinions about issues that are subject to some
interpretation by employees, then the survey should include multiple questions
on each topic. This ensures that the responses are a function of the
employee's perceptions of the issue and not a function of the idiosyncrasies
of a single question. When multiple questions are asked, the average of the
answers to these questions produces a "total score" for that topic.
It is this total score that should be used to evaluate the issue. The proper
approach to this problem is to ask multiple related questions, while avoiding
asking the same question over and over. For example, if the topic of interest
is fairness of compensation, some sample questions might include: "I am
paid what I am worth", "The pay offered by my organization is
similar to that offered by other organizations", and "I make the
average salary or above for my pay grade."
· Keep the survey to a reasonable length. Generally, the survey
should take no more than 30 to 45 minutes of an employee's time to complete.
If it takes longer, the employee may become bored and begin responding in a
careless fashion.
Response Scale
The choice of a response scale is a function of a number of statistical and
practical concerns. The most important point is to choose a response scale that
matches the information requested in the question.
Two general rules are described below:
· Use an odd number of response options (3, 5, 7). This is particularly
relevant where a middle value can be used to assess "no opinion or
neither agree nor disagree"
· Use no more than seven points in the scale. Some research suggests that
in most cases people cannot distinguish more than five to seven points. Little
increase is gained in precision beyond seven points.
Principles for Constructing Web-Based Surveys
Principle 1. Introduce the web questionnaire with a welcome screen
that is motivational, emphasizes the ease of responding, and instructs
respondents on the action needed for proceeding to the next page.
Principle 2. Begin the web questionnaire with a question that is fully
visible on the first screen of the questionnaire, and will be easily
comprehended and answered by all respondents.
Principle 3. Present each question in a conventional format similar to
that normally used on paper questionnaires.
Principle 4. Limit line length to decrease the likelihood of a long
line of prose being allowed to extend across the screen of the respondent's
browser.
Principle 5. Provide specific instructions on how to take each
necessary computer action for responding to the questionnaire.
E.g., employees may not know:
· Radio buttons require clicking an alternative button in order to
erase a previous answer, while check boxes require a single-click in order to
erase them.
· Respondents may not know how to operate a scroll bar in order to see
the entire question or the next questions.
· It may not be clear how use of the clicker (or mouse) differs from
use of the return key.
· It may not be clear to some respondents what a drop-down menu is, and
how to access the hidden categories.
· It may not be clear how open-ended answers are to be entered, or that
in some cases there is far more space than shows on the screen.
Principle 6. Provide computer operation instructions as part of each
question where the action is to be taken, not in a separate section prior to the
beginning of the questionnaire.
Principle 7. Do not require respondents to provide an answer to each
question before being allowed to answer any subsequent ones.
Principle 8. Construct web questionnaires so that they scroll from
question to question unless order effects are a major concern, large numbers of
questions must be skipped, and/or a mixed-mode survey is being done for which
telephone interview and web results will be combined.
Principle 9. When the number of answer choices exceeds the number that
can be displayed on one screen, consider double-banking with appropriate
navigational instructions being added.
Principle 10. Use graphical symbols or words that convey a sense of
where the respondent is in the completion progress, but avoid ones that require
advanced programming.
Principle 11. Be cautious about using question structures that have
known measurement problems on paper questionnaires, (e.g., check-all-that-apply
and open-ended questions).
Open-Ended Questions
It is advisable to include at least a few open-ended questions in any survey.
At the minimum, a "comments" section will provide respondents the
opportunity to voice their opinions on issues that they feel are important but
that were not addressed in the survey.
Specific open-ended questions such as, "What advice would you give your
CEO to improve the performance of the company?" are more effective at
eliciting specific and useful answers than are vague or general questions. Open
ended questions are especially effective in Web surveys; research has
demonstrated that survey respondents tend to provide longer, more complete
answers to open-ended questions in web surveys as opposed to the
paper-and-pencil format.
Open ended questions are also often used as compliments as opposed to
alternatives to structured survey items. As a follow-up to important structured
items, an open-ended question can point out unanticipated interpretations of
questions and variations in the actual meanings in responses. For example, a
rank-ordering question about job satisfaction may show "income" to
be the most important factor in satisfaction. A follow-up open-ended question
may reveal that some employees meant "high income", while others meant
"steady income".
The principle drawback to open-ended questions concerns the increased
difficulties associated with incorporating the comments into the quantitative
data analysis. This issue is addressed in the Data Analysis section.
Employee Characteristics
In many cases, it is useful to include questions on employee background
characteristics. These questions concern personal employee characteristics (e.g.
age,
gender, marital status) or job/work characteristics such as geographical
location, functional unit (e.g. sales, marketing, finance, production), supervisory
unit, and hierarchical level.
These questions are useful to break down the respondents into sub-groups of
interest For instance, on an attitudinal survey, the organization might be
interested in whether reactions differ by factors such as gender, shift,
location, exempt vs. non exempt, full-time vs. part time, and job
classification. These issues need to be identified in the planning stage
because, if they are not, the organization will usually be unable to identify
the characteristics of a given respondent during the data analysis.
However, the survey should only measure employee characteristics if they are
important for a particular survey purpose. Background measures are often seen as
intrusive or unnecessary by employees and may be viewed as a way to identify
them (particularly if many different characteristics are identified). For
example, the responses of the only female supervisor who works on the second
shift can be easily identified if the survey includes questions concerning
gender and shift. In a setting where some employees are unionized and others are
not, including a question that indicated union status prior to collective
bargaining might be interpreted as an unfair labor practice.
Employee characteristics provide more useful information to the organization
when there are a large number of people in each category. For instance, if 98%
of the respondents are male, then a question on gender provides little
information about the responses of most employees. If 45% of the target group
are part-time and 55% are full-time, this may be an informative comparison
question.
Legal Issues
Generally speaking, it is best to avoid asking any question that deals with
race, color, physical appearance, disability, citizenship/national origin, or
religion. Such questions can be seen by employees as offensive and invasive of
their privacy.
Survey questions should be constructed on a need-to-know basis. That is, any
question that is asked should have a specific, defensible purpose. Survey
questions that touch on any of the above topics should be examined by an
attorney familiar with labor law at local, state, and federal levels.
Pre-Testing
Organizational survey efforts often produce less than optimal information
because of ambiguities in the instructions or questions. One way to overcome
some of these problems is to pre-test the survey.
Pre-testing involves conducting a "dry run" with a small group of
the target sample. They complete the survey while talking through the process
with survey facilitators. This procedure involves no more than an hour or two of
additional work and can help avoid numerous problems and embarrassments later in
the process, as well as additional hours of work
Pre-testing is most effective when the group actually completes the survey
rather than simply looking it over. Typically, the group will ask for
clarification on the instructions ("Should I respond with how I feel or how
people in general feel?), point out typographic errors, or note the need for
additional questions on specific topics related to the purpose of the survey
("People on my team complain about vacation policies, why isn't that
included on the list of benefits?").
A typical pre-testing session also includes a group discussion of the survey
after the questions have been completed by all group members. Pre-testing may
also help the organization avoid offensive questions or questions of a
particularly sensitive nature.
The organization should use an initial group to identify major problems and
then use a second group to double-check the corrections. These groups should
represent the intended target group. Thus, if the target group is non-exempt
retail workers with a high school education, it would be inappropriate to
pre-test the survey using senior level managers.
Survey Administration
The Sample
Organizations must compete with tele-marketers, political opinion surveyors
and social and psychological researchers. So, the organizational survey must
effectively compete with the myriad of others clamoring for employees' time and
attention. To accomplish this, the survey must be perceived as relevant to the
employee and the survey task must be seen as relatively easy and non-intrusive.
These needs highlight the importance of careful question construction and
provision of feedback.
The actual participants in the survey are sometimes called the survey sample.
One factor influencing the quality of the information obtained from a survey is
the extent to which the sample of participants is similar to the entire group of
individuals that is the intended target of the survey.
For instance, a benefits survey that only sampled single and unmarried
individuals with no children would obtain very different information about
individual preferences for various benefits programs than a survey that included
married individuals and/or individuals with children. To maximize the quality of
the information obtained from the survey, the organization must obtain a high
quality sample.
Generally speaking, there are four sample construction strategies:
· Census
· Random sample
· Stratified random sample, and
· Mostly random sample
In a census, all relevant target members of the organization (or all members
of a given business unit or job class) complete the survey. This method ensures
that all members of the organization have the opportunity to express their
opinions and is therefore, preferred.
Since an organizational census may be prohibitively costly, one alternative
is to obtain a random sample from the target groups of interest. Random sampling
simply refers to choosing a subset of a larger group where every member of the
larger group has an equal chance of being chosen for the sample (i.e.,
participation is determined by chance).
Organizations often use stratified random samples to ensure that the sample
has similar characteristics to the entire organization.
In this method, individuals are chosen at random from within each subgroup of
interest. The proportion of the sample with a given characteristic should be as
close as possible to the proportion in the organization. This ensures that the
characteristics of the sample are representative of the organization as a whole
and, therefore, ensures that conclusions drawn from the data apply to the
organization as a whole. For instance, an organization with 75% non-exempt and
25% exempt employees might choose to obtain a random sample from within each of
these groups. So, 75% of the sample would be non-exempt and 25% would be exempt.
The stratified random sample strategy is more likely to produce a representative
sample than the simple random strategy
The final method is to use a mostly random sample where individuals are
chosen at random but all individuals with a particular characteristic are
chosen.
This technique is useful where the responses of a very small (or very
important) subgroup are of particular interest. For instance, in an
organizational diversity survey, the sample might consist of randomly chosen
members of the organization and all minorities (to ensure that their views are
represented). Alternatively, the organization might choose to include all first
line supervisors and a random sample of their subordinates.
Each strategy produces samples with different respondent characteristics.
These differences may influence interpretation of the data.
The census method is preferred, unless administering surveys to all members
of an organization or a department is too costly.
A random sample of the entire business unit should provide a reasonably
representative sample of the organization unless there is some reason to expect
that the response rate will differ for one group of individuals.
Stratified random samples increase the likelihood that the sample will be
representative, but involve more careful planning than the simple random sample
method.
Finally, the mostly random sampling method ensures that all members of a
particular group have the opportunity to present their views. In practice,
organizations may choose to combine these methods.
Response Rates
From the perspective of the organization, the individuals who respond to the
survey must be reasonably similar to the target group of interest. If the
individuals completing the survey are not reasonably similar to the target
group, conclusions drawn from the survey may not be appropriate for the target
group.
If an organizational census is taken, employees' trust in the procedure is
critical, as that influences the honesty and thoughtfulness of their responses.
If a sampling strategy other than the organizational census is adopted, the
critical issue is the survey response rate. The response rate refers to the
proportion of people who actually completed the survey of those who were given
the opportunity.
Response Rate = Number of completed surveys/Total surveys distributed
The smaller the response rate, the less likely the results are to be
applicable to the target group. That is, the lower the response rate, the less
likely the characteristics of the respondents are to be similar to those of the
target groups. So, maximizing the response rate is a critical task for the
survey steering committee.
Communication
To encourage participation, let employees know about an upcoming survey. At a
minimum, the communication should include:
- Advance e-mail notifications about the upcoming survey
- Postings on the company bulletin board
- Articles in a company newsletter
- Memorandums to all employees
It is also be beneficial to use:
- Telephone messages as reminders to encourage participation.
- Discussions with first level supervisors and employees before data
collection.
Any form of advance notification that increases employees' understanding of
and interest in the survey is likely to increase the response rate.
Distribution
Onsite Surveys
One of the most effective survey distribution method is the onsite group
survey. Generally, groups of employees meet and complete the survey while they
are at work.
The advantages to the onsite group survey include its symbolic value and the
increased likelihood that employees will participate. If the survey is
administered during regular working hours, it signals to employees that the
survey is important. Further, increasing participation increases the quality (representativeness)
of the sample.
The principle disadvantage of the onsite method is the compensation costs
accrued because employees typically complete the survey during regular working
hours. Some companies may encounter logistical difficulties with removing groups
of employees from their jobs for a brief period of time.
Obviously, onsite surveys must be carefully planned, especially in cases
where the jobs of interest are highly dependent on each other or when
individuals have production deadlines to meet.
Facilitators should be present during administration to explain the purpose
of the survey and address questions employees might have during completion of
the survey.
Internet Surveys
The Internet is fast becoming the medium of choice for conducting surveys.
The primary reason is that Internet surveys are the most cost and time effective
of all the administration methods. Internet surveys eliminate the need for
printing, postage, and data entry costs and can significantly reduce the time
needed to administer the survey. In addition, Internet surveys reduce the
likelihood for human error to taint the results of the survey by eliminating the
need for manual data entry. Below are a list of the advantages of Internet-based
survey administration:
- Improved Speed: Internet-based surveys eliminate the time needed
for manual processing, printing, mailing, waiting for surveys to be
returned, and time necessary for manual data entry and data analysis.
Speeding up the assessment process enables a faster response to stakeholder
needs.
- Improved Reliability: Inevitably, when entering data manually and
analyzing data, there is increased opportunity for human error. Internet
surveys eliminate the possibility for human error by automating the data
entry and analysis functions.
- Improved Manageability: Internet-based survey management systems,
such as our system streamline the assessment process and provide a
virtually hands-free process.
- Improved Security: Internet-based surveys remove threats to
confidentiality by eliminating the need for paper surveys to be passed
through the organization. Furthermore, with us hosting your
survey products and data on our secured servers, it will be virtually
impossible for any unauthorized users to access the system.
- Decreased Costs: Over the long-term, organizations will achieve
significant cost savings by eliminating printing, mailing, data entry, and
data analysis costs from future survey initiatives.
Mail Surveys
The most traditional alternative to the onsite group survey is the mail
survey. Mail surveys are easier to administer than on-site surveys because
employees can complete the survey on their own time.
Mail surveys have three primary disadvantages that must be overcome for the
survey to be effective:
There are logistical difficulties associated with both distribution and
return of the surveys. The distribution process must be planned carefully and
includes steps such as arranging a return address, arranging return postage,
stuffing envelopes, and ensuring that employee mailing lists are up to date.
Employees may perceive the survey to be unimportant to the organization if
they are asked to complete the survey on their own time.
The organization runs the risk of obtaining a low response rate potentially
creating problems with the interpretation of the findings.
If the organization chooses to conduct a mail survey, each of these
difficulties must be addressed.
There are several methods to increase the response rates to surveys:
· Pre-notification. Notifying participants prior to survey administration
via e-mail, telephone, or regular mail so they have a "heads up"
about the survey project.
· Reminders. The most common reminders are an e-mail or postcard reminding
the employee to turn in the survey and providing them with instructions on how
to access the survey.
· Incentives for completion. These can be included with the survey (e.g.,
thank you gift certificates that can be printed) or may be provided as a
condition of completing a survey. Some companies use raffles offering a prize
to employees who complete the survey. The raffle is a useful method, however,
it can have unintended consequences. Ideally, the raffle entry form should be
completed separately from the survey, otherwise, employee confidentiality
concerns are raised as it is easy to identify people who include their name or
identifying information with the survey!
Finally the issue of equal access should be taken into consideration. For
instance, employees who do not (or cannot) check their e-mail on a regular
basis, may miss the opportunity to participate in an email survey, and
arrangements should be made to give them an opportunity to complete the survey.
One solution would be to make a PC or Kiosk available in a open space (e.g.
lunch-room) within the organization where employees may access the survey.
Confidentiality
One of the principle strengths of the organizational survey is the ability
for employees to provide confidential assessments of the organization. When
employees believe that their responses are confidential, they are more likely to
provide accurate information.
If any administrative procedure is seen as untrustworthy by employees, their
confidence in the privacy of their responses is likely to be undermined. One
important principle is that supervisors should never handle or see the
individual responses of their subordinates during any phase of the project. This
is a critical concern and, if not followed, can seriously undermine the
effectiveness of the survey
Conversely, organizations that make a strong effort to develop and maintain
trust with their employees are likely to obtain useful data from the survey In
any case, it is important to remember that the administration of the
organizational survey is an act of symbolic communication.
Data Management
Once completed surveys are obtained, they must be entered into a data
management system in order to process the data.
The data management procedures should be decided upon long before the survey
is distributed. Certain data management procedures influence the design of the
questionnaire itself as this may influence decisions about the personnel needed
to conduct the analysis.
Statistical issues should be addressed by those individuals responsible for
conducting the data analysis. Hiring an experienced data analyst to lead this
phase of the project is recommended. If internal staff are used, they should be
consulted before data collection to ensure that the organization has access to
the software and hardware necessary to conduct any analysis of interest.
Data Cleaning (Mail surveys)
The first phase of any data analysis is data cleaning. Data cleaning simply
means confirming that the data used in data analysis are sensible and match
employees' actual responses.
The first phase of data cleaning takes place during data entry The
individuals who are responsible for entering the data into the data management
program should be trained to look for "out-of-range" values or (such
as a "6" on a 1 to 5 response scale) or patterns of responding that
suggest that the respondent did not actually attempt to answer the question. For
instance, if the respondent assigned the value "1" to every question,
the validity of that person's responses may be questioned (particularly if the
answers are logically inconsistent).
The data cleaners should also watch for patterns of responding that have
little to do with the questions. For instance, some individuals will simply fill
out a pattern of numbers (such as 123212321232123) and not bother to read and
respond to the questions.
The following is a list of common errors made by respondents:
· Multiple marked items. When the respondent provides two or more
responses to each item.
· Cross-marked items. When several responses are circled or checked
· Changes to survey items. When the participant rewords the item and then
answers that item rather than the intended item.
· Middle marks. When the respondent creates his/her own response options.
· Misaligned responses. When the respondent gives the "right"
answer to the "wrong" question. This is likely to happen when
optical scanned response sheets are used and the respondent inadvertently
skips a space on the answer sheet (e.g., answering the first question in the
second space).
Two additional steps are recommended once the data have been entered. The
first is to examine frequency distributions (the percentage of people who gave
each response) for each individual item for out of range values.
For instance, if the response "8" shows up in the frequency
distribution on a seven-point response scale, that entry is probably incorrect.
These errors should be identified and corrected before data analysis. (This
highlights the importance of holding on to the original surveys.) This step is a
minimum check and should be conducted in any circumstance. However, this step
cannot identify incorrectly entered responses that are not out-of- range values.
The second step, that is more laborious, is to confirm the data entry. This
involves physically double-checking the correctness of the values entered into
the program. In a small data set this is easily performed for all surveys. In a
larger data set, the data managers may decide to randomly check a small number
of surveys to assess the likely error rate. If a random check of 5 to 100/0 of
the surveys uncovers many errors, the data should be reentered.
For most questions, a "missing data code" should be developed. This
code indicates that the respondent did not provide an answer to a question. This
might be because the respondent committed an error, because the response was
illegible, or simply because the question was left blank
One convention with five-point or seven-point response scales is to use the
value "9" to denote missing data or a "99" to denote missing
data on two digit items (e.g., age). Alternatively, several missing data codes
could be developed to denote different forms of missing data. The common sense
point is not to develop codes for the missing data that could also be meaningful
responses.
Finally, some organizations use bubble sheets to eliminate the need for staff
and reduce the possibility of human error. Bubble sheets allow the organization
to electronically scan the data rather than to use manual data entry. If the
organization has the technology to use this method, it can result in time and
cost savings. However, it is important to remember that mistakes can be made in
this process and that data should still be checked for accuracy. Whenever
possible, computer technology should be used to eliminate manual data entry.
By using our system to develop and administer your organizational surveys,
you will be able to avoid the potential for data entry errors. It is still
necessary to examine frequency distributions for each survey item, and examine
the data file for response patterns that are suspect.
Sample Quality
The second phase of data analysis involves assessing sample quality. This is
particularly important when a sampling strategy other than the organizational
census is used, but is useful any time that less that 100% participation is
obtained.
Assessments of sample quality involve comparing the characteristics of the
sample to known values of the target group from the organization's records. For
instance, if the participants' were asked to provide their gender on the survey,
the proportion of males and females in the sample can be compared to the
proportion in the target group. If the values are substantially different, it
may suggest problems with the quality of the data. These differences are of
particular interest when individuals' responses to other questions are expected
to differ on the comparison variable.
As an example, consider an organization where 50% of the workers were
part-time and the part-time workers had a different (or no) benefits program
than the full-time workers. A survey of benefit satisfaction that used a sample
of 90% full-time workers would be likely to produce data that led to
inappropriate conclusions about the employees as a whole.
The ability to assess sample quality is one advantage to including background
characteristics on the survey. However, it is important to keep in mind that
particular background questions may raise employees' concerns about their ability
to be identified or raise questions about the "real" purpose of the
survey. Sample quality concerns are alleviated when all members of a particular
group of individuals are sampled.
Data Analysis
The data analysis phase of the survey may vary substantially depending on the
purpose of the survey project. If the purpose of the survey is assessment (of
benefits preferences, attitudes, etc.), the analysis will be fairly straight
forward. If the purpose is to test a theoretical model that might be used to
guide organizational change, the analysis may be quite sophisticated.
One general principle is to begin with a consideration of the strategic
purpose of the survey. This provides the user with some sense of the information
that will be of interest to consumers of the data and provides a sense of what
types of analysis should be conducted.
For most organizational purposes, a general guideline is to keep the data
analysis reasonably simple. Having "too many numbers" can often
overwhelm people and cause the project stray from the goal of communicating
knowledge.
Generally all data analysis will begin with frequency analysis. This involves
constructing frequency distributions that describe the percentage of people who
gave each possible response to a given question.
Our system provides various options for presenting your survey data. The
final presentation format may vary according to organizational purpose.
Depicting the data using a bar chart or pie chart may increase the visual appeal
of the data and may make the results easier to "sell" to the
organization. However, the goal is to communicate information. An overwhelming
number of visually appealing charts may not be as effective as a small number of
numerical tables that address the key points of the analysis.
A second way of presenting the same data would involve calculating the mean
(average) value for each question. That is, if the same two questions above were
scored on a five-point response scale (where strongly agree = 5) and the
distribution of responses was the same, then if the sample consisted of 1,000
employees, the average score for question #1 would be 3.45 and the average
response for question #2 would be 2.50. These averages provide us with one
number that captures the entire sample on each question. In this case, it
provides us with evidence that employees tend to be satisfied with their pay but
many have poor relationships with their supervisors.
Once again, the user must keep in mind the of the analysis when choosing
which format will be most effective.
Often, in statistical analysis, we are interested in the margin of error of a
statistical estimate. That is, if our sample consists of less than 100% of the
population of interest (e.g., the whole organization) we want to say, with some
degree of confidence that the true value should lie within a certain range. This
range is often called the confidence interval.
The confidence interval is calculated as [the mean +/- two standard errors].
(The standard error for an estimate is readily obtainable by most statistics
software packages.) So, if the average score for question #1 was 3.45 and the
standard error was .30 we could use the confidence interval to say that we are
95% confident that the "true" value is somewhere between 3.15 and
3.75.
Because of the way the standard error is calculated, using larger numbers of
employees leads to smaller standard errors. So larger samples provide us with
more precise estimates.
Probing
After seeing the data in the previous example, the organization might be
interested in probing the sources of pay satisfaction a little further.
One simple technique is to conduct a frequency breakdown by filtering the
data. This analysis simply involves conducting the frequency analysis for
subgroups of interest.
For instance, the organization might suspect that part-time workers are less
likely to feel satisfied with their pay. In this case the same frequency
analysis could be conducted separately for full and part- time workers.
This type of probing can be conducted using the filtering capabilities within
Our system, or by exporting the data file for further exploration in another
program.
Analysis of Open-Ended Questions
The chief drawback to open-ended questions is the difficulty of summarizing
the responses in numerical form. Because of these difficulties, the written
responses to open-ended questions often may not be systematically analyzed and
therefore, a potentially valuable source of information is lost.
While analyzing written responses is challenging, some procedures have been
developed. The most common approach to summarizing written data is generally
termed "content analysis:'
In its most basic form content analysis consists of two steps. First, each
written response is typed on a separate page. Then, one or more individuals
record the "themes" in each response. The frequency with which each
theme occurs in the written responses can provide some indication of the
importance of the issue to members of the organization (e.g., 15% of the
respondents indicated that alternative work schedules should be considered).
These themes must be specific enough to communicate the nature of the comment
and general enough to apply to many different individuals' responses.
For instance, mentions of the performance appraisal system could be either
positive or negative. In this case, the "direction" of the comments
has important implications for interpretation of the data and should be
incorporated into the coding scheme.
Two issues should be kept in mind when conducting content analysis. First,
using only one individual to identify the themes runs the risk of letting that
individual's biases influence the interpretations of the data. To overcome this
problem, two or more individuals can examine each comment and the extent to
which they agree on the coding can be examined. This procedure adds additional
time and costs to the data analysis but can increase the quality of the data
provided.
The second issue is that individuals with strong opinions are more likely to
take the time to express them in writing. Further, other individuals with strong
opinions may not express them on the survey. These constraints should be kept in
mind when reporting the frequency with which themes are mentioned.
For example, it is useful to note the percentage of people addressing a
particular theme as a function of the number of people participating in the
survey and as a function of the number of people offering opinions. As an
example:
Of the
1,000 individuals who returned surveys, 250 (25%) offered written suggestions on
how the company could improve performance. Of these, 125 (50%) indicated that
additional customer service training might be useful while 50 (20%) expressed
concerns about the performance assessment system..."
Survey Feedback
A survey that is constructed and administered with the utmost attention to
quality is meaningless if the results are not effectively communicated to
managers and survey participants. Thus, the process of providing feedback to
employees is critical. Two critical decisions are, "Who should see the
results?" and "How will the results will be communicated?"
Generally, all employees who participate in the survey should receive some
form of feedback. Being open and honest with employees builds trust, facilitates
the identification of potential solutions to problems, and generates commitment
to the change process.
The specific format of the feedback session may vary according to
organizational circumstances and resources (e.g., depending upon the time, and
human and material resources the organization can devote to the feedback
sessions). The purpose of the survey will provide useful information for
structuring the feedback session.
In the top down, or waterfall method, results are first communicated to top
managers who then pass results down through progressively lower levels of the
organization. This technique is useful for results that have implications for
the entire organization.
Bottom up or bubble up feedback may be useful when local issues are the focus
(e.g., quality of work life within departments or teams). The nature of the data
presented to employees may differ in form depending on the communication media
(e.g., written reports, lectures, discussions).
A general guideline is that the survey researcher should ensure that the
findings of interest to the employees are presented in a way that they can
understand, without heavy reliance on statistical terminology or pages of
numbers with no clear descriptions of the implications of the data.
The more actively involved employees are in the feedback process, the more
effective the survey process will be. On the low end of activity, survey
feedback may consist of providing employees with a written report summarizing
the data. Moderately engaging feedback procedures include survey workshops
or focus groups of employees where the results are described to employees who
then have the opportunity to discuss the results and ask questions.
On the high end, and the most effective, is a feedback process where
executives meet with employees to present the results, discuss the implications
of the results, explore the underlying reasons for the results, and generate
solutions to problems. This process maximizes employee involvement thus
increasing the information value of the survey and provides an effective means
of building trust and commitment and opening communication channels.
Managers can maximize involvement by conducting meetings with individual
employees. This is an effective technique in smaller organizations or for
smaller departments. However, group meetings may encourage some employees to
speak out and, if properly conducted, these sessions allow group
"brainstorming" to identify underlying causes and solutions to
problems.
Trained facilitators are critical to the effectiveness of feedback. First
line managers may be trained to conduct the sessions (rather than consultants).
Using first line managers encourages "ownership" of the data. However,
if the results of the survey are overwhelmingly negative, employees may be
unwilling to discuss the results openly with their supervisor (particularly if
the supervisor is perceived to be the problem). Further, asking the supervisor
to contend with heavy employee criticism may be asking too much. Given no
extreme problems in the data, using trained managers is generally recommended.
Feedback sessions are most effective when the aim of the feedback meeting is
to identify the underlying causes of the patterns of responses. The group should
have the task of focusing on identifying the underlying causes of the responses
and on developing solutions to problems. Otherwise the meeting may degenerate
into a gripe session.
It is important to keep in mind that, as with all forms of performance
related feedback, that solely negative/critical feedback (e.g., criticizing the
employees) is likely to have little positive effect and may have unintended
negative consequences. The feedback session should emphasize positive findings
as well as negative findings and have development rather than judgment as the
primary goal. As noted above, a useful final product for the feedback session is
a set of goals for managers and employees that can be periodically assessed and
reevaluated if necessary.
Action Plans
Organizational surveys raise employees' expectations concerning the future of
the organization. Given this, surveys can foster cynicism if employees perceive
that no beneficial changes occur as a result of the survey. The symbolic message
sent to employees is, "We have heard you, but we really don't care what you
say"
If no action plan is intended, then it makes little sense to conduct the survey.
Failure to follow through on a single survey can reduce the effectiveness of
a long-term survey research program. Under these circumstances, it takes
substantial effort to gain employees' trust enough to conduct an effective
survey. Further, the lack of trust fostered by failure to follow through will
spread to other elements of the organizational culture.
For surveys to benefit the organization, the following characteristics should
be met:
Once a survey has identified areas where change is required, the organization
should develop an action plan. Action plans may address relatively minor
innovations such as, employee recognition programs, improvements to the company
newsletter, or changes to benefits programs. Conversely, action plans may
involve sweeping organizational changes.
It is important to note that action plans (and feedback) should reinforce
what is done well and emphasize that employees are satisfied and committed to
the organization's mission (where this is true).
· The organization must accept data as valid. That is, the directors of
the survey project must overcome resistance to the data by various members of
the organization. The key to overcoming resistance is to build trust in the
project by allowing employees to participate (to the extent that it is
feasible) in the development of the survey
· Individual employees must accept responsibility for the part they play
in any problems identified in the survey. A properly conducted feedback
session should facilitate this process. One key point to keep in mind is that
if feedback is solely evaluative and critical, most people are much less
likely to accept responsibility for their role in any problems. A simple rule
of thumb is that the question, "How can we improve?" is likely to
produce a better action plan than the question, "Why did you do that the wrong
way?"
· Employees must commit to solving the problems identified in the survey.
Individuals' commitment is likely to be affected by the commitment of
individuals at higher levels in the organizational hierarchy If senior
managers do not stress the importance of the survey to lower level managers,
it will be clear to most members of the organization that the results of the
survey are not really all that important.
Solving organizational problems usually involves overcoming barriers to
change. Many of these barriers can be overcome by careful strategic planning -
before conducting the survey. Most effective change strategies involve
cultivating commitment from top management, designing the survey to meet
strategic organizational needs, building trust from employees before, during,
and after data collection by encouraging employee involvement, and maintaining
clear lines of communication. The action plan is likely to differ substantially
depending on the nature of the change but these principles apply to most change
initiatives.
Action plans are more likely to be successful when they involve the
articulation of clear, measurable, moderately challenging, and achievable goals
that the organization can periodically reevaluate. While it is desirable to set
forth general principles for change (e.g., improve the quality of work life),
these principles are likely to have little value unless they are tied to
specific goals. Articulating the goals for change in the action plan provides
employees with a clear sense of the purpose for change and allows them to begin
thinking about ways in which the goals may be accomplished.
Finally, expressing measurable goals and then actually measuring them is yet
another way of demonstrating commitment to the change effort.
The final phase of the survey project is to clearly communicate the nature of
the resulting changes to employees and link them to the survey data.
To maximize the effectiveness of the survey, the organization should show
that beneficial changes are occurring and that the changes are a function of
employees participation in the survey. As with the feedback process, active
employee involvement is the key to effective communication.
The least effective methods involve passive communications such as, posting
the changes on the company bulletin board and leaving it to the employees to
read the posting and understand the nature of the change. A somewhat active
communication method would be personal letters or e-mail messages to employees.
Finally, interactive communication methods such team meetings or face to face
discussions of the nature of change are likely to the most effective methods. In
any case, is critical to link the changes to the survey data.
Surveys can be a one-shot project or a survey research program. Survey
programs stress the importance of periodic follow-up on the issues that drive
the survey purpose. Whether or not a formal survey research program is devised,
it is important to track the evolution of any organizational issue. Therefore,
the final step in any survey project is a renewal of search for key topics that
might be the focus of survey research or other organizational development
efforts.
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