Survey software can be used in two forms: market research and scientific research. Consumers are most familiar with market research. These surveys typically consist of a few demographic questions about your age and gender along with questions about how much you enjoy a particular product or service like laundry soap, a television show or customer service.
The opinion of the public directly affects businesses and how they are run. Companies depend heavily on the consumer’s thoughts and opinions to stay competitive. Surveys and polls provide the perfect outlet for businesses to learn who their consumer is and what they expect.
When used correctly, survey software can assist you in determining trends, mathematically calculating the needs of your customers and building a more successful business.
In this site, you’ll find articles related to surveys, as well as comprehensive reviews and a side–by–side comparison to help you make an informed decision on which survey software is right for you.
What to Look for in Survey Software
Conducting and calculating surveys can sometimes be difficult and frustrating. Survey software should help alleviate some of the difficulties associated with market research and analysis. Survey software should provide the surveyor a degree of creative freedom in question choice and design as well as include enough analytical tools to calculate accurate and relevant results. This is the criteria we used to evaluate survey software:
Administration Options
Top survey software should provide various options and methods to administering surveys including through the Internet, face–to–face interviews, paper print outs or email.
Survey Creation
The software should provide options and features that allow those administering the survey to customize its look and set restrictions associated with their survey. This may include question creation and type selection as well as font, image and color; and respondent restrictions like passwords and skip branching.
Survey Analysis
Survey software should include analysis and statistic tools. Many programs include simple analysis like percentages and pie charts. Top programs include more sophisticated statistical options, like standard deviation or cross tabulation charts. The software should also be compatible with a word processor or text writer to export analysis reports.
Ease of Use
Survey software should be powerful enough to produce relevant and reliable results and easy enough for novice surveyors and computer users to understand and operate.
Help/Support
The survey program should include a comprehensive user guide and offer help and customer support through responsive telephone and email.
Useful resources:
Smart Survey Design – RELEVANCY AND ACCURACY
Pros and Cons of Online Surveys
Survey question types and survey structure