Let Them Speak Survey Software

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Let Them Speak Survey Software

• Su Cleyle Janneka Guise
• Memorial University

Getting Out From Behind the Desk October 29, 2004
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Outline

• Su
• Survey Development/Delivery
• Products
• Jan
• LibQUAL

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Automated surveys are having a profound
influence on the survey process

• Advantages
• Great for libraries targeting their web users
• Can gather responses quickly
• Context
• Continuous (question of the day)
• Easy and convenient to administer and complete
• Large samples do not cost more than smaller ones
• Holly Gunn, Web-based Surveys Changing the
  Survey Process , http//firstmonday.org/issues/iss
  ue7_12/gunn/ (October 25, 2004)
• http//www.surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm (October
  27, 2004)

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Design

• Establish goals of the project - What will you
  learn?
• Determine your sample Who will you survey?
• How will you ask the questions? (multiple choice,
  essay)
• Create your survey -What will you ask ?
• Pre-test the questions
• http//www.surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm

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Question types

• Multiple choice
• Numeric open How many books
• Open ended
• Rating scales (excellent, fair, poor)
• Agreement scales (1disagree)
• http//www.surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm (October
  27, 2004)

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Question formulation

• Simple and Short
• Use other, N/A, Dont Know so respondents
  not tied to inappropriate answer
• Use logical order for options (1bad,10 good)
• Use Random order of questions
• Order can affect answer (prompted in one question
  affects answer in next)
• Avoids habituation - series of questions with the
  same response options
• If not using random order, first questions should
  be easy to answer, leaving difficult questions to
  the end
• Think of the reference interview
• http//www.surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm (October
  27, 2004)

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Software selection

• Factors to consider
• Expertise/hardware onsite
• Staff time available for survey work
• Survey complexity
• Type of information to be gathered - privacy

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Web services

• Form Site (remote hosting)
• Cool Surveys (html code)

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http//staff.library.mun.ca/scleyle/surveyindex.h
tml
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Free fee software

• Own the product and the data
• Control the software
• Powerful data output/manipulation options
• More costly administration and maintenance
• Virginia Tech (open source)
• http//dev.www.uregina.ca8080/survey/entry.jsp?id
  1090016338373
• http//dev.www.uregina.ca8080/survey/viewResults.
  jsp?id1090016338373
• cacul04exec

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Perseus Survey Solutions

• Inexpensive software
• Need to be able to have access to the web server
  from the machine it is loaded on
• Expertise required
• moderate to install the software
• Minimum to operate

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http//www.library.mun.ca
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Conclusion

• Pick software for the job
• All choices are inexpensive
• Most libraries have technical expertise to
  mount/run the software
• Need to concentrate on question formulation and
  survey construction
• One more survey option that is library focused,
  is researched, refined and ready to go

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Heres Jan