Normally I don't promote my clients' surveys, especially not bugging my own network, but this one is kind of like asking "What do you want for your birthday?" It's all about an upcoming eco idea contest, and asking what prizes to offer--rather than the sponsor just assuming what participants will want most.

So if you know any college-ish geek types (your own spawn, students, friends of friends, whatever :-) who might be interested in an environmental idea competition, then please pass the word, either directly or just down the six degrees. The survey's only online through the beginning of next week, but it's legit and even offers a fair chance of getting an Amazon certificate for their time.

In addition entering IP addresses as destinations, whenever you (or your e-mails) travel the Web you're also leaving little IP address footprints wherever you go. Because of this, survey managers sometimes want to use the respondent's IP address in one of two ways:

1. To prevent ballot box stuffing by only allowing one response per IP address
2. As a supplemental source of information

Before you join them, let's look a bit more about exactly what the respondent's IP may or may not tell you.

People generally agree investing in usability for Websites and Web applications is a “good idea” when it comes to retaining visitors and users—or in my specialty, survey respondents. The challenge is assigning a value to that investment because product managers, graphic designers, user interface specialists, technical support managers, trainers, and executives will often have wildly differing opinions.

• You were right! All is well in the universe, the sun continues to shine.
  They like your feature best, frequent buyers have higher satisfaction levels, and last year’s hybrid matrix re-org was the best thing since sliced bread.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do."

Apart from the common misquote which drops "foolish," most people are unaware of how Ralph Waldo Emerson closed that paragraph:

"To be great is to be misunderstood."

While a fascinating read for all of us, this is most applicable if you're combining secondary research with your surveys. You'll never look at "facts" the same way again.

Amazon

There’s a reason this is still in print after 50 years, and that’s because we still fall for the same creative charting tricks.

Amazon

Despite being in a quantitative industry, surveyors rarely conduct tests to measure what happens when we rearrange questions, add a neutral point in a scale, or make other adjustments. If you're ready to absorb some more advanced issues, complete with footnotes, this is a great book to pick up. Note that the 1996 copyright is simply a reprint of the 1981 text.

Amazon

When you want to broaden your perspective, this will help you understand how customer and employee satisfaction mixes with and reinforces other marketing efforts. While the author focuses on services, it's useful in any industry—we're all competing on intangibles these days.

Amazon

Recommend for what? I'm aware of the school's solid reputation in engineering and veterinary medicine, but have no notion where their other programs rank.

Recommend for whom? I have to think of an individual as to whether the programs, lifestyle, location and tuition (in-state resident vs. full) would be a fit.

First and foremost, if your organization is new to surveys and doing this in-house, start simple! The goal of any survey is better information for decision-making, and a modest quantity of information that you actually use is far more valuable than a complex picture that may be flawed or too troublesome to maintain.