Filed in Technology

The right technology can smooth the respondent experience, increase data quality, and save you time. Note: Survey software and service providers define terms differently. When asking what's possible, it's always best to use a detailed description of the effect you want.

Creative password schemes: While we always like to study best practices, sometimes it's the failures which are most illuminating—in this case an unusual password design. The plan was hatched by a client's client before we came in on the rush project, so I...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on February 21, 2006 | Last updated April 25, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Questionnaires | Technology; TAGS: CAPI & CATI | Data validation | Passwords | Usability | Web surveys
E-mail alerts when surveys are completed: Some surveys have very infrequent responses, going days or even weeks without a submission. Rather than heading out to your Web host to keep checking for responses, it can be handy to just get an e-mail alert when someone completes...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on December 6, 2006 | Last updated April 24, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Technology; TAGS: Project management | Web surveys
Opening a CSV in Excel—without corruption: Comma Separated Values (AKA comma-delimited ASCII) are one of the most common formats used to exchange information. This is because they're compatible with applications on just about any operating system—going back to DOS days. On many computers, a .CSV file...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on February 5, 2007 | Last updated May 19, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Data Handling | Technology; TAGS: Excel | Import & export
Piping answers and data in surveys: "Piping" at its most generic refers to moving information in, out, and around a survey. This makes it a very useful technology for any dynamic survey (Web, telephone, kiosk), potentially enriching the respondent experience or increasing data quality. It's also...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on October 30, 2006 | Last updated May 19, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Data Handling | Questionnaires | Technology; TAGS: CAPI & CATI | Import & export | Piping | Telephone surveys | Web surveys
Preventing duplicate survey responses: A common concern is how to deal with duplicated survey responses. In practice, this is an issue when the benefit to multiple submits outweighs the effort of making them. For most surveys, the challenge is getting people to complete once....; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on November 13, 2007 | Last updated April 28, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Respondents | Technology; TAGS: Data validation | Passwords | Sampling | Web surveys
Scanning Survey Forms: As great as the Web is for surveys, there are times paper is a better fit (and phones and in-person too of course). When paper is what you need, people often look to scanning as a "no data entry" solution....; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on August 21, 2007 | Last updated May 30, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Data Handling | Technology; TAGS: Scanning
Stupid Excel data tricks: These days, most of us do more in Excel than the VisiCalc creators would have dreamed. Following are a few of my favorite tricks for working with data in Excel (the raw side, not the chart side). This article includes:...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on February 5, 2007 | Last updated May 30, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Data Handling | Technology; TAGS: Excel | Import & export
The joy of a Web developer on call: One of the great things about the Web is that almost any functionality is possible—it's just a small matter of programming (and budget and time and compromises). Sometimes you can imagine a widget which will make your respondent's or visitor's...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on August 27, 2007 | Last updated April 22, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Management | Technology; TAGS: Web surveys
To pop-up or not?: Just as spammers have made e-mail invitations a perilous exercise, pop-up ads have made Web-based survey invitations challenging. Internet Explorer and Firefox install with pop-up blocking on by default, and people aren't exactly rushing to turn it off. So when...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on February 21, 2006 | Last updated April 25, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Respondents | Technology; TAGS: Sampling | Web surveys
Translating Zip codes into cities: In a recent workshop, a participant asked how to deal with his Zip code data. Every time he did a survey, he was manually grouping the codes into regions for analysis. If you're in a similar situation, here's a better...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on August 14, 2006 | Last updated May 19, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Data Handling | Technology; TAGS: Import & export | Piping | Postcoding
Web surveys: Your server or theirs?: Just because you have a Web server doesn't mean it's the best choice for running your Web surveys. While your own box has the advantage of full control, it also has some drawbacks. This doesn't mean you have to go...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on October 20, 2006 | Last updated May 19, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Management | Technology; TAGS: Project management | Survey hosting | Web surveys
When surveys are too adaptive: One of the strengths of Web, CATI and CAPI surveys is their adaptability. We can create a questionnaire which tailors itself in obvious and hidden ways to a respondent's answers. While in a sense the respondent is "driving" this process,...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on June 8, 2006 | Last updated April 28, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Management | Questionnaires | Technology; TAGS: CAPI & CATI | Data cleaning | Developing surveys | Open-ended questions | Postcoding | Web surveys