Except when they have nothing to do with our interests and seem just plain boring. However, since qualitative data (from focus groups) only work well to give insight to why people do what they do, you need an effective method to define your audience. Surveys, baby, are your best bet.
Before scheduling and writing, you must keep in mind that timing is important, as is knowing what you're trying to accomplish. "To understand if our user base has changed since last year, and if so, how; and to understand which features they find most attractive." That's a good start.
When writing a survey, you need to focus on two things: be descriptive (to profile the audience) and be explanatory (to discover their beliefs). There are three sub-categories following that; Characteristic (demographic, technological), Behavioral (web use, usage, etc.), and Attitudal (satisfaction, preference). Make sure these questions are relevant, specific, and clear, as people have a tendency to always give you answers - whether reliable or not.
The types of questions you can ask vary. A close-ended (single-answer multiple choice) questions must be exhaustively selective. Checklists give a measure of reader information desires. Likert scales (Very interesting to very uninteresting) can make answers more relevant to more people.
Fielding the survey is the hardest part. You'll need to think about choosing a proper sample size, but also considering the possibility of haphazard responses, sampling bias (hitting outside your target mark), and a flurry of other biases (timing, expectation, and invitation) that may cause less than accurate responses.
When presenting the survey, you need to emphasize importance, hold privacy ridiculously high, and always present a desirable reward. People don't work for nothing, you know. Pace the survey well by throwing in thematically relevant questions in the middle, then end it with either an open-ended (free response) question or a demographic survey.
Report it. Already? Yeah. Tabulate (count) and get back into statistics class mode because that's what you shall be doing with any apparent bell curves or measurement errors. Draw conclusions without falling into the confusion of correlation and causation. Remember, practice makes perfect - it's just that this time, you've got more studs on your belt to get started.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
We All Love Surveys
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
Topics
- Accessories (60)
- Advertising (14)
- Advice (15)
- Anime Reviews (12)
- Apple (47)
- Appliances (9)
- Architecture (65)
- Art (329)
- Bath (6)
- Bedroom (47)
- Bikes (44)
- Branding (15)
- Business (8)
- Cameras (42)
- Cars (18)
- Clothing (64)
- Concerts (2)
- Customize (8)
- Decor (155)
- Dermatology (1)
- Design (496)
- DIY (1)
- DS Lite (11)
- Economy (1)
- Entertainment (5)
- Event Reviews (2)
- Exposition (251)
- Fashion (73)
- Feature (2)
- Finance (3)
- Food (44)
- Funny (126)
- Furniture (131)
- Game Reviews (20)
- Games (68)
- Gear (124)
- Girls (127)
- Giveaways (3)
- Graffiti (2)
- Green (8)
- Hair (1)
- Hardware (20)
- HCI (82)
- Head-Fi (23)
- Health (1)
- Hip-Hop (13)
- Home (271)
- Ideas (50)
- IKEA (30)
- Inspiration (75)
- Interface (6)
- iPad (5)
- iPhone (11)
- iPod (6)
- Jokes (1)
- Kitchen (60)
- Landscape (2)
- Laptops (20)
- LCD (14)
- Lighting (1)
- Linux (1)
- Marketing (2)
- Materials (2)
- Medicine (1)
- Movie Reviews (201)
- MP3 (104)
- Music (261)
- Music Reviews (6)
- News (24)
- Nintendo (12)
- Office (59)
- Pens (3)
- People (4)
- Phones (2)
- Photography (59)
- Picks (1)
- Poetry (9)
- Politics (10)
- Print (1)
- PS3 (35)
- PSP (2)
- Publications (7)
- Puppies (1)
- Quotes (28)
- Random (127)
- Reads (1)
- Real Estate (3)
- Recipes (31)
- Retro (5)
- Roundup (5)
- Shopping (1)
- Software (12)
- Software Review (1)
- Speakers (2)
- Square-Enix (2)
- Style (131)
- Technology (224)
- Technology Reviews (6)
- Television Reviews (5)
- Tools (1)
- Toys (15)
- Travel (8)
- Trends (40)
- Tutorials (40)
- Video (242)
- Wallpapers (2)
- Windows (12)
- Xbox360 (7)
Popular Posts
-
An argument ensued in the forums over an article written by the Examiner expressing the need to bear arms and the injustice of jailing a pe...
-
Now that's a clever idea. Mismatching chairs just give it that extra +2 points in the hip department.
-
A second viewing justifies an updated score. Powerful, mesmerizing, and unbelievably emotionally draining; this multi-layered portrait of al...
-
I keep tellin' people, white walls isn't always a bad thing. Especially if every single piece of your furniture is complimentary and...
-
Peep this track because it's hot. Hot like Costco pizza on an overcast Monday. Devin the Dude - I Can't Make It Home (MP3)
-
Tired of your standard, boring wooden banisters? Paint it glossy red. Yeah, that'll show 'em.
-
I was once asked why I got into design. And when I say design, I do speak of the many languages of design. From interior of baths to t...
-
Make no mistake: this is as epic as cinema gets. The visuals are absolutely stunning, the score emphasizes "big production" in eve...
-
Good god, drool. This unbelievable space has a little bit of everything I want in a fun home. Tall ceilings. Modern open floorplan...
Archives
-
▼
2009
(460)
-
▼
September
(32)
- Temporarily Stuck in Japanese Party Mode
- Google Suggestions
- Variations on Themes
- Corn Con Queso Fresco Recipe
- Vintage Goes Mainstream
- Fail, A Good Thing
- Fun with Mannequins
- Why We Need Things
- Taxi Cab Yellow Vipp Garbage Cans
- Probes: More Contextual Awareness
- Hey There, Nice Glass
- Micro 4/3, You Sexy Beasts
- Fixies In My Sleep
- Vin. Diesel.
- Arranging In Small Spaces
- Scrabble Pieces as Book Labels
- BKRW x Albrecht Gerlach NYC Street Fashion
- Probing Culturally, Masterfully
- Short, Crude Laughs
- Contexual Design at Work
- Studio Sexy No Jutsu
- Design Ethnography
- Process of Interaction Design
- Max Manus Review
- Fonts That Piss Us Off
- Interfaces, Interactions & Playthings
- Bringin' It Back to 2002
- We All Love Surveys
- Micro Four Thirds, What?
- In Regards to Those Evil Focus Groups
- An Aviator World
- So, What Is Design Exactly?
-
▼
September
(32)
0 comments:
Post a Comment