Why Surveys?

	Take out the guess work and put in the profit.
	It's what other people think that counts.
	There's only one way to find out - ASK THEM!

What is a Survey?   (the Nature of Knowledge)

The survey is a tool. Its purpose is to provide knowledge. Knowledge is the light that illuminates the road ahead - the more clearly you can see that road, the more certain, faster and safer your journey will be. This business metaphor may seem self-evident at first sight but stop for a moment to consider the nature of knowledge.

There is a fundamental problem with knowledge - knowledge does not equal facts! Perceptions often count for more than facts. You may know that you have done a good job for a customer but if that customer thinks you have done a bad job, which is going to determine whether the customer buys from you again - the fact or the perception?

Perceptions are held by people. People decide if they are going to buy from you, supply you or work well for you.

There is only one way to find out what people are thinking - ask them!

How do you ask them? Conduct a survey!
There are two types of survey - qualitative and quantitative. In most surveys these characteristics will overlap but one will usually be predominant over the over. It is this predominance that determines the methodology for conducting the survey.

Qualitative Surveys
The qualitative survey is used where the sample population is small and the subject area is specialised or subjective. Consider, for example, a customer satisfaction survey to be conducted for a company that sells high value, specialised machinery to a small number of customers in different countries. Such a survey would best be done by telephone discussion or even personal visits, simply because there is likely to be wide variability in the factors that influence opinion. The way in which the company manages each project is likely to be significantly different from one customer to another. Cultural variations from one country to another can influence customer perceptions. Where there is high variability in the underlying factors, surveys are usually best conducted by personal contact rather than through a formal questionnaire. Qualitative surveys can be very expensive to conduct because of the time they take to perform and analyse.

Quantitative Surveys
The quantitative survey is used where the sample population is high and there is reasonable commonality in the underlying subject matter. An electrical wholesaler, for example, with 2,000 customers, whilst selling several thousand different items, is likely to process orders, despatch goods and deal with complaints in the same way for most customers. For such a company, a quantitative survey is more appropriate because one can build a questionnaire with many standard questions that will apply to most customers.
Within a quantitative survey, there will usually be some questions that invite the response 'other' or ask open questions of an 'is there anything else you would like to tell us?' nature. Similarly, qualitative surveys will, invariably, include some questions of a quantitative nature.
The vast majority of surveys are quantitative, conducted through structured questionnaires. surveySwift is designed for conducting quantitative surveys.

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