The Six Stages of Survey Projects
Surveys go through six main stages:
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Business Issue / Needs Analysis |
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What are you trying to understand, change or decide—and how will a survey contribute? | |
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Questionnaire Development |
Translating the business issue to a reasonable number of questions and the best data scales. More... | |
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Survey Distribution |
Distributing paper surveys or launching Web forms. More... | |
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Data Handling |
Both data collection, such as from scannable or keypunched surveys, and also data cleaning to check for invalid responses or code comments for reports. More... | |
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Reporting & Analysis |
Crunching the data in tables or graphs, as well as breaking down results for different time periods, divisions, demographics, etc. More... | |
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Business Recommendations |
Returning to stage one, making the decision or determining changes to make in your organization. |
I specialize in survey methodology for a wide range of projects, primarily through stages 2 to 5. Sometimes projects span all those steps, but often clients are looking for help with just one or two pieces. I also do recovery work when projects hit a snag.
Need a Hand?
A little help can add a lot of polish—or just save hours and headaches:


Thanks again for the excellent training sessions. You were able to keep it interesting and worth every penny. You have such a thorough understanding of the software. ~~sigh~~ to be that wise!
Susan L. Despot
California University of Pennsylvania
