Volume 3, Issue 1

January/February 2005

Inside this Issue

Why You Have to Think Like Your Audience
Email Invitations Gone Missing
Using Pre-Employment Screening Tests Wisely
Staff-Wide Input Enlisted for School Improvement Plan
View Test Results in the Grade Book
Happy Valentine's Day!

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Editor's Letter

Greetings!

In each issue of Hostedwire, we bring you resources, tips and techniques designed to help you maximize your survey and test results. Today, you can learn about good testing practices for screening job applicants.

Meet Elizabeth Arreola, Customer Advocate

Elizabeth especially enjoys the process of working with new customers, saying, "it's fun to show them how easy it is to create their own tests and surveys."

She also enjoys pre-sales chats with prospective customers, getting a kick out of explaining Hostedware's pricing structure. "People are always so pleased to see how our prices compare to other companies'. They're always shocked by just how much value they get in each package."

With future plans to run her own business, Elizabeth pays careful attention to how things are done behind the Hostedware scenes. "I'm taking notes," she says, "so I can apply what I've learned about taking care of customers when I'm the boss."

If you have questions about the Hostedware system, please give Elizabeth a call--she'll be happy to answer all of your questions.

Enjoy today's issue!

Sincerely,
Dennis Frayne
dennis.frayne@hostedware.com

Contact Hostedware

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Why You Have to Think Like Your Audience

College students are a notoriously difficult audience--they demand a high level of contextual relevancy, are intensely aware of online privacy pitfalls, and have little patience for pokey technology.

Aware of these concerns, Brian Heuser set out to revamp Vanderbilt's surveying process. He eliminated the previous outdated scantron system in favor of an online format, but not before completely restructuring the survey and process.

His several hundred hour time investment paid off--within three hours of sending out this year's Quality of Life survey (taken at the end of the fall semester), 1100 students had already responded (about 18% of the surveyed students).

How did he get such a rapid result? By using a three-part strategy that'll work well for your intended audience as well.

Generate good will

Brian knew that privacy would be a concern for students, so he started early to answer those concerns. In an interview with the school newspaper, he explained that though students would access the survey via a link in an email message, each student's access code had been randomly generated by Hostedware's secure server and Vanderbilt would not be able to link student data with survey responses.

The school newspaper also mentioned that participants would be eligible for a random drawing of Borders gift certificates which gave students an additional incentive to participate.

He created a student "think-tank" to examine each question for relevance. In the initial rounds, Brian said, students complained that the questions had little significance for them--using outdated language or asking about activities that didn't apply to their lives--so he used students' feedback to make the survey contextually relevant.

Make the process painless

When it came time to take the actual survey, students found it delivered to their email inboxes at an ideal time--right at 7 p.m. when many students are returning from their classes. "They're looking for a way to ease into their studies, and the survey was an appealing way to procrastinate just a bit," Brian said.

The survey itself offered students a comfortable balance between mundane and personal questions. The survey transitioned from one mode to the other several times to keep the tone from becoming overwhelmingly personal.

Students who were interrupted during the survey-taking process were able to save their progress and return at a later time. This helped students know they weren't making a huge time commitment by clicking the survey link and made them more likely to jump right in.

Be prepared to be surprised

One thing that did surprise Brian about the results was which questions students answered, and which they skipped.

"We asked some intensely personal questions," he said, "and students consistently answered them. Except when it came to academics."

His team found students willing to answer questions about drug and alcohol use, but uncomfortable when the questions veered into academic integrity. Many skipped questions about cheating and plagiarism entirely.

Brian mentioned that this discrepancy likely had to do with how seriously Vanderbilt students take the school's honor policy.

After spending several hundred hours completely rewriting and restructuring the survey, Brian said he expects future updates to take under 10 hours.

The time investment paid off both in terms of usable data and the reports that were generated. "The central office was impressed," Brian said. "It's made my budget much more secure."

Would you like to be famous? Let us profile you in an upcoming issue of Hostedwire! Email Dennis Frayne, Editor of Hostedwire, and tell him you'd like to be featured.

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FAQ: Email Invitations Gone Missing

Q: Why aren't my email invitations being delivered?

Because of increases in network and email security due to SPAM and Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE), there may be occurrences where your email invitations are blocked, quarantined, and/or deleted before reaching the intended recipients.

Email invitations may not be delivered for a variety of reasons. The email address may be invalid or non-existent, on a network that is experiencing downtime, or the corresponding mail box may be full.

The primary controllable cause of deliverability problems, however, is email invitations that are blocked or quarantined because of SPAM filters at the network and end-user levels.

Avoid email invitation blocking due to DNS lookup

DNS (Domain Name Server) Lookup will analyze your From Address and determine if the email is really coming from your domain. For example, if you enter your email address, yourname@abcco.com, and the network finds that the email invitation did not really originate from ABC Co., but is actually coming from Hostedware, your invitations may not be delivered.

To prevent this, you can use the From Address mail@hostedware.com, which is entered by default in your invitations when you create a survey. By using this default address, you are preventing the possible filtering of your invitations due to non-matching domain names. However, you will not receive any bounce-backs or auto-notifications after sending your invitations.

If you want to receive bounce-back messages or auto-notifications, while avoiding the potential filtering issues arising from DNS lookup, contact Hostedware Customer Support to set up a custom email account.

Request to be added to a network white list

A white list is a list of addresses of trusted senders whose messages are delivered without being checked or filtered by the network ISP.

If you are sending survey invitations to one organization, and all or most respondent email addresses are the same after the @ symbol (e.g. rob@abcco.com, mary@abcco.com, jill@abcco.com), you can contact the organization's network administrator and request to be added to the network white list.

To do this, you can use this short email request form to send to the organization's network administrator. This may be modified, however the IP addresses listed must not be changed:

Dear Network Administrators,

We plan to conduct a survey during the 
time period of mm/dd/yyyy to mm/dd/yyyy 
and are asking members of your organization 
to participate. Survey invitations and 
reminders will be distributed via email 
during this time period. Proactively, we 
hope to ensure the delivery of these 
emails to their intended recipients, and are 
requesting that during this time the 
following IP addresses are added to your 
network white list: 

216.23.175.1
216.23.175.2
216.23.175.3
216.23.175.4
216.23.175.5

Please confirm that this white listing will 
ensure delivery of emails that originate from 
the above IP addresses, and will override any 
filters you may have in place (such as those 
based on standard/reverse DNS lookup and 
others).

Thank you.

Avoid commercial pitches in your invitations

Some rules-based filters will pick up on phrases such as *money back guarantee* or *no obligation*. Other filters may pick up on words or characters that have attributes of SPAM/UCE, such as multiple exclamation marks, common advertising/commercial terms, or certain name brands. Try to provide straightforward information in your survey invitations and avoid commercial sounding pitches.

Always include opt-out instructions and/or provide contact information in your invitation footer

To help stay in compliance with SPAM policies, you should always provide a way for respondents to contact you with questions, or requests to be removed from your list.

You can easily add an unsubscribe memo to the footer of your survey invitations. Your footer may include unsubscribe instructions, where to report email abuse or spam concerns, and sender contact information.

If you are sending internal email invitations to employees or members of your organization, you can use this space to clarify the purpose of the email, and provide contact information.

If you are sending email invitations to others, including customers, members, students, vendors, an in-house-developed list, or a third-party-rented opt-in list, provide your physical or postal mailing address, an unsubscribe link and/or detailed, easy-to-use opt-out instructions, and who to contact if the recipient has questions or wishes to report suspected email abuse or spam.

Below is an example footer containing survey opt-out instructions and appropriate contact information.

This email was sent to mary@abcco.com 
by mail@hostedware.com 

We hope to receive your valuable feedback 
on this survey, however if you wish to be 
removed from our respondent list, please 
reply to this message or email 
surveyadmin@yourcompany.net with 
"Remove" in the subject line.

If you have any questions or concerns 
about this survey, or wish to report 
suspected email abuse or spam, please 
contact:

John Smith
john.smith@yourcompany.net
(800) 555-0555

41 Capitol Drive
Metro City, NY 10022

By following these instructions, you'll be able to ensure more of your email invitations make it through to your intended participants.

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Survey Novice?

You're lost and confused--there are so many survey options out there. Some of them are downright cheap, and some are super expensive. They don't all have the same features, and you'd just like to bury your head in the sand and decide not to decide.

Relax. Your choice is easier than you might think. You can experience Hostedware's fantastic customer service, top of the line technology, and dazzling experience for yourself at absolutely no cost.

Just fax us your draft questionnaire at (949) 585-0050 and you'll receive a demo of your first 11 questions to see for yourself that we offer the solution you need.

Questions? We'll be happy to answer them. You can reach us at customerservice@hostedware.com, toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

Using Pre-Employment Screening Tests Wisely

by Ana P. Nunes

Pre-employment screening tests have become increasingly popular in the last few years. Testing instruments can be a great resource for employers--they can help an employer assess an applicant's abilities during the interview process, therefore improving hiring decisions. With the advent of computer test administration, it has also become much easier to incorporate screening tests into any employer's hiring process. But they have to be done right, and this is not as simple as it might seem.

Great care must be taken to ensure that the tests are valid and that only relevant skills or abilities are being tested. Tests must be relevant to the job description, and must be carefully developed so as not to have a disparate impact on specific groups of applicants such as older workers, women, minority ethnic groups, etc. Employers otherwise run the risk of using tests that are not valid, wasting precious time and resources--and facing potential legal action.

Good testing practices

Developing good testing or survey instruments is crucial to collecting useful and valid data. And just as in survey development, employment testing instruments must be tested for their reliability, validity and specific item performance prior to implementation.

This usually must be done with a sample of the survey or testing population. Reputable producers of testing instruments usually will only sell their product if an employer agrees to conduct a local validation study where the instrument is administered to a sample of the target testing population to ensure that it is valid for that particular population.

If an employer chooses to design their own instrument, the same validation procedures should be followed. Chris Wright, Ph.D., an industrial organizational psychologist, stresses the importance of "companies' ability to document how the testing instrument they use has been validated in their local area and that the test measures skills or abilities that are directly job related."

A company developing its own instrument is wise to seek consultation with an industrial organizational psychologist with experience in test development.

Focus on questions that are job related

Any device used to make an employment selection decision must be job related and not violate anti-discrimination employment laws. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and age. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employers from barring those with disabilities from employment when a reasonable accommodation may be made for an otherwise qualified applicant. The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures were established in 1978 to ensure that employers implemented fair and equal applicant screening methods on all prospective employees.

The Uniform Guidelines, Title VII, the ADA and the ensuing case law stress the importance of a test's content being linked to a specific job duty. This is true even if an employer is using an established testing instrument purchased from a large test producer.

Though it may be easier to give a standardized test for all applicants, testing an applicant for irrelevant skills violates the Uniform Guidelines — not to mention that it does not provide the employer with any usable data. A simple example would be if all applicants were administered a keyboarding test, though only a few job descriptions required keyboarding skills.

Entry-level positions are usually those where testing of this sort occurs, and they are also the most susceptible to legal claims at the employment application level. In addition to consulting with industrial organizational psychologists prior to implementing any instrument within a company, consulting general counsel to ensure no legal concerns arise from the instrument itself is always good advice.

Worth the time and effort

Done right--from the development of the instrument to its administration--pre-employment screening tests can help save a company from making costly hiring mistakes and can offer more information than just a resume or face-to-face interview can provide.

Though at times it may appear time consuming to take the necessary steps to ensure proper development and use of screening tests, in the long run both the company and the applicants win--uniform hiring practices not only protect employers, but help ensure that companies select the best candidates for the job.

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Staff-Wide Input Enlisted
for School Improvement Plan

Bartow Senior High, Bartow Charter, and Bartow's International Baccalaureate School must go through a peer review and school improvement process every five years to maintain their Southern Association of Colleges & Schools (SACS) accreditation.

Jan decided to conduct a school climate survey to prepare for the review re-accreditations visit. She wasn't sure how to run a survey and so began conducting research into different options.

Jumping in with both feet, she set about making the preliminary decisions. Would she send the survey as a hardcopy or through email? How would she score it?

As she worked through her research, Jan started to narrow down her options. Once she found Hostedware, she discovered most of the decisions were much easier--because of the automation in the system.

Staff eagerly participated

"We needed a high participation rate for it to be a valid part of our school improvement process," Jan said.

The administrators at all three schools encouraged school-wide participation, and that support helped stress the importance of the survey.

Concerns about honesty

"Without completely truthful answers," Jan said, "nothing would be accomplished by surveying the staff." So, Jan called Christine Choi at Hostedware and explained that team leaders were concerned about teachers being able to "give realistic and possibly critical responses."

Christine helped Jan set up the survey so results would be anonymous and that did help to alleviate concerns.

The survey helps establish improvement plan

Staff responses were used to build a new school improvement plan that included environment and administration goals, discipline procedures, and even dress code considerations.

"I tried to touch on all the current educational questions being asked around the school district and then narrow questions down to what was going on here at our school," Jan said. She found the hot topics were "discipline, dress code, and administration support."

Knowing what staff was most concerned about, Jan was able to move forward with a plan likely to make the re-accreditation process seamless.

Would you like to be famous? Let us profile you in an upcoming issue of Hostedwire! Email Dennis Frayne, Editor of Hostedwire, and tell him you'd like to be featured.

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FAQ: View Test Results in the Grade Book

Q: How do I use the grade book to view test results?

Once your students have taken your tests you can review real-time results and scores in the grade book.

The grade book also enables comparison of scores for each individual test or for multiple tests in a given course at a time. Test results can be displayed for each test taker or across all test takers.

To use the grade book you must:

• Assign each test to a course
• Use a respondent list for your students

Select Administer Test, View Results, grade book from the menu.

On the grade book page

1. Use the Course drop down list box to select the course that you want to view the results for.
2. Use the For drop down list box to select whether you want to view results for one specific respondent or all of the respondents (students) who have taken the test.
3. Use the checkboxes to toggle between displaying the results as points or as a percentage, or select both.
4. Click [Go].

Your screen will display the following four categories of information:

Student ID

This is the unique ID you provided with your respondent information.

Student

This column displays the name of the test taker. The first and last name of the test taker will be displayed if both were provided.

Points

The first column displays the points that each test taker received on the test. The second column displays the total number of points that were possible on the test.

% Score

This column displays the percentage of correct responses that each test taker received.

Creating courses for your tests

In order to use the grade book, the tests need to be assigned to a course.

1. Select My Tests, My Courses, from the menu.
2. Click [New Course] to view the new course page where you will create the course for your tests.

The New Course page allows you to specify a course name, a small description of the course, and start and end dates.

3. Click [OK] to save your new course.
4. To assign a test to the course, select Design Test, Test Home from the menu.
5. On the Test Home page, select the course that you created from the Course drop down list box.
6. Click [Save].

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What if your data goes all haywire in your presentation?

Have you had this nightmare? You've put together all the data from your survey. You've formatted it into a pretty PowerPoint presentation. There are sound effects and great graphics.

And there you stand, in front of the board of an international Fortune 500. You flip to the first slide. And you realize: you've made a huge mistake with the data.

Stop tossing and turning. Hire Hostedware to handle all your data from collecting it straight through to compiling it.

Get started today. Email customerservice@hostedware.com or call toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

Happy Valentine's Day!

May those of you who celebrate Valentine's Day have a particularly romantic day this 14th!

And, if you've forgotten to get your Valentine a gift, you may want to visit this site to print out a custom card :-).

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