Volume 3, Issue 3

Summer 2005

Inside this Issue

Detecting Random Responding
How to Randomize Test Answers
Creating a Balanced Scorecard
Displaying Respondent Information

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Editor's Letter

Greetings!

Enjoy this month's summer 2005 issue where we take a look at how one client is using Hosted Survey™ to dramatically cut workload for the department.

Meet Edwin Ahn

Edwin says Hostedware's accounting department is a great working environment that "seems to make the day go by effortlessly. Everybody is friendly and they make the job that I do a bit more enjoyable."

He enjoys watching Hostedware grow and evolve, saying, "seeing Hostedware heading into the right direction, it makes me feel good about the work that I'm doing."

He intends to stay in the accounting/finance field for the foreseeable future. "I expect to be continuously growing in my career and I feel that working at Hostedware is just another great step in developing my skills as a professional and as a person."

Sincerely,
Dennis Frayne
dennis.frayne@hostedware.com

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How to Detect Random Responding & Encourage College Students to Participate

The University of Central Florida's Department of Psychology screens students for the warning signs of schizophrenia when they're undergraduates.

Jeffrey Bedwell, Ph.D. knew an online approach would be ideal--both because students were comfortable online, and because such a survey would be easy to review.

Concern #1: Long Surveys Equal Random Answers

With 100 queries, the survey takes some time for students to complete. Because of this, Bedwell was concerned students might get bored halfway through the survey and start to answer randomly, without actually reading the question or multiple-choice options.

To prevent random responding, he added in queries that functioned as a screening mechanism. These were statistically unlikely, for instance, a yes or no question that asked "have you been to Scandinavia twice in the last year?"

This approach makes it easier to determine whether students have stopped responding and are simply clicking to get through the survey.

Concern #2: Screening So Many Students

A second concern for Bedwell was that the department was screening about 1000 undergraduates and looking for approximately 20-30 students who had the warning symptoms.

This meant it was important to be able to look over a great deal of data quickly and efficiently. He needed a system that would compile responses immediately so he could keep an eye on students' responses over time and quickly catch students who did seem to have symptoms.

The online format made this much more feasible because the computer compiles results in real time, generating statistics and creating reports easily.

Concern #3: Consent Forms

Because the department was asking about students' mental health and they would be compiling that information with student contact information (students cannot answer anonymously), consent had to be obtained before students began the survey.

This was tricky as the Hostedware system didn't have an option to allow for consent forms. Thus, Bedwell worked with his representative to break the consent request into chunks and format them as questions.

Because of this feedback, Hostedware programmers are working on adding consent forms behind the scenes so that researchers can easily add such forms to their surveys.

How Do You Get a High Participation Rate Among College Students?

Because it's important that as many students participate in this survey as possible, completion is required in some courses. That results in a high participation rate.

When student participation is required, though, Bedwell says it's important that the system be as easy as possible for students to use. He receives several emails a day from students who've had difficultly completing the survey--and he must respond to them quickly to circumvent their concerns about failing.

By screening for random responding, using an online format for easier data processing, and integrating consent forms at the beginning of the survey, Bedwell has created a survey that meets the needs of his department and his students. And that's helping them to better screen students and get more accurate results from their survey.

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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 the first 11 questions to see for yourself that we offer the solution you need.

Queries? We'll be happy to answer them. You can reach us by visiting our customer support center, or calling us toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

FAQ: Randomizing Answers

Q: How can I randomize the order of answers to a given test question?

When creating a multiple-choice question, you have the option to randomize the order in which the answers are displayed. Each test taker will receive the answers in a different order.

This can be important if you feel a particular order of the answers might in one way or another sway your respondents' answers. It also makes it more difficult to copy answers from another version of the test.

Note: With random answers, all the same answers will be presented, just in a different order.

To randomly display the answers to a question on your test, simply select the Randomize answers checkbox.

When your respondents take your test, each individual will be presented with the same answers, but in a different order. Below is an example of what test takers might see:

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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 our customer support center, or call toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

Creating a Balanced Scorecard:
How companies are using online surveys to measure employee satisfaction

Linking employee satisfaction (ESAT) to the bottom line is not new. First cited in the Harvard Business Review in 1994, the "service-profit chain theory" holds that satisfied employees deliver superior service, which creates satisfied customers. In turn, satisfied clients create growth in revenue and earnings and increase shareholder value.

Taking the service-profit chain theory further, Robert Kaplan and David Norton developed a new approach to strategic management: "The Balanced Scorecard."

The balanced scorecard approach centers on a company's vision and strategy and includes not only financial measures, but also measurements for customer satisfaction, internal business processes and employee satisfaction. As companies grow and change, they are developing metrics, collecting data and analyzing it in order to give themselves a balanced scorecard--in other words, a more complete picture of the business.

Companies review financial data at least monthly, if not daily or even hourly. To understand what's going on from an employee perspective--which is what ultimately drives financial results--organizations need to collect employee data more than just once a generation. Thus, many companies have begun to pay more attention to employee satisfaction via online surveys.

Tying ESAT to the Bottom Line

Before online surveying options, measuring employee satisfaction meant using costly, time-consuming paper-based surveys. Carol Boyce, Ph.D. and Ron Rembisz, Ph.D. of the international management consulting firm Rembisz and Associates say, "By the time the surveys were completed and analyzed, things had probably changed in the organization. Due to costs, a company would probably roll out one ESAT survey every other year--which means management really didn't have a true indicator of employee satisfaction."

Much of this has changed due to the advantages of online surveys. According to Boyce and Rembisz, companies are "taking employees' temperatures" much more frequently, conducting short 10-15 question surveys weekly, monthly and quarterly on a number of issues including innovation and growth, employee motivation, leadership support for employee autonomy, culture and internal communication effectiveness.

"Companies can cost-effectively measure any aspect of their business before an intervention, during the intervention, then again afterward--to make sure the intervention 'sticks'--thanks to online surveys," adds Rembisz. Because results are available within 24-48 hours, companies have real data on which to base decisions.

Real-time, Two-way Dialogue

Online surveys also allow real-time, two-way dialogue. If an outside third party is conducting the survey, the consulting company can go back to individuals and ask, "Can you tell me more about why you feel this way?"

Companies are also using ESAT surveys to effect organizational change. Sean Ryan of White Water Consulting Group says, "People want to perform at their best. Effective survey feedback helps organizations pinpoint the barriers and challenges employees grapple with as their organizations perpetually change. ESAT surveys give managers a regular pulse on how people are doing as the change occurs."

However, adds Ryan, surveys also bring out issues that are occasionally difficult to deal with, which is why companies will sometimes ignore or hide survey results. "A company can have too much on its plate and not enough time, energy or resources to deal with serious culture issues. To be effective, organizations really need to commit to widely sharing the results of ESAT surveys and engaging everyone in the process of closing gaps."

Online Survey Best Practices

Survey response depends on how the survey process is designed and implemented. These best practices will help ensure your survey process goes smoothly and receives high response rates:

• Get Management Buy-in
• Establish Credibility
  • When e-mailing the survey, use each recipient's full e-mail address.
  • Give the name and e-mail address of the survey contact person.
  • Stress respondents' confidentiality.
• Provide glitch-free technology
• Ask for verbal feedback
• Post the results
• Take action

By planning your use of online survey tools carefully, you can ensure you are able to create a balanced scorecard, determining how well aligned the company vision and strategy are with actual measurements of customer and employee satisfaction.

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FAQ: Displaying Respondent Information

Q: What are my options in displaying respondent details?

When inviting known respondents to take your survey, you have the option to display specific information about each respondent on your email invitations and the survey itself. You can also include this information as part of your raw data download, to incorporate as part of your analysis and demographic filtering.

For example, if you are conducting internal employee reviews and sending email invitations to every person in your company, you might want to display key information within each email such as:

• Person You Are Evaluating
• Expected Completion Date

When a person receives their email invitation, they will know exactly whom they are evaluating, and when they are expected to complete the evaluation.

Help Desk Satisfaction Survey Example

Another example of displaying respondent information is taken from a Help Desk Satisfaction Survey. To follow up with customers who request help or report technical issues, and to measure satisfaction with the assistance they received, this satisfaction survey is sent via email to customers shortly after their help desk experience.

We want to display key information about the help desk call within the email invitation and survey, such as:

• Help desk ticket number
• Nature of call
• Call center location
• Name of analyst who assisted you
• Date/Time request was made
• Date/Time request was resolved

Displaying this information will remind the customer of the help desk call. It will also become an integral part of the data analysis. You can include respondent information in your survey results, ultimately producing reports that allow you to filter results based on nature of call, location, time period, or to create individual reports on analysts.

Steps To Display Respondent Information

To follow these steps, you'll need to have already created your respondent list.

After your respondent list is created, you have the option to display particular information about the respondent in one or all of the following places:

• Inside email invitations
• At the top of each survey page
• Within the survey results

Using the Employee Evaluation example, your Excel respondent file will look similar to this:

First decide which information you would like to display on your email invitations and survey.

For this example, we want to display the Person You Are Evaluating and the Expected Completion Date on the email invitation. On the survey, we will only display the Person You Are Evaluating. In this example, the Relationship field will be hidden from view of the respondents and used only in the downloaded results.

Select "Design Survey," Respondents, User-defined Fields.

Next you will see options for displaying respondent information on Email and Survey. The User-defined fields must match your column headings, as they do in the above spreadsheet.

Select your preferences for email invitations and survey, then select [Save] at the bottom of the page.

Next, select "Design Survey," Layout & Navigation, Text & Messages.

On this screen, you will need to select the checkbox labeled Show Respondent On Survey. This is to activate the respondent information you elected to show on the survey. Use [Save] after you have selected this checkbox.

The survey options have been set, and you can activate your survey and send invitations.

Displaying Respondent Information in Downloaded Survey Data

After your survey has collected responses, you can download your survey results with the respondent information included.

To do this, select "My Surveys," My Survey Results.

You will see three download options:

• Run a report
• Export data to my computer
• View data exported and saved previously (my download files)

Select Export data to my computer (in the format of your choice), and select [OK].

You will come to a screen that lists advanced download options. From this list, be sure to select the checkbox labeled Show Respondent Fields. You can also select other options for your download.

Once selected, use the [Download Now] button. The process will run for a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the amount of raw survey data and your connection speed. Once the process stops, select the View Download Files link. You will see your download file listed at the top of the next screen.

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