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Dec 05, 2017 2. 4 min read ![](/_astro/How-to-design-and-analyze-market-intelligence.width-1000_Z25gzur.webp) ![](/img/blog/design-and-analyze-surveys-howto/figure1.png) Every organization, irrespective of the industry, at some time or other, wants to conduct a survey (either internally and/or externally) for various reasons around gathering information or collecting feedback. Some of the common reasons for conducting surveys are: * Salary benchmarking * Proposed Change Buy-In * Change Feedback * Customer Feedback * Demographic Information Collection * …… This entire survey deployment, data collection, data transformation, data analysis and reporting is a combination of art & science. Surveys are generally deployed for very specific objectives and are very contextual in nature. # Survey Design Designing a survey is a systemic process which involves some key elements: * What are the key objectives/goals of the survey? * Who should be targeted to gather information/feedback? * What channel will be used to conduct the survey? * What is the deployment timeline? * What is the follow-up plan of action? It is important to design questions which are focused and have the potential to engage the respondents. The survey right at the start should clearly mention the objectives and also highlight the time commitment from the respondents so that they get to plan their time accordingly and may decide to get back later if required. One important factor to consider while designing individual questions is to ensure that they are not leading. The questionnaire flow and individual questions should help respondents to deep dive into stated objectives and should help them visualize the potential actions. # Response Data Transformation & Analysis The objective of conducting a survey is to gather useful and reliable data in specific layouts/visuals, which can help draw conclusions / take decisions about the stated key goals. It is important to clearly define what data is needed. It’s equally important to define upfront the format and layout of the output data so that the appropriate steps can be designed and implemented to transform response data into the right layout for further analysis and reporting. As part of this step, ground rules should be set on what data will be used and what will be discarded. Some key rules that need to be defined: * How will missing responses be handled? * Is there any minimum number of responses required before data can be reported for any specific question? * Are there questions or responses from specific roles which will be weighed more as compared to others? * What kind of data is to be reported from open-ended text questions? * Is there any type of data clubbing required or dependencies that needs to be considered as part of analyzing responses to different questions? * What kind of QA framework be used to ensure output data quality (Data Completeness, any additional exception rules, text field summarization)? * How to use the output of nominal responses? * …… There are several ETL tools which can be used depending on the complexity and volume of data that needs to be dealt with. Some of the commonly used tools are Excel, Talend, Python etc. # Response Reporting Interactive Visualizations help in better understanding the responses and can support the decision-making process. There are different charts/graphs which can be created to visualize responses to different types of questions: * Frequency Histogram to showcase the variation in choices for different respondents * Use a pie chart to demonstrate the percentage of respondents selecting different types of responses for the same question. * Stack Charts to demonstrate the incremental rate of responses * Geographical displays to showcase biases/variations in responses * Tables to summarize descriptive statistics for numerical responses * …… Use a heading for each of the graphs and tables that capture the essence of the visual. Commonly used tools for this purpose are R, Excel, Python, [Tableau](https://www.tableau.com/), Qlikview etc. # Conclusion Finally, it is desirable to call out what do the survey results mean. Why do the findings matter, and how are they tied to survey goals? The conclusion should answer all of these questions. The conclusion should be able to summarize the entire survey process, from the formulation of survey goals up to the final actionable outcome. There are some key elements which need to be considered while writing an effective conclusion: * Focus on tying the outcome of the survey analysis with the goal * Should be a synthesis of the survey result along with a summary of the entire process. It should clearly highlight the course of action associated with the initial objective. Arrange ideas in a logical order. * It should be written in a matter-of-fact manner with an academic tone * Call out any other data sources that are being used for the purpose of this survey * Include information about the quality of results, such as standard errors, confidence intervals etc. Have something to add to this post? Please share it in the comments! Contact at [Incentius](https://incentius.com/) in case you would like to talk live. We at Incentius would be happy to act as a friendly, informal "sounding board". We can offer an ear and views based on our years of experience working in this area, and can also help with some ideas, contacts and solutions. About Author ![](/_astro/amit.width-300_1ShEhs.webp) Amit Jain ![](/img_astro/thumb.png) ### See What Our Clients Say ![](/img_astro/left-chevron_1.svg) ![](/img_astro/left-chevron_2.svg) ![](/img_astro/mind-gap-crop.svg) Mindgap Incentius has been a fantastic partner for us. Their strong expertise in technology helped deliver some complex solutions for our customers within challenging timelines. Specific call out to Sujeet and his team who developed custom sales analytics dashboards in SFDC for a SoCal based healthcare diagnostics client of ours. Their professionalism, expertise, and flexibility to adjust to client needs were greatly appreciated. MindGap is excited to continue to work with Incentius and add value to our customers. Samik Banerjee Founder & CEO ![](/img_astro/trusted-by-businesses/worldatwork_coloured.webp) World at Work Having worked so closely for half a year on our website project, I wanted to thank Incentius for all your fantastic work and efforts that helped us deliver a truly valuable experience to our WorldatWork members. I am in awe of the skills, passion, patience, and above all, the ownership that you brought to this project every day! I do not say this lightly, but we would not have been able to deliver a flawless product, but for you. I am sure you'll help many organizations and projects as your skills and professionalism are truly amazing. Shantanu Bayaskar Senior Project Manager ![](/img_astro/trusted-by-businesses/gogla_coloured.webp) Gogla It was a pleasure working with Incentius to build a data collection platform for the off-grid solar sector in India. It is rare to find a team with a combination of good understanding of business as well as great technological know-how. Incentius team has this perfect combination, especially their technical expertise is much appreciated. We had a fantastic time working with their expert team, especially with Amit. Viraj gada Gogla ![](/img_astro/trusted-by-businesses/humblex_coloured.webp) Humblx Choosing Incentius to work with is one of the decisions we are extremely happy with. It's been a pleasure working with their team. They have been tremendously helpful and efficient through the intense development cycle that we went through recently. The team at Incentius is truly agile and open to a discussion in regards to making tweaks and adding features that may add value to the overall solution. We found them willing to go the extra mile for us and it felt like working with someone who rooted for us to win. Samir Dayal Singh CEO Humblx ![](/img_astro/mind-gap-crop.svg) Transportation & Logistics Consulting Organization Incentius is very flexible and accommodating to our specific needs as an organization. In a world where approaches and strategies are constantly changing, it is invaluable to have an outsourcer who is able to adjust quickly to shifts in the business environment. Transportation & Logistics Consulting Organization Consultant ![]() Mudraksh & McShaw Incentius was instrumental in bringing the visualization aspect into our investment and trading business. They helped us organize our trading algorithms processing framework, review our backtests and analyze results in an efficient, visual manner. Priyank Dutt Dwivedi Mudraksh & McShaw Advisory ![](/img_astro/mind-gap-crop.svg) Leading Healthcare Consulting Organization The Incentius resource was highly motivated and developed a complex forecasting model with minimal supervision. He was thorough with quality checks and kept on top of multiple changes. Leading Healthcare Consulting Organization Sr. Principal ![](/img_astro/mind-gap-crop.svg) US Fortune 100 Telecommunications Company The Incentius resource was highly motivated and developed a complex forecasting model with minimal supervision. He was thorough with quality checks and kept on top of multiple changes. 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