Gathering information is a major aspect of most research and one important method of gathering information from people is through surveys. Thorough planning and careful design of a survey will ensure the information gathered is comprehensive, relevant and accurate in order to answer your research questions.
SPAN has expertise and experience in all stages of the survey process, from initial planning and consultation through to implementation and data analysis. Assistance and guidance can be provided to academic and postgraduate student researchers through all stages of the survey process, however we recommend consulting SPAN early in the planning stages for maximum benefit and to obtain the most effective results.
SPAN also conducts on-line training courses in survey planning and questionnaire design through the Research Office Professional Development Program.
To implement on-line surveys, SPAN maintains an annual subscription to a Gold Level plan of SurveyMonkey. The SPAN Manager administers all the surveys conducted through the site, including entering the questions for each survey, to ensure privacy and confidentiality.
Features of the SurveyMonkey tool include an unlimited number of questions and an unlimited number of responses per survey, question skip logic, question and answer piping, various distribution options with customisable URL addressing and enhanced SSL security.
Users are able to monitor, browse, filter and download responses at any time during an active survey as well as having various response download options including spreadsheet, pdf, reports, charts and format for SPSS integration.