CHAPTER 6
Sending Out the Survey and Following Up with Participants
When the pilot is complete and the final adjustments have been made to your survey, it is time to send it to your list of potential participants. This chapter will discuss the importance of a good cover letter, things to consider when sending out the survey, following up with participants, and finally, survey response rates.
The Importance of the Cover Letter
Every survey should be accompanied by a cover letter. The cover letter should not exceed one page and should precede the questions in the survey. Include a draft version of the cover letter in the pilot survey and gather feedback on it, then edit it as necessary. It’s important that the cover letter create a positive impression.
The cover letter should answer the following questions:
Who is conducting the survey?
Why is the survey being done?
What information is being sought?
How have participants been selected?
What will be done with the results?
Are the answers confidential?1
Are the responses anonymous?2
By when must the survey be completed?
Will participants get information on the survey results?
You may also want to include:
The name of the group sponsoring the survey
Contact information so that participants can ask questions
A statement that makes participants feel as if their participation is important to the success of the survey
Information on how confidentiality will be preserved if participants provide their names
A note about any incentives for completing the survey
Any special instructions for completing the survey.
Participants decide whether to complete a survey based on the value of the survey, the time it will take to complete, and their ability to answer the questions. Make sure all of these points are addressed in the cover letter. (The cover letter can address participants’ ability to answer the questions by explaining how and why the participants were selected.)
Here are some tips for writing the cover letter:
Avoid using phrases such as “Your help is needed” or “Enclosed is a questionnaire.” This wording turns people off.
Focus the cover letter on the participant. Never start the cover letter with “I.”
Don’t use “hope” or “hopeful”; use stronger words to encourage recipients to respond.
Proofread very carefully. Errors look sloppy.
In Enjoying Research? A “How-To” Manual on Needs Assessment, Diane Abbey-Livingston and David S. Abbey (146)__suggest a useful, simple cover letter format:
First paragraph: Define what the survey is about and explain why it is important.
Second paragraph: Explain who the participants are (the types of participants, not their names)__and how participants were chosen (for example, by the executive sponsor).
Third paragraph: State whether responses are confidential or anonymous.
Fourth paragraph: Explain how the results will be used.
Last paragraph: Tell participants whether they will get a reward for responding and whether the survey results will be shared with participants, and provide contact information so that participants can ask questions.
Here’s a sample cover letter based on this model:
Dear (participant’s name):
A survey is being conducted to gather important information from actual users about the organization’s workflow tool. You have been selected to participate in the survey. This survey will ask you to evaluate your satisfaction with the current workflow tool and gives you an opportunity to provide feedback about the changes for the next release.
The survey is being sent to a randomly selected group of team leads, tier-one customer service representatives, and tier-two customer service representatives from all departments that use the workflow tool.
Your input is confidential. No personal information will be obtained or recorded.
The information gathered through this survey will be used by senior management as input to finalize the scope of the next release.
You can access the survey through this link: <survey link>. It should take no more than ten minutes to complete. All responses must be received by no later than Monday, April 30.
If you choose to complete the survey, you can be entered into a drawing for a prize. To enter the drawing, please email your name to [email protected] once you have completed the survey. If you have any questions about the survey, please email [email protected].
Thank you for taking part in this survey.
Sending Out the Survey
When the survey is ready to be sent:
Make sure it is an appropriate time to do a survey. For example, don’t send the finance department a survey during year-end.
Notify participants that they will be asked in the next week to complete a survey, and explain why it is important to participate.
Send the survey, or an invitation to complete it, early in the week, on Monday or Tuesday.
Make clear how long the survey will be available. Deadlines may influence the speed of responses but will not influence the response rate.
If responses are confidential, be sure to store them in a secure location no one but the project team can access.
Following Up with Participants
Following up with participants is an optional step in the survey process. Depending on how the survey is administered, you may not know who the actual participants are. For example, if the survey is online and is accessed through a link on a website, or if the initial group of participants is asked to pass the survey on to other people, following up with participants is not feasible.
If the participants are known, you may send a reminder to complete the survey halfway through the time period allowed for completion. Individuals who do not respond after the second reminder are not likely to participate in the survey.
Response Rates
Expect to obtain a response rate somewhere between 10 percent and 40 percent. The response rate may be higher if the survey is conducted within the organization. Participants internal to the organization will have some stake in the results of the project, which may increase the response rate. Management endorsement of the survey may also improve response rates, but be careful: If participants feel pressured to participate, they may not take the survey seriously or think carefully about the answers.
Telephone and one-on-one surveys will have higher response rates than mail-out surveys. One-on-one surveys can yield a response rate of 80 to 90 percent, whereas a mail-out survey may garner a response rate below 50 percent (Palys 1997, 146). Before deciding to conduct a survey, consider the expected response rate and determine if the survey is worthwhile.
Response rates may increase if an incentive is offered to participate. Make sure the cover letter mentions any incentives. If responses are confidential, there must be a method that will allow participants to receive the incentive without compromising their privacy.
Notes
1. Confidential means that survey responses will not be linked to identifying information (such as participants’ names or other information that would enable the user of the results to figure out who provided the data). The business analyst must make sure results are not broken down in a way that identifies a person’s responses (for example, if there are three men and one woman in Department A, results for that department should not be reported by gender because it would be obvious who the female respondent was and what her answers were).
2. With anonymous responses, the business analyst has no way of linking the responses to particular participants. Anonymity is difficult, if not impossible, to guarantee for Internet or email surveys because the IP address the survey response came from can be tracked.