Using the right tools for your survey

Using the right tool

Designing a solid survey is part of setting yourself up for success. One important aspect is to use the right tool for the job. This will affect how you can manipulate the data. But it will also influence your staff’s level of engagement. And how well you can track your progress.

There are different tools you can use to survey people. They will have a range of functions available. Some of them have limited functions. Some of them are very sophisticated.

Your HR system might be able to run surveys. But we recommend you use something else. This is so that people feel reassured that the survey is completely anonymous.

When you choose a tool, you should take into account:

• what you want to be able to track
• what you want to be able to report on

There are other factors to consider. The size of your organisation has an impact on your resources. And if you have a large workforce, you will need to use a tool that can handle this amount of data. The majority of workplaces will be able to use tools they already have access to. For example, Microsoft Forms.

You should also make sure that you are able to compare answers between different demographics. For example, white colleagues and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues. Larger organisations will be able to break down data further, for example:

• Disabled women and people with marginalised genders.
• Disabled people of colour.

Accessibility considerations

Something that is often overlooked is the accessibility of the platform. You need to make sure that disabled employees will be able to access the survey. For example, you need to check compatibility for people who use screen readers to navigate a website.

Cognitive load is also an important aspect. People might hesitate to start filling in a survey if they don’t know how long it might take them. They might also hesitate if they don’t know how many questions there are. We recommend including information at the start of your survey, stating:

• how many questions there are in the survey
• how long you estimate it will take to fill in the survey

For example, you could write: “There are between 10 and 15 questions in this survey. We expect it will take you between 20 and 30 minutes to fill in the survey.”

Some people might need a time of reflection before answering certain questions.

There are platforms where people can save their progress. They get a unique number so their response is still anonymous. These often have a cost. You should also avoid any platform where people need to log in to save their progress. This will reduce their feeling of being anonymous. There are some other ways you can support people’s access needs.

For example, you could have a read-only version of the survey available. People can click through and have an overview of the whole survey. Of course, since certain answers will lead people to certain follow up questions, this is not a perfect system.

You can also make a Word document available with the questions. This way, people can take their time writing answers. Once they are finished, they can copy paste their answers to the online survey. Or you could provide a contact for them to send the document directly. Of course this will be less anonymous, but for some people it might be an access requirement.

Easy user experience

Not everyone in your workforce will be office-based and with access to a laptop. You need to consider how to support all staff to fill in the survey. This could mean making sure that the survey can be accessed via phone or on a tablet. It could also mean putting a process in place so that people are given the time they need to fill in the survey.