How do you design a tenant safety survey that covers all the essential aspects?

1 Define your goals

Before you create your survey, you need to define what you want to achieve with it. What are the main safety issues or concerns that you want to address? How will you use the feedback from your tenants to improve your property and services? How will you measure the success of your survey? Having clear and specific goals will help you focus your survey questions and avoid irrelevant or redundant ones.

2 Choose your format

Next, you need to decide how you will deliver your survey to your tenants. There are different formats you can choose from, such as paper, online, phone, or in-person. Each format has its advantages and disadvantages, depending on your budget, time, resources, and tenant preferences. For example, paper surveys are cheap and easy to distribute, but they may have low response rates and require manual data entry. Online surveys are convenient and fast, but they may exclude tenants who do not have internet access or are not comfortable with technology. Phone surveys are personal and interactive, but they may be intrusive and costly. In-person surveys are engaging and detailed, but they may be time-consuming and biased. You should weigh the pros and cons of each format and choose the one that suits your needs and goals best.

3 Design your questions

The questions you ask your tenants are the most important part of your survey. To ensure clarity, relevance, and impartiality, use simple and direct language that your tenants can understand. Closed-ended questions with a limited number of options or scales will make the survey easier to complete and analyze. Open-ended questions should be used sparingly for more detailed or specific feedback. Avoid leading, loaded, or double-barreled questions that may influence or distort responses. Group your questions into logical categories or sections that correspond to your goals and aspects of tenant safety.

4 Test your survey

Before you launch your survey, you should test it with a small sample of your tenants or other people who can give you honest and constructive feedback. Testing your survey will help you check for any errors, ambiguities, or gaps in your questions, as well as the length, layout, and functionality of your survey. You should also test your survey on different devices and platforms to ensure that it works properly and consistently. Based on the feedback and results from your test, you should revise and refine your survey as needed.

5 Distribute your survey

Once your survey is ready, you need to distribute it to your tenants and encourage them to participate. You should inform your tenants about the purpose and goals of your survey, how long it will take to complete, how their responses will be used and protected, and what incentives or rewards they will receive for completing it. You should also provide clear and easy instructions on how to access and submit your survey, as well as contact information in case they have any questions or issues. You should choose a suitable time and frequency to send your survey, depending on your format and goals. You should also follow up with reminders and thank-you messages to increase your response rates and show your appreciation.

6 Analyze your results

After you collect your responses, you need to analyze them to draw meaningful insights and conclusions. You should use appropriate tools and methods to organize, summarize, and visualize your data, depending on your format and goals. You should look for patterns, trends, and outliers in your data, as well as compare and contrast different groups or segments of your tenants. You should also evaluate the reliability and validity of your data, as well as the limitations and challenges of your survey. You should use your results to answer your research questions and achieve your goals.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?