You want to conduct a survey of your professional network. How can you ensure the results are reliable?

4 Test your survey

Before launching your survey, it's important to test it thoroughly to ensure that it works properly and delivers the expected results. You can do this yourself or ask a few colleagues or friends to try it out and give you feedback. When testing, you should check the length and duration of the survey, making sure it's as short and concise as possible without compromising the quality of the data. Additionally, you should make sure that the survey is easy to navigate, load, and submit. Lastly, review your questions carefully to ensure they are clear, relevant, unbiased, and aligned with your goals. You can also use progress bars or indicators to show respondents how much they have done and how much is left.

5 Distribute your survey

When you have your survey ready, you need to decide how to distribute it to your professional network. You can use email, social media, web links, or QR codes. However, there are several factors to consider for successful survey distribution. Timing and frequency should be based on when your respondents are most likely to open and respond to it. Avoid sending surveys too often or too close together as this might reduce the response rate and data quality. Incentives or rewards can motivate respondents, such as discounts, vouchers, or freebies. Send reminders or follow-ups but not too many or too soon as this might annoy them or make them feel pressured. Personalization and segmentation of the survey should be tailored to the respondents' profile, preferences, and behavior. Use their name, title, or company to address them personally and make them feel valued. Segmentation can target specific groups or segments of your network based on their characteristics or interests.

6 Analyze your data

After collecting your data, you need to analyze it and interpret it to draw meaningful conclusions and insights. Depending on the platform and tool you use, you may have access to features and functions that help with visualization, filtering, and manipulation. However, regardless of the tool, it is important to clean your data by removing any incomplete, duplicate, or invalid responses that could affect the reliability and validity of your data. Additionally, you should check for any outliers or anomalies that could skew your results. To summarize your data, use descriptive statistics such as mean, median, mode, frequency, or percentage. You can also use charts, graphs, or tables to display your data in a clear and concise way. To interpret your data, use inferential statistics such as correlation, regression or hypothesis testing. Additionally, use qualitative methods such as coding, categorizing or thematic analysis to interpret open-ended responses and identify the main themes and insights. By following these best practices when conducting a survey of your professional network, you can gain a deeper understanding of your audience and improve your offerings while enhancing your reputation.

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?