Business Association: Survey Design Instructions
Objective: The key to developing a good survey is to keep it short while ensuring that you capture all of the information that you need. Before you begin scripting your survey, you should develop a set of objectives for your research and list out the information that you are trying to capture. This will help you decide which question sets (please refer to Question Bank excel spreadsheets) to use.
Once you have selected your question sets, you can use your objectives to go back through the questions and determine if each of the question set is providing you with information that you need. Any question that is not providing necessary information should be removed.
[Insert Survey Introduction]
Clearly state your intentions with the research. At the top of your survey, write a brief statement explaining why you are collecting the information and reassure each respondent that the information is entirely anonymous and/or confidential. Below is the survey introduction exemplar that you can use as a guideline.
Survey layout: Present the questions in a clean and organised layout. A clean layout will make it much simpler for people to respond to the questions and for you to collect the data. Insert the selected questions from each question set under one sub-heading / sub-category to create better flow.
[Insert Screener Question]
For those who are business owners and/or managers, please direct them toa survey with questions from the Business Question Bank. Those who are property owners, please direct them to a survey with questions from the Property Owner Question Bank.
[Insert Demographic]
The questions from the demographic question set will allow you to capture background information about the business or property owner. This information can be used to update your BID database but also be used to analyse the gathered survey feedback to see whether there are any patterns or trends via business size, location, duration, etc.
[Insert Issues & Opportunities]
The questions from the issues and opportunities question set will allow you to capture feedback from businesses or property owners on the opportunities and challenges facing the area.
[Insert Priorities]
The questions from the priorities question set will allow you to gather feedback on what can be done to make the area a more desirable location from the business or property owner’s point of view.
[Insert BID Performance]
The questions from the priorities question set will allow you to gather feedback on awareness around the BID, level of interest in joining the BID as well as awareness around the different services and programmes offered by the BID.
[Insert Communication]
The questions from the communication question set will allow you find out what kind of communication methods or channels businesses or property owners are aware of and/or currently receive as well as how they would like to be kept informed in the future.
Incentive Details: If any incentives are being offered to those who have completed the survey, please remember to outline the incentive details and also ask for their contact details.
Privacy Disclaimer: Please outline the appropriate privacy disclaimers if asking for the participant’s personal contact details. Please note, the privacy disclaimer below on anonymity only applies if the survey is being conducted by an independent third party (e.g., independent research consultancy).
Conclusion. Please thank the participants for their feedback and, if possible, mention the next steps that will be taken with the collected feedback.