"Surveys are a popular tool for collecting feedback from donors and program participants. Inexpensive and easy to send, they're a visible way to engage constituents and signal an openness to outside ideas. But there's a major caveat: While well-designed surveys can uncover useful insights to inform organizational strategy, poorly written questionnaires produce misleading or incomplete data. If you don't understand their limitations, relying on survey results to drive program decisions can be risky."
"Due to time, access, or cost considerations, not every person surveyed will respond. Analysts draw conclusions based on the portion of the population that completes the survey - in other words, a sample. The challenge is that the sample may not be representative of the entire community, which can cause what is known as sample bias. For example, imagine you lead a nonprofit that wants to start an after-school tutoring program for local students."
Surveys are inexpensive, easy to send, and visibly engage donors and participants. Well-designed surveys can uncover useful insights to inform organizational strategy, while poorly written questionnaires produce misleading or incomplete data. Survey results require understanding of limitations before using them to drive program decisions. Proper survey methodology and avoiding common pitfalls improves questionnaires and yields valuable program insights. Targeted marketing plans help ensure the respondent sample represents the population and reduces sample bias. Over- or underrepresentation of demographic groups skews results and can leave key perspectives undercounted. Omitting demographic questions can prevent analysts from detecting bias.
Read at Chronicle of Philanthropy
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