Online Surveys for Language Teachers

A survey is an investigation into the opinions and experiences of a group of people — the target — done by asking them a series of standardized questions — the questionnaire. Surveys are useful for gathering research and ideas on a specific topic. They may be online, through a website, or paper-based. On this page we look at online surveys.

A few reasons why TEFL teachers and other personnel might need to conduct surveys:

• to compile research for a presentation (at a conference, for example)
• to find data and opinions to support an idea for a TEFL course paper, project, article or blog post
• to discover how teaching styles and methods are changing (for professional development)
• to gather research that can be used for ELT materials (publishers/writers/webmasters)
• to receive feedback and suggestions from students or parents
• to offer students a model for writing their own surveys

What's the difference between a poll and a survey? Essentially, a poll is a "quick survey", answering only one question. A survey can answer more questions in more depth.

Survey Design

The key to a successful survey is preparation and careful planning. Time taken at the design stage will help to ensure the maximum number of responses and meaningful results.

The Survey Questionnaire

Survey websites make it easy to create online surveys, get responses and analyse results. Paper-based surveys involve more work yet still have their place. But the effectiveness of any survey depends to a large extent on the quality of its questionnaire. Whether online or offline, writing an effective survey questionnaire takes thought and planning. For best results, survey questionnaires should:

• be designed with a specific purpose in mind
• use the simplest language possible
• be as concise as possible

A survey can ask questions in several different formats:

• Closed-ended Questions
  These have pre-defined answer choices and can range from two answer choices to many answer choices. They include:
  • Yes/No
  • Multiple choice (one answer only)
  • Multiple choice (more than one answer possible)
  • Matrix
  • Ranked
• Open-ended Questions
  These allow respondents to answer in their own words, from as short as a comment to as long as an essay.

Survey Do's

Observing these simple quidelines will help ensure that your respondents understand your survey requirements and complete it as accurately and fully as possible.

Do define your objective

• Before you write the survey, ask yourself why you are conducting the research. Try to narrow your objective down to one main point. Write one line explaining this objective and use it in your intro. In your intro you should also provide simple information about how and where your research will be used and presented. As you write the survey, be sure that each question relates to your objective.

Do know your target

• You may not be able to control exactly who takes your online survey, but if your objective is defined you should have a target group in mind. For best results, notify your target respondents ahead of time about the upcoming survey.

Do give your survey a good title

• Use strong keywords and simple language. A good title will attract respondents with strong ties to your subject.

Do provide simple instructions

• In one or two lines, respondents should be able to know exactly how to complete your survey. Include a cut-off date.

Do write objective questions

• Make sure you remain neutral as you write the questions.

Do use simple language

• Use the simplest wording possible for the instructions, questions, statements and choices in your survey.

Do use mainly closed-ended questions

• Closed-ended questions provide options for respondents to choose from. People are more likely to complete a survey in full if it contains mainly closed-ended questions. These questions require less time to complete. They also make it easier for you to analyse and present your findings.
• Open-ended questions are useful for gathering information about something that you have very little background on. If you're looking for good ideas rather than statistical data, use more open-ended questions.
• You can always provide an extra text box or make your contact information available for those who want to share more information with you.

Do be consistent

• Numbers should be in ranges.
• Verbs should be parallel in form.
• Punctuation and capitalization should be uniform.
• All choices in one question should be similar in length.

Do consider how long respondents should spend on your survey

• How much time would you be willing to spend filling out a survey questionnaire for a colleague, friend or researcher? Consider this when you decide how many questions to include.

Do think about the order of your questions.

• Group all questions on similar topics.
• Put the most interesting questions first.

Do include appropriate ranges and rankings in a logical order

• Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree
• Poor, Satisfactory, Good, Excellent
• Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, Always
• Less than once a week, Once a week, Several times a week, Once a day

Do include enough choices

• Respondents should always feel that at least one choice is applicable.

Do consider the look and feel of your survey

• The instructions should be easy to find.
• The basic font should be large enough to read.
• There should be a nice balance of text and white space.
• Ads or other distractions should be minimal.

Do test your survey before you publish

• Find a few people who are willing to take your survey. Ask for feedback.
• Do have someone proofread your survey. Typos will turn off your respondents.

Survey Don'ts

Observing these simple quidelines will help ensure that your respondents understand your survey requirements and complete it as accurately and fully as possible.

Don't request unneeded personal information

• If age, income and location aren't essential, skip this type of question. If you need these questions for statistical purposes, place them near the end.
• Make sure that respondents know that their private information will not be shared.

Don't ask leading questions

• Respondents shouldn't feel as though a specific question has a right or best response.
• Review the wording of each question to confirm that you are not hoping or expecting to receive a certain answer.
• The tone should be neutral.

Don't write questions with double negatives

• Respondents should not have to read the question twice. Any question or statement with a double negative can lead to confusion. This type of distraction often leads to respondents quitting the survey.

Don't mix topics in a question

• Make sure that your respondents know exactly what they are responding about. For example, do NOT ask: "Is it more difficult to teach small class sizes, or do you find multi-level classes more challenging?"

Don't include too many choices

• 5 choices per closed-ended question is acceptable.
• 3 choices may provide you with stronger data than 5 in some cases.
• Make it clear at the outset whether or not respondents can choose more than one option.

Don't expect too much from your respondents

• Don't ask them to recall information from long ago.
• Don't ask them to remember small details or names.

Don't include two choices that look very similar

• Respondents may choose the wrong choice accidentally.

Don't include too many neutral opinion choices

• Questions that include neutral choices such as "don't know","undecided" or "no opinion" should be limited.
• A middle option can be useful for factual questions, but is not helpful for research about attitudes and opinions.

Don't leave your respondents hanging

• When you have had time to review the results of your survey, take the time to present and share them. This can be in a blog post, an email, a newsletter, an infographic, or a special note on your website. Don't forget to thank the respondents! And the next time someone asks you to respond to a survey, don't turn a blind eye. If you have valuable feedback or ideas to offer the researcher, take the time to respond.

Survey Analysis

When you have gathered enough responses to meet your objective, or your survey deadline has arrived, close the survey and begin analysing your data.

Getting Organised

Choose a method for note taking
If you're taking notes on your computer, use the same title as the survey so that your document is easy to find. You may need a text document and a spreadsheet if you're planning on taking detailed notes.

Count and note the number of surveys that were collected
If you only received a small handful of surveys, you may not receive enough data to meet your objective. You may need to redistribute your survey at another time. Think about alternative methods that will allow you to reach a larger group of people. If you think you received enough completed surveys, include this number in your description when you share the results.

Give each survey a unique identifier number
Numbering the surveys will make it easier on you when you are analysing and comparing the data. Online survey sites may do this for you automatically.

Discard invalid data
Some respondents will undoubtedly skip questions or fill the survey out incorrectly. The responses may also be illegible. You may still be able to use some of the data from these surveys. Here are some reasons to discard data:

• More than one answer was checked when only one response was requested
• A question is missed or skipped
• A page is missed or skipped
• A circle covers two responses (treat as unanswered)

Prioritize the data 
Review all of the questions again, and highlight the following:

• Which responses are most important to you?
• Which responses are most important to your participants/audience?

Analysing the Data

Review the data with your objective in mind
Did you meet your objective? Do you need to do further research to meet your objective?

Take notes
Review each survey individually. Write a note for yourself about any of the responses that were surprising, interesting, useful, controversial, etc. Start thinking about that data that will be interesting or useful for your participants, customers, or audience. Review the surveys again after you've read each one individually. Summarize the results in your own words.

Get a second opinion
You may want to invite a neutral observer to review the results and provide an objective analysis. Those with an understanding of statistics may decide to organise the data in spreadsheets for a detailed analysis.

Create data filters
Filtering allows you to look at data in subsets. You can analyse responses for certain groups, or review overall results next to filtered results. If you used an online survey site, this can usually be done quite easily.

Plan a course of action
Do you need to take any immediate action? What changes could be made over time? Plan a course of action, if you want to make some changes based on the results of your survey.

Sharing the Results of Your Survey

It's up to you which results you choose to present. Depending on the size and scope of your survey, you may not be able to share all of the results. Some results may not be of interest to your audience. Do your best not to introduce a bias by only showing positive results or results that you expected.

Presentation of Results

Description
Write a short description of your survey. Keep in mind that some people who are reviewing the results may not have participated in the survey. Include the title of the survey, as well as some brief information about where and when it was distributed and how many surveys were collected.

Share all of the results
Some online survey sites provide you with graphical visuals that you can share. If you don't have a lot of questions, you can share all of the results. Make sure that you do not include any sensitive or private data.

Share a summary of the results
You may also be able to choose a "summary" option if you are using a survey program or online tool. The system will automatically create a summary of the results that you can share. This is a good option if you think your audience will be more interested in browsing some quick points rather than using your results for their own research.

Chart individual responses
Choose the most interesting or relevant questions and share the results from these questions. Use a visual representation, such as a pie chart or bar graph to present the most interesting or relevant results.

Highlight important comparisons
Are there any interesting or surprising comparisons that you can share based on the survey results? If you choose to include demographic information, be sure that the identity of your survey respondents is kept confidential.

Conclude
Write a short concluding statement about the survey. Go back to the summary that you wrote after you analysed the data. At this time you may also want to thank the respondents once again for taking part in the survey. You could also leave room for comments. Provide contact information if you are interested in collecting more data related to the topic of your survey.

How to Share Results with your Audience

There are a variety of ways you can share your survey results:

• by email
• in a newsletter
• on a special page on your website
• via your social media networks
• on your blog
• verbally in a presentation or meeting