Our Survey Industry Is In Need of a Facelift
Declining response rates, missing and ambiguous data, biased samples – these are just a few of the challenges faced by survey professionals that undermine the quality and usefulness of the many surveys that are used to make decisions about our quality of life. Complicating the work of survey professionals are the many transformations that are taking place in our nation, including the growth of the non-English speaking population, displacement of landlines with cell phones, government regulations that limit the use of telephone surveys, and call blocking technology that makes it easier for consumers to reject unwanted telephone calls.
Many of the challenges faced by survey practitioners, however, are a direct consequence of long-standing survey industry practices that unnecessarily compromise the quality and representativeness of survey data. For example:
- English-only Surveys: Respondents are usually provided only one language option to complete a survey – usually English – which excludes people who cannot read, write or speak English very well from participating in a survey. Our experience shows that 2 in 3 U.S. Latino adults prefer a Spanish-language interview, while nearly 8 in 10 U.S. Asian adults prefer a native-language interview. When language options other than English are not provided to respondents, response rates decline, and data quality suffers because comprehension of the questions being asked is less than ideal.
- Single-Mode Surveys: Only one mode of data collection is usually offered to survey respondents – either telephone, mail or online — which prevents many people from completing a survey because they lack reading or writing skills, have hearing or visual impairments, lack access to the Internet or get anxious when using it, or simply do not have a telephone. Indeed, offering a survey respondent only one mode to share their opinions can be counter-productive.
- Biased Sampling Frames or Lists: All sampling frames have recognized limitations that are often overlooked by survey practitioners. From a scientific point of view, the ideal sampling frame is a complete listing of persons or households that is inclusive of all members of the target community. Traditional sampling frames, however, fall far short of this ideal. For example, lists of landline telephone households tend to over-represent older residents and homeowners; online panels tend to over-represent whites, the more educated, younger and higher income residents, but tend to exclude immigrants, the lower income, Latinos, Asians and African Americans. Online panels may be cost effective and useful for national polling; however, online panels are not ideal sampling frames when conducting local studies of multicultural populations.
In the long run, these practices tend to make traditional surveys less accurate and representative of communities, leading to incorrect decisions regarding programs and policies that impact our quality of life. It is especially troubling that the opinions of certain segments of society are excluded because our survey industry has been slow to change its practices and adapt to the many transformations that are taking place in our nation.
There is a Better Alternative
SERENITY® is a unique multi-modal, multilingual survey response system that was designed by Dr. Edward T. Rincon. Dr. Rincon developed this patent-pending system based on his past 36 years of survey research experience in diverse communities as a solution to the recognized limitations of traditional survey practices. SERENITY® is effective in guiding a survey project through the critical steps of initial diagnostics, research design, implementation, and outcomes – assuring improved data quality and demographic representation by providing such features as:
- A detailed sampling plan developed by a qualified sampling statistician that ensures the proper representation of the target community;
- A recommendation for the right mix of incentives to encourage survey participation among diverse groups;
- Expanded choices to survey respondents in terms of data collection, such as multiple language options and multiple mode choices (i.e., mail, online, telephone) to survey respondents;
- Expert questionnaire design that removes labels or phrases that create confusion or discomfort among survey respondents; and
- Analytic reports that translate survey findings to actionable decision-making for programs and policies.
SERENITY® has been shown to be an excellent solution in past studies that involved high-stakes decisions, such as a study of U.S. multicultural consumers for a global automotive manufacturer, a state-wide study of energy efficiency among homeowners, a state-wide court-ordered study evaluating the communicative needs of Medicaid participants, and a marketing study for one of the largest urban hospitals in the U.S. These clients have experienced improvements in sales, survey response rates, data quality, and inclusion of groups that are typically under-represented using traditional survey practices.
To learn more about SERENITY,® we invite you to click on the following link to view an 8-minute presentation about this system. http://youtu.be/83H6PPgXLBI
To discuss how SERENITY® can improve the quality of your next survey research project, contact Dr. Edward T. Rincon at 214-750-3800.