ireckon blog

Surveys limit my thinking

Posted by: Dominique on 7 Oct 2008 @ 9:20 am Category: The Wondrous Wide Web

I was recently filling out a survey on the internet when it occurred to me that these surveys only provided me with a limited selection of answers....Answers created by the creator of the survey as if I were unable to produce an answer on my own.

This outraged me slightly, so I skimmed through until I found a field that I could provide my own comment. I then proceeded to write my comments in the box.

“What hobbies do you take part in?” Ignoring their pre-selectable hobbies, I thought I'd go against the grain and type in “Other: Tennis, Cricket, Recreational boating”. I got mad at myself because I came to another realisation; that I was conforming to the 'survey filling-out culture' where concise simple answers seemed like the only way to go. In a fit of rebellious rage I cleared what I had originally typed and filled in “Surveys can't take away my creativity” and tried to submit my survey (only to be reprimanded for leaving things incomplete). This just added to my frustration so I closed the browser and took an oath never to fill out another autocratic survey again. Now I understand that helpful answers are provided to make the process easier and quicker so people actually take the time to do them, but I prefer quality over quantity. I really do.

After a scotch and some ice cream, things cooled down a little bit and I started thinking about internet surveys and the terrible experience they bring. I remembered my University days of the knowledge management course I took which explored the concept that anecdotes and analogies paint a much more clearer picture than surveys. I thought about it more with a scotch in my hand (there was nothing on TV) and began to agree. I thought about the amount of analogies I spit out everyday. Take this for example: The other day I found myself describing the taste of dip as “It tastes like dirt in a container”. If I had said “Tastes terrible” in true survey-style answering you wouldn't have learned that:

1. The taste of the dip resembled the taste of dirt from the ground

2. I have eaten dirt at one point in my life

I had also heard of multi-million dollar organisations which hire story-telling consultants to gather data from employees to identify the issues within the company. So for instance, instead of asking employees “Rate how happy you are with your job from 1 to 10”, they would ask Tell us a story of a really enjoyable time you had at work and a story that made you want to quit. They would include intricate details that would be left out by the answer '8' which may help to pin-point overlooked issues within the work culture.

With all this cogitation I've decided to use this blog to come up with a prototype survey that may provide quality answers from quality people. The survey needs to have limitless answer space (well close to) and questions must be open ended. Here is a mock example:

Please fill out this survey to the best of your ability. The answers to these questions are completely at your discretion but try to provide more than just a short response. Should you wish to go off on a tangent, please do not be afraid to do so. You may choose to write your name on the survey.

Answer if survey answers were fed / conformed to survey culture
Answer with full freedom

Gender:
Male
Male for the most part

Job Role:
Builder
Builder – But really I just play with concrete all day

What are your work hours:
8:30-5pm
I get paid for 8:30am to 5pm but I'm late for the most part and start at 10am, finish at about 5 still though.

Describe the highlight of your day:
Lunch time
Probably lunch time when we play footy for about 4 hours

Tell us your best work story:
We covered Mark, in concrete and then rolled him in sand.
We covered Mark, in concrete and then rolled him in sand. It was great because he couldn't see for 2 days.

What was the greatest thing your boss ever said to you:
Well done.
Well done... you broke it again. You are a terrible worker, if I could fire you now I would.

I'll leave it to you to compare the monumental gaps between conventional surveys and my prototype. Let me know what you think.

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