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Janurary 5, 2006
Special Report:

Nonprofits Using Online Survey For Greater Response

At one time or another, every student has been returned a paper torn asunder by swaths of red ink with the resulting scarlet grade printed for all to see. The size of the letter grade proves one thing clear: Teachers love to give feedback.

For the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) in Alexandria, Va., that feedback is more than welcome. The nonprofit education association is comprised of the whole spectrum of members from grades K-12, from teachers, principals, assistant principals, superintendents, office administrators, all the way to professors of education and graduate students.

ASCD utilizes online surveys to conduct its conference evaluations. Approximately a week to two weeks after members have attended a conference, they are asked for feedback, including topics they would like to see in the future. The survey includes logistical issues, for example questions about the convention center and shuttle buses.

The group also uses online surveys for strategic studies to find out what is going on in school systems and how it can develop products and services to meet specific needs.

The online surveys cover more than what has transpired, it’s also forward-thinking, according to Joanne Arnold, marketing information manager at ASCD. “The segment size surveyed depends on the size of your organization,” Arnold said. “We’re a membership organization with over 170,000 paid members. You don’t have to send an online survey to everybody for it to be statistically significant. You can send it out to 6,000 valid email addresses and if you get 1,500 back that’s more than enough to make some projections.”

The organization has migrated from direct mail, paper-based surveys. Since the majority of its surveys are now done online, the ASCD has realized more rapid responses and reduced mailing and supply costs, Arnold added.

ASCD uses two methods to construct its online surveys. For smaller, less complicated surveys, say 1,000 members, Arnold will utilize software from vendor WebSurveyor. It takes one day for Arnold to construct and send out a smaller survey. More involved online polls such as the annual conference evaluation, are handled through an outside vendor.

“Overall, our response rate is high and I think that has a lot to do with our audience,” Arnold said. “We recently did an evaluation of our annual conference and we got a nearly 50 percent response rate. But on average, I’d say 30 to 40 percent (response), which is far better than you get for paper surveys. In the old days of paper we’d get 20 to 25 percent and now we see 40 to 50 percent online. I can say assuredly, that we’ve seen at least a 50 percent increase in responses with the move to online surveys.”

Arnold said she believes that it is important to include a good mix of queries, so ASCD surveys include both close-ended and open-ended questions. The organization not only asks for a person’s overall rating but to also explain their rating. An open-ended comment section provides a wealth of information that you could never capture with a close-ended question, Arnold added. An online survey will include three or four open-ended questions and about 15 close-ended questions.

When the surveys are sent to the email addresses of opt-in members, ASCD will give people two to three weeks to respond. Surveys are usually sent out on a Tuesday since research show that Tuesday is the best day to send them out, Arnold said. A follow-up message is sent out to non-responders on Friday and then the following Thursday. Since the poll is conducted online, responses can be tracked in real time.

Since associations have a built-in audience of members that have a vested interest in what the organization is trying to accomplish, online surveys make an effective and time saving tool, according to Arnold.

“It’s important to give members feedback on the information they’ve provided, Arnold explained. “Members like to see how you use the results and by closing that loop, it will encourage higher responses in the future.”

The Association of Fundraising Professionals ( AFP ) first conducted its salary survey online in 2003. Since then it has seen response rates of 25 percent, 30 percent, and 22 percent in 2005. The AFP ’s State of Fundraising Survey regularly hovers between 10 to 11 percent response, a figure that has been prodded through the use of incentives.

“Obviously they get access to the State of Fundraising report but they also have had the incentive of winning items, such as digital cameras or DVD players,” explained Cathy Williams, vice president for education and research at the Alexandria, Va.-headquartered AFP . “This past year we gave the winner the opportunity to choose the item from three consumer products options. In 2000, when we first sent the questions out without an incentive, the responses were trickling in. We quickly offered an incentive and that pumped up the responses. We’ll look at the survey and tailor the incentive to it.”

Surveys will go out to approximately 3,000 members and despite giving members two weeks to respond, the AFP generally receives most of its responses within 48 hours of sending out the email, Williams said. After two weeks, the multiple-choice questions are already systematized and one week is allocated for the analysis of any open-ended questions. The organization has chart and graph capabilities with its software and one person handles the tabulation.

“We’ll also do our overall conference evaluation online,” Williams added. “We get a better response than having attendees try and fill out evaluation forms on-site because people usually want to run off after a session and leave the forms behind on a chair.”