In order to produce quality surveys, there are four key stages to the design process. When each of these stages are thoroughly executed, a company can be sure to expect meaningful results from their surveys that can ultimately lead to better business decisions. The planning and scoping stage is arguably the most important, because this is where the framework for the survey is planned out. Here, a company determines what the goal of the survey is and how this will be achieved. The second stage, the authoring stage, is all about writing corresponding questions that will lead to these goals.
The next two stages are all about releasing the survey to the public and then analyzing the resulting data. After fielding some initial responses, it is important to make sure that the survey is delivering the essential information from the target respondents. If not, it is early in the fielding stage that any tweaks must be made.
Once a significant amount of responses are collected, that is when some data analysis can be conducted. A great way to draw conclusions is to turn the data into a visual format. Line, bar, and pie charts each are equipped to focus on different types of trends, but all three can be extremely helpful.
