What’s the easiest and most cost-effective way to administer a survey? If you’re
polling employees it’s probably email. If you’re polling business customers it might be the
Web. If you’re at a remote site or you’re dealing with consumers, you’ll probably need
good old paper surveys. Maybe a combination of methods would work best, but you sure don’t want
to have to invest in different systems to handle each type of survey.
SurveyTracker Plus Email/Web and Remark Web Survey/Office OMR are two solutions that give you a single
platform that will process and analyze both electronic and paper surveys. Both are built on the
foundation of OMR (optical mark recognition) technology, so they’re best suited to handling
yes-no, either-or, multiple-choice, multiple-response and scale-based questions and rankings. They
give you everything you need to automate surveys, tests, questionnaires, reply cards and other
evaluations.
At a Glance
Product: SurveyTracker Plus Email/Web Vendor: National Computer Systems (NCS), Edina, MN, 612-830-7600 Description: Complete survey system that lets you combine Web, email, paper,
network, disk and kiosk collection techniques. Strengths: Extensive support material and optional industry- and
application-specific survey modules. Lets you track and control distribution
and response with lists of up to 1.6 million names. Software aids survey planning
and statistical analysis. Weaknesses: Paper automation requires OMR scanner and blank or pre-printed
OMR forms supplied by NCS. Lacks key-from-image entry of text-based responses on
paper surveys. Price: $7,995 (higher for 101+ email participants); $395 for industry-
and application-specific modules.
SurveyTracker Plus Email/Web from NCS (www.ncs.com) is the more comprehensive of the
two packages. Priced at $7,995, it handles paper and Web-based forms as well as email,
disk-distributed and kiosk-based surveys. The system also gives you plenty of help with the process
and science of developing and conducting surveys.
No matter how you distribute the surveys, the
SurveyTracker system uses the same design approach and simple one-, two- and three-letter code scheme
to format the text, questions and answer options on a survey questionnaire. If you have pre-existing
surveys, you can import them and tag them with the same codes. Once the survey is completed, you can
prepare it for any of the available delivery methods within minutes.
To post to the Web, SurveyTracker Plus Email/Web converts the form to HTML so your Web administrator
can place it online. Email surveys can be delivered as attachments or within the text of the email
itself (for non-Windows computers). Whether you choose Web or email, responses can be collected as
emails or as comma-delimited files, and you analyze results in much the same way.
Automating paper surveys requires an OMR scanner and special paper — both supplied by NCS. (This
is a key difference with the Remark system, which lets you use plain paper and an ordinary document
scanner). The forms have special OMR timing marks printed along the side, and they range in cost from
7 cents each ($34.85 for a standard pack of 500 forms) down to 4 cents each ($22.10 per pack for 151+
standard packs).
The forms designer built into SurveyTracker Plus lets you print out your survey on the blank OMR paper
using an ordinary laser printer. Alternatively, NCS can supply pre-formatted or custom-printed
questionnaires. The latter cost roughly 5 cents each and make sense when you conducting large, formal
surveys.
Those who are scientific about surveys want rigorous control over distribution and tracking, so
SurveyTracker lets you incorporate audience lists of up to 1.6 million names. You can perform mail or
email merges on the front end and then track individual or overall responses on the back end using
barcodes (on printed forms) or respondent ID numbers (on electronic surveys). In this way, you can
ensure accuracy and statistical validity.
No matter how many distribution methods you use, you can
combine the results for analysis and reporting. There are some differences in data collection,
particularly if you’re asking open-ended questions. SurveyTracker does not support image
scanning, so typed or hand-written responses on paper-based forms have to be keyed from paper. These
fields pose no problem when submitted electronically because the respondents have done the data entry
for you.
SurveyTracker lets you analyze and report results in a number of ways. The analysis can incorporate
all data, or you can filter out or set off subgroups (e.g., males, females, Web responders, those who
said “yes” to question 12, etc.) for special analysis. Reports include tables, graphs,
scorings, rankings, matrices, cross-tabs and distributions. You can also export comma-delimited files
to any spreadsheet, database or statistical software for further analysis.
For many, the hardest part of conducting a survey is organizing the project and developing a
meaningful questionnaire. To meet this challenge, SurveyTracker has a front-end project management
area with tools for planning, scheduling and budgeting a survey project. In addition, NCS offers more
than 20 optional survey modules ($395 each) with canned surveys and questions that can be customized
to your needs.
There are eight industry-specific modules for the financial, medical, lodging, food
service, retail, transportation, education and automotive fields. There are four human resources
modules for assessing employee development, feedback, leadership and training programs. Eight quality
assurance modules measure everything from customer satisfaction and supplier excellence to help-desk
effectiveness and ISO 9000 preparedness. Two marketing modules help you assess market strength and
strategic planning, respectively.
This all adds up to a very complete package with lots of
hand-holding features and options for survey neophytes as well as statistical and list-managment
features for professionals. While you do have to buy an OMR scanner and forms for paper surveys, you
get a broader range of electornic options.
Remark Web Survey from Principia Products (www.principiaproducts.com)
is competitively priced ($349) server software that lets you design and post surveys online. You can
combine it with Remark Office OMR ($449) for a complete paper- and Web-based survey system with
analysis and reporting features.
Principia doesn't offer all the features and optional modules available with the NCS system,
but if you know your way around surveys you might not need this support. In addition to being
less expensive, the Remark solution lets you print surveys on plain paper and automate processing
with an ordinary document scanner. Remark does not support email, kiosk or disk-based delivery,
but completed paper surveys can be faxed in.
At a Glance
Product: Remark Web Survey Vendor: Principia Products, Paoli, PA, 610-647-7850 Description: Web survey software designed to work with Remark Office OMR
for unified processing of Web, fax and paper-based questionnaires. Server requirements: Windows- or Unix-based servers running Perl 5.04.02 or higher. Strengths: Wizard lets you create original Web surveys in minutes. Paper-based
surveys can be converted to HTML without coding. Remark Office OMR lets you print
on ordinary paper and process using standard document scanners. Supports
key-from-image data entry. Weaknesses: Minimal sample, support and instructional material to aid survey
design, statistical sampling and data analysis. Does not support email, disk or
kiosk-based surveys. Price: Remark Web Survey $349; Remark Office OMR $449.
No matter how you distribute, survey analysis and reporting is handled by Remark Office OMR.
This software also lets you create surveys with any combination of OMR, barcode and text fields.
Since paper surveys are processed with ordinary document scanners, the system can zoom in on
image zones to support key-from-image data entry. This is a big advantage if you expect high volumes
of paper-based forms with text or hand-written responses.
The forms you create in Office OMR are easily converted for HTML delivery. Remark Web Survey
also has its own design wizard that lets you create original HTML forms (though you can't convert
them to paper). We used this simple tool to create a test survey within minutes, and we were able to
add design elements such as colors and rules. No matter where you create your surveys,
you won't need to know HTML coding to publish them online.
As with SurveyTracker, Remark Office OMR lets you tally, analyze and filter responses and then report
results with a range of graphing techniques. You can also use password protection (for electronic
surveys) and barcodes (on paper) to control response and prevent multiple entries from the same
respondent. Results can be exported as comma-delimited files to spreadsheets, databases and statistical
analysis tools.
Once you've combined paper and electronic approaches, you'll soon be motivated to collect as many
responses as possible electronically. "People want to get away from paper-based surveys," says Tim
Yuzeitis, director of operations at Quality Surveys, a Big Timber, MT firm that handles customer
satisfaction surveys for companies like McDonalds, SkyTell and Compass Group NA.
Quality Surveys recently conducted a survey using Remark Web Survey and Office OMR. Yuzeitis says
Remark's software was easy to use, and printing costs are low because forms could be mass-produced
on photocopiers. Yuzeitis explains that some companies spend as much as $30,000 on postage for a
single survey.
Web-based forms are more cost effective on the front end, where distribution costs are minimal, and
on the back end, where paper handling and manual data entry is eliminated. But no matter how
quickly you embrace the Web, it's important to be able to process both types of surveys because,
"you wouldn't want to exclude anyone," Yuzeitis says. "Web surveys will become more popular, but
they won't wipe out paper surveys."
