Government Surveys - Joined up research in the corridors of power
May 2001
Over the years, Snap has become the system of choice for many diverse government organizations and public sector bodies. Here, we spotlight two different government agencies that have found Snap to be of particular benefit.
These days, public policy decisions, financial decisions and the activities that put these into practice are subjected to far greater scrutiny. There is a heightened awareness of the need for public consultation and public accountability. Surveys play a vital and increasingly important role in establishing facts and providing evidence to support these endeavours.
Given the scale of the activities of most government agencies and organizations, communication is everything
Given the scale of the activities of most government agencies and organizations, communication is everything. Especially with today's intranets within agencies and the widespread use of Internet websites for the public to use, surveys are one of the few genuinely accountable and cost effective means to ensure that the information flows in both directions.
Increasingly, government bodies and agencies are attracted to Snap's integrated Internet capabilities that allow surveys to be conducted on the web or intranets and e-mail. Unlike other Internet survey solutions, Snap web surveys are just one of five integrated interviewing methods: Snap also offers complete solutions for traditional paper and pencil surveys, handheld interviewing, telephone interviewing and paper-based scanning within the same package.
Case study 1: Snap makes staff consultation more representative at DfEE
The Employment Service is the UK government's administrative agency responsible for the nation's extensive network of Jobcentres, as well a wide range of services to those seeking employment and to employers. With such a highly dispersed workforce, Occupational Psychology Division (OPD) at the Employment Service's Sheffield head office has found quick turnaround surveys to be a reliable and valued method of consulting staff on matters such as equal opportunities or performing employee satisfaction monitoring.
Originally, all surveys were 'pencil and paper' or telephone-based, but over the past two years, the part of OPD serving DfEE (Department for Education and Employment) has migrated to e-mail and web-based surveys for the majority of its consultation exercises. It acquired Snap as a part of a strategy to increase operational efficiency and modernize its survey activities.
Response rates have increased from around 40% to between 60% to 80% using either e-mail or web surveys on DfEE's intranet
Rhodri Rowlands, the Survey Administrator responsible for day to day use of Snap, reports that response rates have increased from around 40% to between 60% to 80% using either e-mail or web surveys on DfEE's intranet. The success he attributes to a combination of factors. E-mailing reminders to those who have not returned a questionnaire has helped and is easy to do with Snap. Rhodri has also noticed a marked improvement in response after deciding to remove an option to print out and complete the questionnaire on paper.
He reports: "I find Snap easy, but teaching new people depends on how familiar they are with IT. It helps if you know a little beyond just Word or Excel. But I've never gone on a course or had any formal Snap training. I find the user guide very clear and easy to understand."
Rhodri has learned many tricks by trial and error - though fortunately not serious error. For example, people liked to write a lot in response to open-ended questions, but he was finding these were often truncated on the web surveys before discovering the option to increase the capacity of the box.
OPD has also encouraged clients to move away from designing web questionnaires as if they are on paper. The department now works with internal clients to ensure questions are appropriate for the technology, when designing a new survey.
"...it takes only half a day to a day to prepare a questionnaire with anything from 30 to 60 questions."
"To some extent, you need to be aware of how Snap works. These days, we have made our questionnaires more 'Snap friendly'. This means it takes only half a day to a day to prepare a questionnaire with anything from 30 to 60 questions."
The results are not just a healthy response rate to their surveys. "We have had positive feedback on the fast turnaround from customers in DfEE. More and more people seem to like their surveys being on the intranet. We are getting more repeat business and many customers want their surveys on the web or by e-mail now."
Snap Survey Software boxCase study 2: Snap is the watchdog's eyes at the National Audit Office
There can be few more high profile uses of Snap than at the UK's National Audit Office, where reports, especially those perceived as critical, receive massive coverage in the press. The NAO exists to scrutinize public expenditure and ensure that public funds are spent wisely.
"...Our report on the Millennium Dome received a lot of attention, as did the reports on obesity and on hospital acquired infections..."
Alison Langham, Principal Auditor in NAO's Statistical and Technical team comments: "We get a lot more press coverage these days. Our report on the Millennium Dome received a lot of attention, as did the reports on obesity and on hospital acquired infections, which sparked off a debate about dirty hospitals in the press."
NAO produces approximately 50 reports every year, about 30 of which involve surveys and data collection. Some of the work is outsourced, but in a typical year, half will be done in-house - the majority using Snap. Enormous care goes into ensuring the accuracy and reliability of these surveys.
For Alison, this rigor starts with the design of the questionnaire and the wording of the questions. "We are strict here and have set objectives to research. We need to design the questions to get the kinds of evidence we are seeking. Snap forces you down a route of more structured questionnaires with fewer open-ended questions, which makes our surveys a bit tighter."
"We rely on the software to be accurate. I use Snap because it is very simple to use, quick to get the survey set up and it is easy to do the data input..."
"We rely on the software to be accurate. I use Snap because it is very simple to use, quick to get the survey set up and it is easy to do the data input because there are four or five different modes. As you get used to one survey and build up a bit of speed, you can switch to one of the faster modes."
Some basic analysis is then performed using the Snap cross-tab tool. More advanced statistical analysis is then carried out in SPSS, after passing through Snap's export facility. This saves Alison and her team a lot of time and eliminates any programming errors.
Alison is hoping for more time savings as she starts trials of Snap's Internet capabilities. A major benefit will be cutting out manual data entry, though she sees the speed and the ability to boost response by sending reminders as other benefits. "We don't do a lot of surveys with the general public. Our surveys are generally cross-government at chief executive level. They tend to be more fact-finding missions, which is why they will suit that medium."
NAO has used Snap for many years now on an enormous variety of surveys, including internal staff surveys, and has built up a wealth of experience with the software.
Alison concludes: "Snap is excellent for surveys where there are a lot of closed questions. We have not found too many things where Snap cannot cope - this tends to be ones where we are trying to do very long surveys with a lot of open ended questions."
Conclusion
The kinds of research done by government agencies and departments does not differ greatly from market research or customer satisfaction activities by other enterprises. But accuracy and efficiency are even more at a premium. Human resources are often stretched and must be maximized. If software is to be used in the survey process, it must bring about dramatic savings in effort and time, while guaranteeing accuracy and reliability.
Snap consistently performs well in situations where people are not IT specialists, allowing them to automate all of the tedious and time-consuming research tasks, providing more time for analysis and interpretation of the results. It can improve response rates dramatically, and add valuable rigor to the research process, improving the focus of the results, as can be seen at both DfEE and the National Audit Office.
For selection committees responsible for choosing software or reviewing tenders, it is always a case of balancing the capabilities of the package with its ease of use for non-technical users and its cost. So often, the ideal solution is also the least affordable.
With Snap's easy-to-use interface, its vast array of features and its simple, low cost price structure, it comes as a relief to decision makers to know that, in one one package, they are adopting both the best and the least expensive solution.
Snap offers the perfect way to ensure best value from your joined up research.