Contact centers frequently choose surveying as the method to collect information from customers or employees. Collecting good, reliable survey information requires that you have a properly designed survey instrument so that every respondent interprets each question the same way and that you have a sufficient sample of respondents for the results to truly represent the overall group.

This series of Customer Surveying Workshops, hosted by The Call Center School and taught by industry expert Fred Van Bennekom, teaches you step-by-step how to build and create a survey program to achieve your contact center research goals. Be sure to check out the bottom of the page for a money-saving discount with the “Learning Bundle” for these Surveying workshops.

-Survey Overview & Project Management
-Questionnaire Design Elements
-The Questionnaire Design Process
-Questionnaire Design Principles
-Survey Question Formats
-Key Elements of Survey Administration
-Survey Data Analysis
-Advanced Survey Data Analysis

Customer Surveying Curriculum:

Survey Overview & Project Management
2012 Dates Coming Soon!

Developing a good survey program requires understanding survey concepts and engaging in good project management.  This course will provide a solid foundation for your survey program. Especially essential is the development of clear objectives for the research program.  Without this, the survey project will likely not achieve your goals.

Seminar attendees will learn to:

• Define the purpose and overall concepts of a survey project.
• Outline key concerns with bias in doing a survey project.
• Define the types of surveys and when to apply each one.
• Develop a clear statement of purpose and set of research objectives for the survey project.
• Ensure the proper resources and skills are available for the project.

An exercise will help build the skills for creating a solid statement of research objectives.

Questionnaire Design Elements
2012 Dates Coming Soon!

This first of four seminars on questionnaire design will consider the various elements that comprise a
questionnaire. In crafting the survey instrument, we have to be cognizant of common concerns when assembling the final survey instrument.

Seminar attendees will learn to:

• Outline the major elements used in a questionnaire, such as introductions, instructions, section headings.
• Define the three categories of survey questions typically used in a survey – demographic, attitudinal, and the core attributes of the process being evaluated – and their proper use.
• Consider the difference between attributes that measure satisfaction versus delight.
• Structure a questionnaire to create a higher survey completion rate.
• Identify techniques and concerns when assembling a questionnaire, such as branching, sequencing, fatigue, routine, and respondent burden

We will also review the results of a second exercise for creating a solid statement of research objectives.

The Questionnaire Design Process
2012 Dates Coming Soon! 

A well-designed, valid questionnaire is most critical to generating actionable data from a survey program.  This second of four seminars on questionnaire design will focus on the process of identifying the questions to pose on the survey.  Many people mistakenly think that designing a questionnaire is a simple process and that questions just magically appear.  This class will present a structured approach to attribute identification to help ensure achieving the research objectives.

Seminar attendees will learn to:

• Outline the steps needed to develop a questionnaire.
• Identify the questions to pose on a survey, in particular the core attributes of the process to be evaluated by the survey
• Incorporate focus groups and other research to identify the questions to ask.
• Value an attribute library as the basis for constructing a questionnaire.
• Recognize the critical value of pilot testing.

Exercises will help develop the skill to identify critical attributes of a process by reviewing commentaries about people’s experiences with an organizational process, which the students will be asked to read prior to the session.

Questionnaire Design Principles
2012 Dates Coming Soon!  

Questionnaire validity means that the survey instrument measures what we’re intending to measure. No part of the surveying process is more critical to achieving this validity than is the crafting of the actual questions. This session will cover critical concerns in drafting questions to avoid instrumentation bias, which compromises validity. We will end with a quick overview of question formats, data types and subsequent analysis.

Seminar attendees will learn to:

• Identify the various types of instrumentation bias.
• Write questions that clearly measure the underlying attribute.

A survey instrument replete with instrumentation biases will serve as the basis for exercise to learn to identify these biases in our own surveys.

Survey Question Formats
2012 Dates Coming Soon! 

To generate the data to answer your research questions, you have to write questions that effectively solicit responses. There are many question formats to consider when building a questionnaire and this seminar will outline the different types of formats, describing the advantages of each along with critical design issues. In particular, we will address the creation of interval-rating scales. The session will end discussing different ways to measure importance of various factors toward driving an outcome such as customer satisfaction.

Seminar attendees will learn to:

• Define the different data types survey questions can generate
• Recognize the impact of question format on data analysis
• Define both unstructured and structured questions.
• Identify ordinal, interval, and ratio scale questions.
• Create scales that measure customer perceptions more accurately.
• Design questions that accurately measure importance.

Key Elements for Survey Administration
2012 Dates Coming Soon! 

With the survey questionnaire designed, the next step in the survey process is to administer the survey. Different methods exist to administer a questionnaire – phone, web, and postal mail are the best known – and each method has its strengths and weaknesses. This seminar will cover different options for administering a survey, as well as present the types of biases that poor administration can introduce into the data.  We will also cover sampling processes and the critical question of “how many responses do I need for an accurate survey?” along with how to increase response rates.

Seminar attendees will learn to:

• Outline strengths and weaknesses of different administration methods.
• Identify types of administration biases.
• Define various types of sampling methods.
• Discuss response rates and how to calculate statistical confidence.
• Define ways to increase response rates.

Survey Data Analysis
2012 Dates Coming Soon!

Once the survey questionnaire has been administered, you now have a data set that hopefully will answer your research needs. To uncover this information successfully, you will need to perform proper statistical data analysis. This class will address the basic statistics that you will perform on most any data set. The basic concepts of data analysis will be covered, along with how to perform most functions using Excel®.

Seminar attendees will learn to:

• Define the necessary data cleansing before analysis begins.
• Outline the type of statistics appropriate for each question format and data type.
• Define and calculate basic statistics run on any survey data set (mean, mode, median, standard deviation, confidence intervals and frequency distributions).

Advanced Survey Data Analysis
2012 Dates Coming Soon! 

Once we’ve analyzed performance for each question on the survey, there’s still potentially more to learn through advanced analysis. Our approach is to identify what research question we’re trying to answer and then identify the proper statistical technique to answer the question. While not –definitely – a substitute for a college stats class, we will cover how to determine if changes in performance over time are statistically significant and how to identify the drivers of customer satisfaction, all using Excel®. Finally, the data needs to be presented in a report to drive action in the organization.

Seminar attendees will learn to:

• Identify whether changes between data sets are statistically significant (t-test).
• Generate performance data sliced by demographic group (pivot tables).
• Determine whether changes seen across demographic groups is statistically significant (Chi square test and ANOVA).
• Identify the drivers of customer satisfaction, without asking it on the survey (correlation and regression analysis).
• Construct a survey report that will communicate well the findings.
• Know what charts to use for each question format.

Learning Bundle

8-Course Customer Surveying Workshop Series

Attend all eight of the above courses for a comprehensive how-to learning experience that will equip with the A-Z steps of planning a survey project, designing a questionnaire, administering the survey, and analyzing/reporting the results.  Buy all 8 sessions as an 8-Course Web Seminar Bundle for only $2,000 — a savings of $400 compared to the single seminar price.