Managing online survey work in-house involves more than conducting the fieldwork. It involves extracting meaningful insights and trends from the resulting data output – which can be complex and arduous if you’re working with complex surveys or multi-country tracking studies.
But it doesn’t have to be. Regardless if you’re conducting a quick-turn ad hoc study, or complex wave project, there is a cost-effective data processing and dashboarding tool for you.
Here are four scenarios and data deliverables based on speed, connectivity and engagement needs– allowing you to action from your research and make faster business decisions.
You need raw data files that show respondent level data = raw data files
This is most suitable if you have research analytics expertise and capacity to tabulate the data in-house. These come in a range of formats, from Excel to SPSS. “So, which should I download” we hear you ask? This will depend on what you or the client needs it for (their process may be built around importing one or the other into a piece of software or not). Excel contains the raw respondent answers and allows you or your client to set this up as you wish. This can be daunting for those who are new to survey data, whereas SPSS files already contain two tabs set up by your data collection provider, showing variables down one side and data listed by variables at the top.
You need ready to read aggregated results now at a low-cost = cross tabulation
This goes beyond the raw data to offer aggregated, quick-to-read tables. By using tabulation software to run data validation and create tables for each survey question with counts, percentages and indexes in line with your needs. It can also include weighting, stat testing and key measure summary grids. Cross tabulations come at no cost and is a self-serve tool, putting you in control of how you wish to analyze your data in real-time. This option is suitable to those with data analysis capabilities but doesn’t require the level of expertise that raw data files need to interpret the data.
You need an interactive dashboard to pull tables and visuals into presentations = basic dashboards
This option is ideal if you are looking to share visuals with internal stakeholders or clients. It will enable you to present clear visuals of key survey metrics with instant, real-time access to data. With your data uploaded to a simple platform, you can receive basic charting ready for use.
You need to customize enhanced visuals to bring to life the story of your data in a streamlined, connected way = powerful dashboards (i.e. Microsoft Power BI)
This is an end-to-end solution for building analytics with the ability to connect, shape, visualize, and share data insights quickly. Using these advanced dashboards will allow interactive data visualization and the ability to trend data and quickly spot patterns from your survey data and to seamlessly connect second and third-party data in one place. Choosing this solution equips you with a large selection of visual options. Select from graphs, charts and maps to tell the story of the data. Use custom visuals with your brand identity, all with dynamic filtering capabilities. When connected to your data source, this easy to share and access dashboard means you can securely provide real-time visualized data among other team members and clients, ensuring robust, actionable data, fast.
Interested to find out more about your data deliverable options? Speak to our expert team today and request a dashboard demo to realize the power of your data.