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 >>  Survey Design Workshop Description                                  

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Testimonials
From Workshop Attendees
Very appropriate & useful. I will be able to take the skills back to my organization and apply them immediately. Thank you for a great experience... This was the best course I have ever taken in terms of practicality and comprehension. Very thorough!
- Jeff Anthony,
  PriceWaterhouseCoopers
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 version of the
workshop description.
View a short online presentation
summarizing the concept of surveying and outlining our courses.
Survey Products
Survey Mentor Suite
Provides targeted assistance on your survey questionnaire and project while helping you learn good survey practices.  
Custom Survey Projects
Need more than targeted survey consulting?  Great Brook will design and execute a
Custom Survey Program
to meet your individual needs
Voice of the Customer Audits
Get an experti's review of the feedback management processes in your organization for customers or other stakeholder groups --
or get a deep dive assessment of your survey program.
Looking for self-help for
 your survey project?
Dr. Fred is a most engaging professional speaker. He has the unique ability to make analysis and survey instrument design appealing and understandable to the science challenged.  The novice survey designer can learn to produce effective survey instruments under Dr. Fred's tutelage.  The big mystery becomes how he makes the learning process of such dry material so fun & easy.  Dr. Fred gently tickles the funny bone while he educates.  He is truly a master survey design instructor and a pleasure to study under.  Bravo!
Valerie Railey, US Courts Librarian, San Diego
Thank you, Fred – for everything. Your workshop has been so beneficial even in the brief time since. In fact, I think I have already used every aspect of your training.
-- Donna Batten, The Institute of Internal Auditors
Private On-site Survey Workshops are available at your company.  This may prove more cost effective and deliver immediate value to your survey program as we build your survey instrument in class.  
Please contact us for details.  
Would your local
professional association like
to sponsor a workshop?  
The Survey Design Workshop will teach you how to knowledgeably
design, create, and conduct a survey project
-- or improve your current survey program --
with a special focus on your survey questionnaire design.
This survey training class is appropriate for most any type of survey project -- customer satisfaction survey, employee survey, market research survey, or other survey research.
This page focuses on our live, instructor-led classes, but we now offer a

At the conclusion of this 2-day survey class, you will know how to...
Create a survey questionnaire design that generates more actionable & valid data
Use all the potential survey question formats to meet your research needs
Write good survey questions, especially for Likert scale and other interval scale questions
Understand statistical confidence, survey sampling &  how to get higher response rates
Reduce the biases your current survey practices may be introducing into the survey data set, corrupting the value of the data
Plus you will get feedback from a survey expert -- and the class -- on your current survey design.

Contents of this page
What you will learn in this survey training course
Who should attend this survey training class
Survey Workshop instructor, Dr. Fred Van Bennekom
Survey Workshop logistics, including pricing & your post-class Questionnaire Review
Private Workshop option -- the workshop delivered at your office
Follow these links for:
Survey Data Analysis Workshop, a companion survey course
Survey Workshop Webinar Series, learn the curriculum from the convenience of your office
View a short presentation online about our Survey Workshop series.
(Sound will begin playing once the files load.)

 Overview of the Survey Design Workshop
The Survey Design Workshop teaches step-by-step how to build and create a survey program to achieve your research objective.  (Why would you conduct a survey?.)  This intensive survey course covers the three initial phases of a survey project:  
Survey Project Management -- you'll receive a survey project plan with task list.
Survey Questionnaire Design (Survey Instrument Design)
Survey Administration
The Workshop's strong focus is how to create a good survey questionnaire design, teaching how to
Determine what questions should be asked on the survey questionnaire
Write good survey questions
Design survey scales, including popular likert scales (aka, likert-type scales)
Avoid common mistakes when you write survey questions and design a questionnaire
Include the various survey instrument elements in the questionnaire design
Most importantly, achieve your research objectives.
See the detailed survey training curriculum for the breadth of topics covered and a vital set of learning objectives.  (Note: the next phase of a survey project, Survey Data Analysis, is covered in our companion workshop.)  

I've applied everything I learned in your workshop to every survey I and my colleagues have done in the past year. It probably had the most visible and immediate impact on how I do things than any other seminar I've taken. Thanks,
  -- Thom Martin, OneSource Information Services, Concord, Mass
>> More testimonials on Dr. Fred's engaging survey training expertise
If you've purchase an online or hosted survey software tool, such as Survey Monkey or QuestionPro, but don't have a background in survey design, then this workshop will prove invaluable to getting meaningful data.  
The instructional method combines lectures and exercises to foster deep-seated learning -- and to foster group interaction that keeps the workshop an engaging experience.  We practice the steps of creating a survey questionnaire with exercises for each major step.  
To help ensure a high-quality experience, we limit the class size to 15 people.  This allows for rich discussion and interaction among the participants and the instructor.  
Immediate feedback is also provided on attendees' survey questionnaires.  On Day Two, the class, including its survey expert instructor, performs a group critique of questionnaires brought in by class members!  This is a favorite part of the class for attendees.  They leave with more than just enhanced skills; they leave with an enhanced survey questionnaire.  The workshop also include a post-workshop Questionnaire Quality Check by the instructor to ensure your survey program is off to a solid start, a $95 value.  
When you leave Dr. Fred's survey training you'll have mastery of the tools and techniques for each step in a survey research project.  Perhaps more importantly, you will also know the issues that need to be addressed at every stage of a survey project, issues the untrained surveyor would miss.  Students leaving the class frequently comment that they didn't realize the many considerations when creating a survey, but they feel very confident in attacking their next survey project.  

  How do our attendees rate the course?
     -- 96.2% say this workshop will make them "much more effective on their next survey project."  
     -- 96.2% also say they would "recommend this workshop to a colleague".
  Percentages represent those rating with a 4, 5 or 6 on a 6-point scale
   with the endpoint anchor of "Extremely Likely."    
  Note the wording of the question combined with the scale anchors.  
  These make a selection of the top response categories very demanding.
  88% and 90% gave ratings of  5 or 6 on those two questions, respectively.
                      >> More testimonials on Dr. Fred's engaging survey training expertise

 Who should attend the Survey Design Workshop?  
This survey training workshop will prove invaluable for someone responsible for conducting or overseeing a survey research program, whether the focus is customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, training program evaluation, customer product needs, or another area where survey research is appropriate.  The workshop provides its students the background, knowledge, tools, and critical thinking skills to build and conduct a successful survey program from start to finish.  
The class level is geared towards those with basic to intermediate understanding of survey research practices.  We have many people attend our survey classes who have conducted several surveys only to learn how much they didn't know or now learned they had been doing wrong.  
For organizations that are considering outsourcing their survey project, the course will provide valuable background knowledge for selecting the right vendor of survey software and services -- and for being a more successful partner with the survey outsourcer in the surveying program, allowing you to focus on achieving the goals of the program and not squander time trying to understand what the outsourcer is telling you.  We have had attendees come to this class to achieve these goals.  
Please note: This is not a workshop about why surveys should be done.  This is a “how to” workshop.  Please contact us if you're unsure if the class is appropriate for you.  
 Course Instructor
Dr. Frederick Van Bennekom developed the curriculum for this course, and he has delivered this survey workshop to classes for more than a decade.  Dr. Fred has extensive experience in conducting survey programs for clients, and he has a decade of grounded experience in Digital Equipment Corporation's customer service organization.  He developed operational reporting systems for first- and second-level field management as well as metrics packages for senior field service management.  
Fred authored Customer Surveying: A Guidebook for Service Managers, and he has two decades of instructional experience as a professor at several Boston-area business schools teaching operations management.  Fred currently teaches in the Executive MBA program at Northeastern University, Harvard University's Certificate in Management Program, and at Babson College. Read a  more complete biography of Dr. Fred Van Bennekom.
 Workshop Logistics
The Survey Design Workshop is a two-day event.  Feedback from attendees showed that survey data analysis deserved a separate day, and more time was warranted for questionnaire design.  (Yes, we collect and apply customer feedback!)   The Survey Data Analysis Workshop follows the Survey Design Workshop, but they can be taken at different times.  The class day typically runs from 8:30 am to 5 pm each day.  
Workbook materials
A copy of Dr. Van Bennekom's book, Customer Surveying: A Guidebook for Service Managers,  
A survey project plan with exhaustive task list and time estimates
Survey response rate calculator to determine the number of responses needed for different levels of statistical confidence
Lunch and refreshments
A post-class Questionnaire Quality Check consultation with Dr. Fred, a $95 value.  
Attendees also can purchase the Support Services Questionnaire Library for a 30% discount and avail themselves of discounts for our Survey Mentor and Survey Audit products.
Survey Workshop Pricing
Survey Design Workshop -- both days
$1295
Survey Design Workshop -- one day only
$ 695
Combined discounted price for attending both the Survey Design and Survey Data Analysis Workshops -- 3 days total.  
The price reflects a multiple workshop 10% discount of $195.  
$1795
Payment for the workshop is required in full prior to the workshop.  If you take the Survey Data Analysis Workshop at a later time, you will still receive the combined price.  Attendees of the Data Analysis Workshop also receive an Excel workbook that supports Chi-Square analysis and Top-Box scoring, including Net Promoter Scoring.
Discounts Available.  We offer discounts for early registration and early payment, work colleagues of previous attendees, for those who have previously attended one of Dr. Fred's workshops, and for clients of our Survey Mentor and Survey Audit products.  Please follow those links for details.
 Private Survey Workshops
This workshop can also be delivered as an on-site survey training workshop, tailored to your company's specific needs and interests.  If you have a number of people you would like to have trained, this private class will prove the cost-effective option.  In our private workshops, we typically apply the exercises to building a survey instrument that the company intends to use, including a brainstorming session facilitated by Dr. Fred to identify the questions for the survey.  In essence, you get a targeted consulting engagement along with the training.  Please contact Great Brook for further information.  

 Survey Design Workshop Detailed Curriculum
Topics covered during the workshop.   Click on the section headers
    to see the questions that will be answered during the workshop.

DAY 1
Definition of a scientific survey and key terminology
Types of surveys: periodic (relationship), transaction-driven, one-time ad-hoc
Key stages of a survey project and requirements of the project manager
Factors that support success in a survey project
Exercise: Developing a Statement of Purpose and how it drives the project flow
The questionnaire design process: The steps to follow
Types of questions: demographic, attitudinal, and attributes of the relationship being measured
How to identify the questions needed on the survey to achieve the research objectives:
             Role of focus groups, interviews, and other research techniques
Criticality of pilot testing (pre-tests)
Critical issues in design of a valid questionnaire:
Identifying common errors in question construction that lead to instrumentation bias, e.g., double-barrel questions, ambiguous wording, recall expectations, loaded wording
Elements of a questionnaire: Introductions, instructions, initiation, section headings, and closings.  Formatting a questionnaire.  
Question sequencing and branching
Controlling for biases the respondent brings to the process: response bias
Exercises:  Identifying attributes to measure on a survey and classifying them
Critiquing a Survey Instrument (with lots of problems)
Developing Scales
Drafting survey questions

DAY 2
Questionnaire Design (cont.)
Review of various question formats (open-ended text, multiple choice, ordinal, interval, and ratio) and their effective use
Impact of question format on data analysis potential
Creating interval-rating scales and anchor selection, including Likert scales (or Likert-type scales).  Key considerations in scale construction.  
Special topics: Techniques for generating actionable data and measuring importance
Comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the various administration methods:
Telephone surveys, IVR surveys, postal mail surveys, email surveys, and online web surveys (Internet surveys)
Discussion of administration biases and how to minimize them
Response rate requirements for statistically valid results
Statistical confidence given a number of responses
Create the survey sample: Review of various sampling techniques
Techniques to increase response rates and minimize non-response bias
Specific issues and concerns for telephone and online survey administration methods
Attendees' Questionnaire Critique
As a hands-on workshop, attendees are encouraged to bring a draft or sample of a survey questionnaire from their organizations.  On Day 2, these instruments are critiqued by the group, delivering immediate feedback and improvement -- and allowing the group to exercise their new-found skills on real questionnaires.  

Teaching Approach.  The Workshop uses lecture, discussion, and experiential exercises to provide the attendees with actionable learning that can be immediately applied back in the workplace.  (People have different learning styles, so a blend of teaching styles works best.)
Attendees of the workshop also receive a complimentary copy of Dr. Van Bennekom's Customer Surveying Guidebook.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
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