So far, in the weekly series about survey design tips, I’ve covered establishing the primary purpose for your survey; identifying your target audience for your survey; defining the different data cuts you want when you get the data back. Today, I want to delve a bit into the question of what will be done with the data once it’s gathered. In other words, what actions are you looking to take – or not take – based on the data?

Action!

You might be saying to yourself right now, “But, Z, isn’t that what the data analysis plan is for?” And my answer is, “Kinda. Not really.”

Let me explain.

There is a huge difference between setting up a research project to answer a particular business question, knowing how you want to slice and dice the data to find out the story in the information, and actually being able or willing to do anything with the information you get. I think there are a number of cases where someone does research and doesn’t really have the ability or desire to follow through on the actions that the research suggests should be taken.

So, when it comes to DIY market research, I think it’s beneficial to take a step back, review the purpose of the survey that you started with, and really ask the (sometimes) tough question: am I willing to actually take action on the data I get?

For example, let’s say you want to run a customer satisfaction survey among your current customers who visit your retail location. Primarily, you want to know if they are finding the products they expect to find at your store. However, you actually have no control over the inventory selection you receive from corporate headquarters, so you’re a bit at the whim of headquarters as far as product selection goes. So, in this case, even though you want to know if customers are finding the products they expect to find, if you hear that they aren’t finding what they expect to find, there’s not much you can do about it. (This becomes a different matter if you’re doing the research to try to prove to your inventory providers why you need more of X and Y products.)

Another example: you are running a market research study to determine if there is a market for a new product. However, upon a bit of reflection, you realize you’ve put in so much time and effort into the development of the product that you’re planning to market the product no matter what the research says. In this case, the objective should change from “is there a market” to identifying the marketing messaging you intend to use for your product, and identifying which markets are likely to be more receptive to your product launch that just generally asking if there is a market for your product.

Doing this before you even write the survey is a great exercise that can save you time, trouble, and can make sure that the time and effort that your research participants spend is worth their while – and yours.