CEDo 540 Week 2 - Surveys, polls and more…

Wow, I never thought that surveys were a fun or exciting way to spend my time. I hate to admit it (the honest person that I am… I really have to), but I am not always nice when it comes to taking surveys. When I get the phone call asking me to complete a survey, it’s never a good time. If they ask when if there is a better time to call, I secretly think, “hmmm…no.” When I get one in the mail, I throw them away. When I get trapped into taking one during a staff meeting, it feels like pulling my teeth, so I fight back by taking so long to do it that I hope they forget it. If a pop up request intrudes on my valuable time on the internet when I perusing a website, I simply close the window and continue minding my own business.

You want to know another secret? I use to be a phone surveyor in a previous occupation and I love putting together surveys for others. Shhh…don’t tell anyone. What I learned this week is that there are various tools for creating surveys and ways to make them more interesting, easier to take and more meaningful for the respondents. I also learned that completed surveys can yield important and very valuable data that can help me and others. I learned that even though participation in a survey may be optional, maybe I should choose more carefully which ones I skip out on.

After researching free online survey creator tools and visiting a site which acts as a database for software I found some real gems like Lime Survey, Kwik Survey, SurveyGizmo and Fluid Surveys. These creator tools were fun to use and offered ways to make the surveys I create more innovative and attention grabbers with the options of personal touches. I am so excited about sharing what I have learned in this program with others, sometimes I want to create a survey and ask people in my sphere what they want to learn about first. Hmmm… I think I will do that now.