Advantages and Disadvantages of the Survey Method

Strengths:

 Surveys are relatively inexpensive (especially self-administered surveys).

 Surveys are useful in describing the characteristics of a large population. No other
method of observation can provide this general capability.
 They can be administered from remote locations using mail, email or telephone.
 Consequently, very large samples are feasible, making the results statistically
significant even when analyzing multiple variables.
 Many questions can be asked about a given topic giving considerable flexibility to the
analysis.
 There is flexibilty at the creation phase in deciding how the questions will be
administered: as face-to-face interviews, by telephone, as group administered written
or oral survey, or by electonic means.
 Standardized questions make measurement more precise by enforcing uniform
definitions upon the participants.
 Standardization ensures that similar data can be collected from groups then
interpreted comparatively (between-group study).
 Usually, high reliability is easy to obtain--by presenting all subjects with a
standardized stimulus, observer subjectivity is greatly eliminated.

Weaknesses:

 A methodology relying on standardization forces the researcher to develop questions

general enough to be minimally appropriate for all respondents, possibly missing what
is most appropriate to many respondents.
 Surveys are inflexible in that they require the initial study design (the tool and
administration of the tool) to remain unchanged throughout the data collection.
 The researcher must ensure that a large number of the selected sample will reply.
 It may be hard for participants to recall information or to tell the truth about a
controversial question.
 As opposed to direct observation, survey research (excluding some interview
approaches) can seldom deal with "context."

http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/survey/com2d1.cfm

The Internet and email have made it possible to create surveys faster. They are also a lot more
cost-effective. On the whole, surveys through the Internet are a lot cheaper as compared to
other forms of surveys.  The other advantage is that Internet based surveys can be created for
people who live in any part of the world. Surveys are useful as you can find out what your
customers really think about your email campaign. You can also increase the awareness of
your customers, with regard to your products. Let's take a look at the advantages of online
surveys and email based surveys.

Advantages of email surveys

Email surveys offer a higher rate of prevalence, as compared to other survey techniques.
Survey incidence is measured on the basis of how many people actually respond to a survey.
You can expect a number of people to become a part of it, if you organize free email surveys.
People also prefer email based surveys because they can complete them on their own time.
Unlike phone based surveys, your subscribers will not have to finish the questions in a
specific time limit. With email based surveys, companies have the option using their own
parent websites for generating contacts. Companies, these days, offer visitors to their sites the
option to receive notifications and alerts through emails. Email based surveys are a very
subtle yet a very effective tool to promote your product.

Advantages of online surveys

Just like email surveys, online surveys also have a long list of advantages. They can be free
of charge or you can reach people in different parts of the world.  You can expect the
response rates to be higher. Most importantly, the results can be declared almost immediately.
The access to online surveys is direct meaning your clients will not have to deal with the
problem of attachments. Clients can access free online surveys through their Internet
browsers and don't need any plug-ins or software of any sort. Your clients will also not have
to deal with problems related to software versions. They will be able to view the complete
survey and have no problems with incomplete surveys. The looks of online surveys can be
altered to make them look professional.

These are some advantages that both email and online surveys have. On the whole, surveys
can be more effective than emails. Email surveys can be lost under a clutter of mails. Web
surveys can be placed on the landing page of the parent website of a company.    

Gary San is a best practices activist and advocate for Benchmark Email
(http://www.benchmarkemail.com/email-marketing/online-surveys) a leading Web and
permission-based service for sending and creating online surveys.

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