Business

How can you get the best survey provider for your research needs

survey provider
Written by Lisa Scholfield

Introduction

The global B2B survey provider is the one that can help you get the most accurate data at the lowest cost. Look out for these points below to get the best out of your project.

Research integrity

To ensure you are getting the best results from your research, it is important to ensure data integrity. Data integrity means that all of your data has been collected and stored in a way that guarantees validity and reliability. How can you do this?

  • You can verify the qualifications of your survey provider: Look at their website, check out reviews and endorsements, and talk to others who have used them in the past. Make sure that you know professionals who know what they’re doing when it comes to research tools and processes.

  • Make sure they have an ethical code of conduct: This ensures that no one on staff will cheat or falsify information while conducting surveys

  • Review their processes: Check out their policies on how they guarantee confidentiality, address safety concerns with respondents and, handle personal information like bank accounts or medical records.

Once, you’re satisfied with the research intregity of the provider, you can then move on to determining the next step, which is the sample size.

Sample size

The sample size is a crucial factor in ensuring that you get an accurate representation of your target audience. Global B2B surveys are particularly complex when it comes to choosing the sample provider. The best way to determine the size of your sample is by asking yourself:

  • What are my goals for this survey? Are they qualitative or quantitative? If so, how many responses do I need in order to be able to draw conclusions about a specific topic or concept?

  • What types of questions am I planning on asking? Are they open-ended or closed-ended? How many responses will each question require in order for me to draw meaningful correlations and conclusions based on those answers?

Based on these two factors (the type of survey and its questions), you can then determine how many responses are required before continuing with your research project. You can also ask whether this estimate is something that the provider will be able to achieve.

Quality assurance for different types of surveys

If you need a survey to be conducted in multiple languages, make sure your provider can do this. The best way to ensure that the quality of your research is maintained from start to finish is by using a company whose expertise lies in conducting surveys and polls for businesses just like yours. Not only will they have the necessary experience and know-how when it comes time for delivery, but they’ll also know what pitfalls may lie ahead so they can help guide you through them before they happen.

Data security and ownership

Data security and ownership are important. If you are working with sensitive data, it should be encrypted and stored securely. The data must also be anonymised to ensure that it cannot be traced back to you or your participants. Data ownership should be clear: who owns which parts of your survey results? Finally, ensure that any third-party provider storing data is located in a country that has adequate data protection laws.

Cost effectiveness

The cost of a survey is an important factor to consider, but it shouldn’t be the only one. If you’re working with a budget when it comes to surveys, make sure that the provider you choose offers free or discounted pricing for certain types of surveys. You can also save money by finding providers that have good discounts available for their services.

GDPR Compliance

GDPR compliance is important because it ensures that you don’t violate the privacy and security of your survey participants. GDPR compliance means protecting the personal data collected from your respondents, which may include sensitive information like health status and financial history. It means being transparent with how you use their data, including what type of data is collected, whether B2B survey respondents have agreed to be part of research studies (and if so, which ones), what happens to their personal information once it has been used for research purposes and how long it will be kept. Additionally, you must be on the lookout for changes to these laws. Recently, the UK government has been looking into creating its own version of GDPR laws. Read more about the article here.

Use this checklist to make sure you’ve found the provider that can best meet your needs.

Below, we’ve a set of bullet points to ensure you’ve found the survey provider that you need.

  • Does the provider offer a variety of research options?

  • Does it offer a variety of question formats, such as open-ended and multiple-choice? If so, how many?

  • How long is the response time for questions and data analysis once you submit them through their platform or app? Is there an option to automatically send out reminders if you don’t receive a response within a certain amount of time (e.g., 2 weeks)? What’s their average turnaround time on projects with similar specifications as yours (e.g., the same number of respondents)? Can they provide proof that they’ve completed any past projects similar to yours (i.e., proof that they have done what they claim)?

Conclusion

We hope this checklist will help you find the best survey provider for your research needs. If you have any additional questions about which provider is right for your project, please contact us at GrapeData.

About the author

Lisa Scholfield