| December 2008 | Vol. 13 Issue 4 |
Maybe during the last county fair you decided to go fishing for feedback, so you placed a suggestion box in the exhibit building. Afterward, you took the box full of cards back to your office, but didn’t quite know what to do with all that feedback.
Being overwhelmed with random feedback is a common challenge. To collect good, valuable feedback that you can act on, there are some basic steps everyone should follow.
The first step actually comes before you collect information. Brainstorm and come up with a reason to collect feedback. For example, an issue from a past fair may have motivated you to collect feedback. Whatever the situation, define your goals first.
Now that you have a couple of goals in mind, who are you going to collect feedback from? You should define this when you come up with your goals. For example, let’s say the board has decided to make some improvements to the fairgrounds. That is the goal.
When thinking about who to collect feedback from (your audience), ask yourself who visits the fairgrounds? The general public, 4-Hers, volunteers, etc. Now you have an audience (a broad one at that), but a diverse audience will provide you with rich, diverse feedback. You can have a great goal but if you collect feedback from the wrong audience, it will be worthless.
With your goals and audience in mind, the next step is to consider what tool to use to physically collect the feedback. There are many options such as focus groups, ballot boxes, and surveys. A focus group consists of a small number of individuals who provide information during a directed group discussion. A focus group works best when collecting feedback about a product or specific topic.
A survey is a short list of questions that can either be asked in person or put on paper. Surveys are one of the easiest ways to collect feedback if they are short and well organized. The audience fills out the survey and puts it in a ballot or survey box. The location of the survey or ballot box is very important. The box should be easily accessible and visible to all people. Putting it in a stop with little people traffic or making it hard to reach or see will hinder the amount of feedback you will receive.
Also important is what is on the survey and its length. There is lots of research about conducting effective surveys but some common ideas are:
- Keep is simple: make direction short and direct
- Keep it short: the longer the survey, the less inclined people will be to fill it out
- Include the audience in the end product: let them know how the data will be used
- Provide an incentive: provide a small gift (a ticket for a free milkshake for example)
The next story will focus on what to do with the feedback and will provide some helpful tools. Collecting feedback does share some similarities with fishing. Without proper planning and organization, you won’t get any real bites. But with a little research and planning, you will be able to hook some valuable feedback.
Natalie Federer, neferer@purdue.edu
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