This article is a continuation of Monday’s post. If you missed that one, I encourage you to go back and read it to be sure we are on the same page.

The Five Basic Survey Research Steps

Survey Research can be broken down into 5 simple steps. That is to say, breaking the process down is  simple. How difficult the individual steps are depends on the size and scope of your project. Try to take each step individually. This will keep you from getting overwhelmed and “stuck in the mud”.

The posts to follow will each address one of these steps. Later we can delve a little deeper into each step to flesh out each area.

Since first joining the National Business Research Institute as a Marketing Analyst in May of 2007, I have been hard at work trying to learn and understand the entire survey process in order to better know how to present and promote the industry (and of course NBRI, itself).

Conducting a survey can seem like a very daunting process, but It is not as complex as you might think. Don’t take that the wrong way. Conducting a survey is a science. It follows the old computer adage, garbage in - garbage out. If you do not conduct your survey in a strictly scientific manner you can end up with a lot of useless data and wasted months of work. Worse yet, you could create action plans based on that data and do more harm than good. However, the basic structure of a survey is easily understood.

There are many costs involved in doing business. One of these costs is turnover. When employees leave the organization, they represent investments that are no longer reaping dividends.

Turnover involves separation costs including:

• the costs incurred for exit interviews, and
• administrative functions related to the employee’s exit.
  

Replacement costs include:

• the costs of attracting new applicants,
• entrance interviews, testing,
• travel/moving expenses,
• preemployment administrative expenses,
• medical exams,
• acquisition and dissemination of information, and
• training costs.
  

The National Business Research Institute (NBRI) is pleased to confer the distinction of Employee Satisfaction Excellence upon Torrance Memorial Medical Center, and welcomes them to the NBRI Circle of Excellence.

The Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, California is a locally governed, 376-bed, non-profit medical center in the Los Angeles suburb whose purpose is to provide quality healthcare services, predominately to the residents of the South Bay, Peninsula and Harbor communities.

The National Business Research Institute (NBRI) is pleased to confer the distinction of Employee Satisfaction Excellence upon The Toro Company, and welcomes them to the NBRI Circle of Excellence.

“The Toro Company began the Best Practice of Continuous Improvement with their first Employee Survey in 2005. Through continued employee survey research and targeted action, The Toro Company has realized great gains in employee satisfaction, which drives customer satisfaction, which in turn has sustained their impressive financial growth,” said Dr. Jan Stringer, Organizational Psychologist at NBRI.