Survey Comment Reports

Comment Reports consist of the verbatim transcription of responses to open-ended survey questions. Names and profanity are removed. Comments can be sorted by any demographic used to sort the quantitative survey data in the data reports, such as by department, gender, or length of service.

In scientific psychological research, qualitative research of the target population is usually conducted prior to developing the quantitative research instrument. With NBRI, this typically takes the form of confidential, one-on-one interviews of a stratified, random sample of the respondents. That is, an NBRI Organizational Psychologist performs survey content interviews, discussing the research study with a sample of the target respondents to determine survey content. This results in a survey instrument that is of the highest level of validity, since the issues being addressed came directly from the target population. Of greatest importance, this eliminates management blind spots that are commonly built into surveys created with management input only (see our section on Who Drives the Content of the Survey?). With NBRI preliminary research and management input, management can be certain that all issues of importance to the research study have been identified and measured by the survey.

Without preliminary research, it is wise to include one or more open-ended questions in the survey instrument, and collect the qualitative data provided by respondents. This may reveal issues that were previously unknown by management, and avoid the expense and difficulties that arise from addressing these issues too late. In addition, although it is too late to quantify the extent of the issues, since the survey has already been deployed, the qualitative data obtained from the responses to open-ended survey questions can be used to improve future surveys.