Monkey Puzzle

Courtesy of mccheek on flickr

Thing 15 - This thing is Survey Monkey I haven't (yet) created a survey monkey for this project, but mindful that this would come up at some point I decided to create a survey monkey (a bit quickly) for an ICS training course assignment I completed last month, so I do have an experience to reflect on.

My criticism of Survey Monkey is mainly to do with access, and the requirement to pay for certain services.  This is an obvious gripe, and really it is neither unusual nor surprising for an internet company to focus on revenue creation from subscribers not just advertisers.  Without a subscription the layout of your survey is left wanting.  There are a very small number of themes to choose from and they don't look great; customised themes are only available to those who pay.  I would be interested to know how many people choose a paid subscription, what indivuals or organisations create surveys frequently enough to pay for a full Survey Monkey package?  Many organisations that rely on surveys on a daily basis, surely have bespoke software that makes something more professional looking and doesn't have the words 'survey monkey' at the bottom of every page.

Creating the survey itself is easy, and it gives you a lot of control over how you opt to ask your questions.  Multiple formats are available, though it does take some thought to ensure you make appropriate choices.  I find it better to think of the future analysis of your results when designing the questions - for many surveys a final 'score' will be extremely helpful, for others this not.  The free statistical graphs and data and the ability to analyse data easily is the best asset that Survey Monkey has, it really is the full package.  What I find particularly impressive is that it is possible to export the data from survey monkey to Excel and create graphs of the results (I have not done this, though I have read their FAQ on it and I'm not sure if that's complementary or, again, requires a paid subscription).  However, there is a big limitation in that you csnnot exceed 10 questions per survey on a free subscription, which means your survey has to be about something quite narrow, or very much to the point.  An advantage of that, though, is an end of interminably long surveys (though it's the usefulness of the information at the end that's crucial).

Survey Monkey has the potential to gather data through a variety of sources, by email, URL, embedded into another website or via Facebook.  This versatility is also a great feature.

Survey Monkey is big, I have come across it in many different contexts and it must be the market leader.  However, it faces some stiff competition.  Zoomerang also looks intuitive and offers similarly detailed statistical analysis.  I think the interface of the final survey looks better than Survey Monkey (view this one courtesy of this very helpful review site).  A great advantage of Zoomerang is that you can actually import your surveys from Survey Monkey.  For someone starting out with free survey software this is a gift: make a Survey Monkey, import it to Zoomerang, play around with it and compare the two!

For any inquisitive minds looking for similar resources beyond Survey Monkey and Zoomerang, then this list is very helpful and spells out the limitations of free subscriptions on many different sites.  It's great to see a number of websites offering this service.  In a customer focussed workplace like a library, gathering feedback to improve the customer experience is key to opening up dialogue with readers, ensuring the quality of the service offered and meeting expectations.