Some operational tips for running large survey: dates and return by dates

Think about your target population and what dates or events might influence response rates. For example, don’t have a return date for a business survey around the end of the financial year in April. Or for a social survey about university students, don’t conduct it out of term time.

Obviously it is a bad idea to put a return date near Christmas. Though I do remember when working at the Office for National Statistics I once found out one business had in fact completed an online survey on Christmas Day.

Try to account for postal delays in any planning. Most surveys will do second class if using Royal Mail. If you have a national survey this can introduce a lag time of 3-5 days. This is when you can expect phone calls or emails from people who may need additional help of different kinds.

If your survey includes letters or flyers of some kind, be aware of potential Royal Mail postal strikes which can delay response rates increasing.

Usually any inward activity from respondents, like calls or emails, tend to peak around your dispatch dates or return dates. Use this to plan workforce cover and prepare them. If you are starting a survey, or joining an existing one, ask for historical data on response and also inward contacts from respondents. This way you can be more data driven in your preparations.

If you have several large surveys running at once you can map out predicted peaks and move return by dates around to reduce bottlenecks. This makes managing potential problems easier and also creates a less extreme throughput of work for colleagues who take queries from the public.