Back Away from the Survey Monkey!

Research output: Contribution to specialist publicationArticle

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Abstract

In an environment of too many—and too many ill-designed—surveys, our twin aims should be to reduce the number of surveys overall and to improve the quality of those that do circulate. This burden falls on both those who distribute questionnaires—to make them as efficient as possible—and those answering—to decline to participate in any project that shows signs of unthoughtful design, thereby forcing surveyors to “up their game.” Good surveying, a difficult task in the best of circumstances, becomes even more complicated when pushed through the favored medium of the online discussion list (commonly called a listserv), a choice that can nullify the results of an otherwise well-designed project. Rising to these challenges requires a strong grounding in the basics of survey design, some of which I review below. Executed correctly, the worst errors can be avoided, allowing surveys to offer solid insights on a variety of interesting questions of law librarianship.

Recipient of the 2010 AALL Spectrum Article of the Year Award
Original languageAmerican English
Pages20-23
Volume14
No2
Specialist publicationAALL Spectrum
PublisherAmerican Association of Law Libraries
StatePublished - Nov 2009

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