Survey Software HQ

Includes Results for: - Most innovative people of 2006 - The Top 5 Leading Entrepreneurs of 2006 - Leading Brands or Companies of 2006 - Most fascinating websites I love this slideshare stuff:

This post showcase why some people get into blogging, and serves as a test to see if I can insert SlideShare.net slideshows into this blog. Let me know what you think.

Brief: Americans prefer computer to spouse, survey says And 84% are more dependent on their computer than three years ago

January 23, 2007 (IDG News Service) — Don’t say to the love of your life, “Either that computer goes or I do!” According to a new survey, you could be packing your bags.

Sixty-five percent of Americans polled said they spend more time with their home computer than their spouse or significant other, according to research released yesterday by Kelton Research Inc.

Those who chose computer over companion don’t seem to get much satisfaction from their inanimate partner. Of those answering, 84% said they were more dependent on their home computer now than three years ago. On average, they said they experienced computer trouble eight times in those three years, and estimated they wasted 12 hours per month due to home computer problems, the report said.

The majority of those surveyed — 52% — described the experience of their biggest recent computer problem as one of anger, sadness or alienation.

COLUMBUS, Ohio–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 22, 2007–You’ve seen them in your rear view mirror or in the car next to you. Sometimes they’re putting on makeup while steering with their knees, punching text messages into a phone without ever looking up at the road, or using a BlackBerry to read e-mail with one hand and steering with a cup of coffee in the other. Or, perhaps you’ve seen - or even done - worse. A new survey by Nationwide Mutual Insurance shows “Driving While Distracted” (DWD) is quite prevalent among today’s drivers and more dangerous than you might think. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says distracted drivers account for almost 80 percent of all crashes in the U.S. As found by Nationwide’s survey, even those who perceive themselves as safe drivers admit to doing outlandish things behind the wheel, including changing clothes, balancing a checkbook and shaving. “We are a nation of people with too much to do and too little time. In fact, more than 80 percent of drivers surveyed identified themselves as multitaskers,” said Bill Windsor, associate vice president of Safety at Nationwide. “However, driving requires significant attention. Multitasking while behind the wheel poses a threat to you and your fellow drivers.” According to the survey of 1,200 Americans, 83 percent of those polled believe they are safe drivers and 59 percent don’t consider themselves distracted drivers. However, 73 percent talk on cell phones, only 16 percent drive at or below the speed limit, and 38 percent admit they have driven a certain distance without any recollection of doing so. Key findings include: — DWD Generation: Gen Y-ers are the guiltiest of driving while distracted, with 35 percent admitting to always multitasking in the car. 30 percent of Gen X-ers and 21 percent of Baby Boomers confess to the same. Technology is one of the greatest DWD culprits for Gen Y - 37 percent of this age group admitted to texting or IM-ing while driving, as compared to 17 percent of Gen X and 2 percent of Baby Boomers. — Service With the Seatbelt On: 62 percent of respondents use drive-thru services at least once a week. Use of drive-thru services varies significantly across generations with 45 percent of Gen Y-ers and 48 percent of Gen X-ers preferring to drive-through as compared to only 28 percent of Baby Boomers. — Fast Food Nation: Only food trumped technology in household conveniences drivers would like in their cars with 31 percent wanting a fridge and 29 percent wanting Internet access. Eating habits in cars also varied across generations - 73 percent of Gen Y-ers eat snacks in the car and 48 percent eat full meals. In contrast, 42 percent of Baby Boomers say they don’t eat snacks while driving and even more - 71 percent - say they don’t eat meals while driving. — Going ZZZ mph: Nearly three out of four of participants admit to driving while less than alert. To stay awake, 81 percent roll the window down, 79 percent play loud music and 69 percent drink anything with caffeine. — Just Like the Mailman: Snow, sleet or rain doesn’t prevent drivers from multitasking in the car. More than a third of those who admit to daydreaming, fixing their hair, talking on their cell phone, sending texts, checking their BlackBerry or reading, say they do it regardless of weather conditions. — Regional Rage: New York is known for its toughness but road rage isn’t more common up north. 25 percent of Northeasterners admit to having road rage but so do 26 percent of Southerners and 21 percent of western respondents. Beyond geography, more women than men experience road rage, with Gen Y women having the most road rage. — Disturbing DUI: 5 percent of those surveyed admit they drive drunk. While this number may seem small, it adds up to approximately 60 people - and those are just participants who admitted doing so. 4 percent drive with an open container of alcohol. “More than half of respondents drive at least one hour a day. Clearly, Americans are on the go but they don’t drive nearly as safely as they should,” said Windsor. “Even though we have ever-increasing demands on our time and more technology, we need to make an effort, when behind the wheel, to focus on driving.” What exactly do people do behind the wheel? According to the survey, 31 percent of respondents say they daydream; 23 percent experience road rage; 19 percent fix their hair, text or instant message; 14 percent comfort or discipline children; and 8 percent drive with a pet in their lap. Other multitasking efforts drivers admit to doing include: — Changing seats with passengers — Reading a book — Watching a movie — Writing a grocery list — Nursing a baby — Putting in contact lenses Methodology: A total of 1,200 surveys were completed between Nov. 3 and Nov. 20, 2006, among a national sample via MarketVision Research’s proprietary internet platform, Viewpoint Forum. All respondents were required to be between the ages of 18 and 60 and drive a car. Nationwide was not identified as the sponsor. The survey has +/- 4.5 percent margin of error. Source: Business Wire

This guy rips into the inability for “the survey software” to allow “don’t know” (or not applicable) as a choice, yet proceeds to go on to make a survey design error himself. LINK

This stresses why it’s important to send a test out to your colleagues before sending the survey outside, to your customers, where you can’t take it back quickly.

If you are a data geek like me, you might just get a kick out of Swivel.com.

Although this is not a survey in a “send it out and have people fill it out” sense, it is a survey of the operating system landscape, where Microsoft counts for over 90% of all usage.

See the chart here.

Jason O’grady over at ZDNet did a nice job articulating why iPhone was brilliant to pre-announce their iPhone. You can find the complete list here.

But Jason makes a great point on item #2.

[Apple gets] “Six months of free R&D by a rabid, foaming at the mouth, customer base. I’ve never seen so much press and feature suggestions for a product in my life. Why hire more QA people when you can simply pre-announce something and let the blogosphere do your research for you? (Although it baffles me why Apple hasn’t added a “suggestion” link to their iPhone pages.)”

Great point Jason.

But my question is this: why haven’t more companies adopted a strategic feedback collection tool to pull in opinions, bug fixes, feature requests, and more from their customers or prospects? In this era of group collaboration - where it is believed that external groups provide a critical component of decision making for any organization - it make sense to have a tool to power your feedback collection.

 - Brian

Three-quarters (73%) of the 1,060 UK employees questioned by Chiumento HR consultancy cited good relationships with colleagues as the main reason for enjoying work. Less than half (48%) cited financial rewards.

Only one-quarter of workers said they were “very happy” in their jobs, and one in five described themselves as unhappy.

The Chiumento Happiness Index, published today, also found that employees working for smaller businesses were more likely to be happy than those who work for larger organisations.

Some 86% of employees who work for companies with between 20 and 100 staff feel happy, compared with 78% of those who work in organisations with more than 1,000 staff.

Women were also found to be happier at work than men, with eight in 10 (82%) claiming to be happy in their jobs compared with 78% of men.

Source: Personnel Today
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Sending your customers a survey right after they’ve dealt with your helpdesk is a great way to collect feedback while the experience is still fresh in their minds.

Here’s an example of a survey Linksys sends out after a completed support call.

 What they did wrong

 ————————-

- No validation to check if answers have been filled out (I can skip to page 2 without answering anything).

- The layout is a bit clunky, I’d limit the matrix questions down to one important one.

What they did right

————————

- branded the survey with their logo - only 2 pages - nice and short

Today in New England, as the Patriots lost a nail biter to arch rivals the Indianapolis Colts, we have a good reason to be a bit unhappy.

However this interesting article is about today - January 22nd - and how it is considered the “unhappiest day of the year” by British social scientists.
“All is not doom and gloom, however, as a survey of 85 per cent of people in Britain expect to be happier in the future than they are now, a psychological study for Standard Life Bank found.”