{"id":312,"date":"2013-07-08T12:49:11","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T12:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/?p=312"},"modified":"2024-01-12T11:29:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T11:29:06","slug":"working-of-offline-surveys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/working-of-offline-surveys\/","title":{"rendered":"Working of Offline Surveys \u2013 Are they Reliable and Convenient?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Surveys have a longstanding history. Homo sapiens are prone  to asking questions from day one. Even when no particularly established language  existed and mankind used hand and body gestures to communicate, there existed a  strong urge, known as curiosity, which inclined them to ask and collect  information.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2022\tThe Need for Surveys!<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.betranslated.com\/blog\/survey-translation-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">With human evolution came many languages<\/a>. As the lexicon developed in some of the most widely spoken languages, it became easier to gather knowledge from each other. The enlightened humans developed several technologies to conduct first hand information and feedback regarding everything, from business to social life, of the people. There emerged a concept of paper-based surveys that still works for many in today\u2019s fast-paced world.<\/p>\n<p>Again, with the rise of commercialism, the need for timely evaluations increased tenfold. Surveys became an established mode of collecting data in many industries, thus, giving rise to an urgency for which we came up with the method of phone surveys. These were not only quicker but also more cost effective as the expenses on travel were reduced. However, it has its own expenses, such as a huge phone bill, that needs to be taken care of.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2022\tSpeedy Collection of Data<\/h2>\n<p>Nowadays, globalization has taken root in our system in the form of World Wide Web and people tend to avoid making calls one after another or knocking on the doors of strangers just to ask a few questions. After all, why would they waste so much time and energy when they can get just that in a much more efficient way?<\/p>\n<p>They have their computers, mobile phones, and tablets where  they can access internet anytime and create and disseminate their surveys  within minutes, if not seconds. The free online survey websites have also made  it rather easy to get free registration and services. The surveyors can easily  get free multiple samples, unlimited questions, unlimited answer options,  unlimited number of responses, a long list of question types, etc. to make  their surveys time and cost-effective.<\/p>\n<p>We know what perks online surveys have to offer, but have  they rendered the offline surveys ineffective for good? How so? Let\u2019s have a  detailed discussion on that today.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2022\tKnock or Call \u2013 You Need Feedback!<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/mediums-of-surveys\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>mediums of surveys<\/strong><\/a> have their pros and cons. Even paper based surveys turn out to be useful in  certain situations. Paper surveys work best when used within corporate  organizations, educational institutes, government offices, etc. They not only  prove to be long lasting for record-keeping but also create an impression of  authenticity in the respondent\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n<p>Phone survey, on the other hand, works well on a broad  level. It can be used for political reasons, such as, verifying voter  registration or evaluating public opinion and awareness. Other than that, it  also works well to judge customer satisfaction in various industries such as,  hospitals, banks, phone network and internet providers, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Other positive aspects of using paper and phone based  surveys are as follows:<\/p>\n<h3>Paper-Based Surveys:<\/h3>\n<p>\u221a Paper surveys have better visibility, and based on their subject, they weigh on the respondent\u2019s mind more than a usual online survey.<\/p>\n<p>\u221a You get to meet the respondents in person and answer any questions they might have regarding the survey.<\/p>\n<p>\u221a You get immediate idea of a survey-takers opinion but it takes longer to come up with the overall final report.<\/p>\n<h3>Offline Phone Surveys:<\/h3>\n<p>\u221a Through phone surveys, you can reach a wider audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u221a People with zero literacy can participate in the survey.<\/p>\n<p>\u221a Interaction with the respondent is direct.<\/p>\n<p>\u221a Data quality is normally higher than other mediums because if the respondents get confused over something, surveyor can explain it to them.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2022\tReasons Why We Avoid Them!<\/h2>\n<p>Plenty of them, actually! We avoid both paper-based and  phone surveys (types of offline surveys) for several reasons; some of which we  shall be discussing shortly. One more thing is the availability of a better  option, i.e. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>free online surveys<\/strong><\/a>. The battle between <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/paper-survey-vs-online-survey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper surveys vs online surveys<\/a><\/strong> will always end in favor of the internet surveys till we can find an even  better substitute.<\/p>\n<h3>Waste of Time<\/h3>\n<p>Paper based surveys take too long to reach into the hands of  each and every respondent. For each survey, we have to select an audience and  then send the survey out to them to understand and fill that questionnaire. It  doesn\u2019t need a genius to figure out that going door to door to distribute and  then collect the survey is one heck of a time-consuming job. This is the reason  why conducting paper surveys normally takes weeks, if not months, to accumulate  data.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, phone surveys take a lot of patience on the part  of the surveyor as he has to dial so many numbers and then ask a particular set  of questions and eradicate all confusions in the mind of each respondent. Survey  takers, too, have to stay on phone and compromise on whatever they might be working  on before the phone call. They can\u2019t attend the survey at their leisure.<\/p>\n<h3>Waste of resources<\/h3>\n<p>So we all know that the latest trend in survey making, i.e.  online surveys, is not only free of cost but can be availed at a reliable site  like the SurveyCrest. Why would any of us want to invest hundreds of dollars on  printing paper, hiring printing machines, and people who would later distribute  the survey? Or, in the case of phone surveys, making extensive calls on  hundreds of numbers?<\/p>\n<p>Offline surveys have minimum flexibility when it comes to  using resources. You have to go to great lengths in order to reach out to your  customers and collect timely authentic data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Surveys have a longstanding history. Homo sapiens are prone to asking questions from day one. Even when no particularly established language existed and mankind used hand and body gestures to communicate, there existed a strong urge, known as curiosity, which inclined them to ask and collect information. \u2022 The Need for Surveys! With human evolution [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,5],"tags":[122,125,124,19,119,123],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-offline-surveys","category-survey","tag-how-offline-surveys-work","tag-offline-survey-apps","tag-offline-surveys-2","tag-online-surveys","tag-survey-tips","tag-working-of-offline-surveys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5575,"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/5575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surveycrest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}