How to create a survey for arts marketers. Part of the presentation at the Arts Reach conference on May 30, 2023.

1. Creating a Survey to
Test Your Wicked
Question
Q
uantit
ative!
May 30, 2023
Julie Fossitt
Questionnaire design basics including how to test your survey to
ensure it gets you the answers you need
Arts Marketing Research Part B:
We
got
this!

2. Land
Acknowledgment
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca

3. If you missed the workshop this morning, you can
find a link to the slides, the group exercise and
everything else at juliefossitt.ca
Part A: Defining the
Wicked Question
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca

4. Today's Agenda
1 4
2 5
3 6
Workshop objectives Group Exercise
Understanding survey research Dos and Don'ts
Steps in creating a survey Resources and Questions
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca

5. Thanks for being here! You can connect with
me anytime for help or support with your
market research questions.
email: juliefossitt@gmail.com or
jfossitt@cityofkingston.ca
Instagram: @juliefossitt
Linked In: linkedin.com/in/juliefossitt/
About Me
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca

6. Workshop objective
The sole objective of this workshop is to help you create
a survey that will ensure that you get the most accurate
responses to test your decision problem.
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca
1

7. May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca
Understanding survey
research
2

8. Test
relationships
Find
patterns
and
averages
Definition and purpose of
survey research
Survey research is a quantitative research method used
to collect data and gather information from a sample
population.
The primary objective of survey research is to explore
and describe the characteristics, attitudes, opinions,
behaviours, and preferences of a target population.
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca
Make
predictions
Generalize
results to
wider
populations

9. Identify new
opportunities
Advantages of
survey research
Optimize
marketing
channels
Evaluate
and refine
messaging
Measure
impact and
ROI
Focus on
audience
needs
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca

10. Sampling
limitations
Disadvantages of
survey research
Limited
depth
Non-
response
bias
Lack of
context
Response
bias
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca

11. Steps in creating a
survey
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca
3

12. Steps to create a
survey
1.
Define The
Problem
2.
Identify
Research
questions
3.
Select the
target
audience
4.
Choose right
method for
the audience
5.
Design survey
questions
6.
Pretest, test,
and test
again!
7.
Refine and
finalize survey
8.
All systems go!
Simple words;
Keep it short;
be specific;
avoid bias; no
hypothetical
questions; no
vague
quantifiers;
no double-
barrelled
questions
Phone; in
person;
online
demographics;
psychographic
s; product
usage, brand
awareness

13. 4
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca
GROUP EXERCISE
Are You Ready?

14. Group work
Decision problem #1: You are a development associate and want to increase sponsorship of your
musical theatre performances. You have a small group of loyal sponsors, and you think that you
could do more to raise awareness of their brands to your audiences to provide more value. Create a
survey to test your hypothesis.
Decision problem #2: You are the marketing manager at a symphony orchestra and have presented
school performances for 10 years. Attendance has been slowly declining, and you have a hunch that
the reason it has been is the cost of transportation to attend the performance is unaffordable.
Create a survey to test your hypothesis.
Decision problem #3: You are the marketing manager at a small performing arts organization and
have noticed challenges with older customers at shows, particularly related to seating, bar service
and parking. When reviewing Facebook DMS and emails, these themes seem to be an issue. Create
a survey to test your hypothesis.
Questions 1-4 in small groups and then we can do a bit of sharing of questions together.
Choose one decision problem!
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca

15. Checklist: DO
Give clear instructions
Keep question structure simple
Ask one question at a time
Define terms before asking the question
Be explicit about the period of time being referenced by the
question
Provide a list of acceptable responses to closed questions
Ensure that response categories with words rather than
numbers
Ask for numbers of occurrences, rather than providing
response categories like often, seldom, never
Save personal and demographic questions for the end of the
survey
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca

16. Checklist: DON'T
Use jargon or complex phrases
Frame questions in the negative
Use abbreviations, contractions or symbols
Mix different words for the same concept
Use “loaded” words or phrases
Combine multiple response dimensions in the same question
Give the impression that you are expecting a certain
response
Bounce around between topics or time periods
Insert unnecessary graphics or mix many font styles and sizes
May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca

17. May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca
Sage video,
Designing a
survey
Pew Research
Center video,
Question
wording
Kantar online
survey
training
modules
Linkedin
Learning
course
Resources
Page
Equity Matters
podcast with Dr.
Autumn
Blackdeer

18. May 30, 2023
juliefossitt.ca
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR TIME
QUESTIONS?