In this webinar, you will learn two brainstorming options that will amp up your survey projects.

1. How to Create a Stellar
Survey Through
Brainstorming

2. Kathryn Korostoff
Lead Instructor at
Research Rockstar
Dan Fleetwood
President, Ques5onPro
Communi5es 2

3. Upon comple5on par5cipants will be able to:
Learning Objec5ves
§ Prepare to facilitate a great brainstorming session
§ Use brainstorming to iden5fy important
ques5onnaire content
§ Priori5ze content generated during
brainstorming sessions
§ Keep brainstorming par5cipants engaged

4. Introduc5on

5. What is Brainstorming?
A. A process to help you break out of standard thinking
paLerns.
B. Any exercise used to jumpstart a crea5ve process.
C. A method of problem solving in which members of a group
contribute ideas spontaneously.
D. A process for using unrestrained or spontaneous
par5cipa5on to generate ideas.
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In the context of this webinar, all of the above
PLUS a process used to generate a list of
variables for possible inclusion in a well-planned
questionnaire

6. Why Do We Need It?
§ Many things block clear thinking, especially fear
§ Have you ever been in a mee5ng, and not fully par5cipated
due to:
– Fear of being wrong
– Fear of standing out/being different
– Fear of repercussions
– Feeling you do not have permission
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7. Why Do We Need It?
§ Have you ever been in a mee5ng to discuss ques5onnaire
design, and felt its success was impeded by
A. Habits
B. Conven5onal wisdom
C. Dominant mee5ng par5cipants
D. Insufficient facilita5on
E. Too many great ideas
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8. Too Many Ideas?
Prioritization Process
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9. Kick-off Mee5ngs
§ Typical survey research kick-off mee5ng agenda items:
– Project objec5ves
– Sampling plan
– Research deliverables
– Timelines
– Dependencies
– Escala5on process
– And…..
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Hypothesis
generation!

10. Why have we
experienced a
sharp increase
in customer
defections?
Idea A
Idea B
More!
What types of
marketing
messages are
likely to
resonate with
our target
customers as
we roll-out this
new product
or solution?
Idea A
Idea B
More!
If we
discontinue
our print
catalog, how
might sales
change?
Idea A
Idea B
More!
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Project Objectives =
Brainstorming Topics
Brainstorming Needs

11. Have you ever
completed data
collec5on and
realized….
§ You missed some
important ques5ons?
§ You can’t conduct all
of the analysis you
would like because
you don't have all of
the right variables?
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12. Planning Ahead for
Brainstorming

13. Step 1: Choose Your Topic
Sample
Enforcement
Qualifica5ons
Demographics
Measurement
Past or
Planned
Behaviors
Aetudes
Percep5ons
Values
Data Analysis
Demographics
Compara5ve
Psychographics
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Variables We
Need to
Design a Killer
Questionnaire

14. Step 2: Plan Your ALendees & Venue
§ Number of par5cipnts
– 3-5: Run “individual” versions of tasks
– 5 to 20: Run “team” versions
– More than 20? Can be tough. BeLer to run separate sessions
§ Par5cipant aLributes
– Diversity is key. Seek a mix of:
– Job 5tles
– Seniority
– Client interac5ons
– Personality types
§ Venue
– Sufficient room to move, especially if doing team-based versions
– Temperature control
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15. Step 3: Select a Brainstorming Exercise
§ We’ll cover two that work well for survey planning
– But there are many, many!!
– 100s of books on brainstorming have exercises that can be easily
modified for survey planning
§ As we go over the two sample exercises think about which
one:
– Would be most likely to ignite your project teams
– Would be comfortable for you to facilitate
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16. Brainstorming
Exercise #1!

17. Chartstorming Steps
§ Goal: Use “thinking with the end in mind”
§ Result: A list of items sorted based on importance and
ac5onability
§ The winners should be used to crap ques5ons, answer
op5ons and scales
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18. Chartstorming Steps
1. Have each team design 5 “must have” charts or other visuals
displays on Topic
§ “Imagine it is the end of our project, and you only get 5 charts. What
are they? Sketch them out. No points for ar5s5c talent.”
2. Display all sketches on the wall
3. Facilitate:
§ Consolidate based on overlaps/redundancies
§ Rate the “keepers” on 5=point scales of scales of importance and
ac5onability
§ Calculate the winners and sort in order from high to low
§ Ask par5cipants: Any surprises?
§ Use the charts to create a list of variables, which can then be turned
into quesFons
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19. Brainstorming
Exercise #2!

20. Opposites Rule
§ Goal: Use contrasts to challenge conven5onal thinking
§ Results: A list of items sorted by poten5al survey value
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21. Opposites Rule Steps
§ Present pre-planned hypotheses related to the Topic
– Get team members to edit or agree on a final set of 3 – 5
§ Re-write them as opposites
§ Ask each team to generate its ideas
– Give them at least 10 minutes
§ Have each team present their “top 5”
– For each item they present, have the group rate them on poten5al
survey value
§ Sort the finalists based on group consensus
§ Use the ideas to create a list of variables, which can then be
turned into quesFons
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22. Example
§ For a hypothe5cal market segmenta5on study: you want to
iden5fy segments that will be priori5zed based on propensity
to buy your product.
§ Opposites approach:
– Task: Describe a person who would NOT buy our product.
– Employment?
– Age?
– Magazines they read?
– Car brand?
– Aetude?
– Behavior?
– Clothing style?
– Favorite TV show?
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23. Let’s Try It!
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24. Facilita5on:
Show5me!

25. Are your clients internal, external or both?
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26. Step 4: Establishing the Right Environment
Welcome
attendees
Establish
Trust
State Topic
Smile and
encourage!
Avoid filtering:
“Variety is
key!”
Write down
ALL ideas
Add fun
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Great Brainstorming
Requires a Great Team
Dynamic

27. Facilita5on: Be
Confident

28. Step 5: Facilitate!
§ Facilitate your exercise.
– Don’t rush it
§ Don’t let any one
person dominate—
including yourself!
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“If you are only hearing from the same people…you are not going to likely reinvent or innovate much of anything.” Source: h;ps://hbr.org/2009/05/how-to-lead-be;er-brainstormi

29. Planning Ahead Boosts Confidence!
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You can do it!
Really nervous?
Invite a colleague
to co-facilitate

30. Why are we doing the
brainstorming?
We need to know the topics to keep
the brainstorming on task
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31. Great Facilitators Add Fun!
1. Give par5cipants stress balls, Rubik's cubes, other things to
“play” with
2. Bring a buzzer or funny “sound” machine
3. Remove the conference table
4. Add movement:
– Bring a sop/foam ball and ask people to toss it aper they take their
turn
5. Ask them to role play:
– Do the exercise as if you were “Clint Eastwood”, “Beyoncé” “Bill
Gates”, “a 3 year old”, “Tom Brady”, “Richard Branson”, etc.
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32. Step 6: Assess! The Survey Suitability Test
§ Review the ideas/finalists
– Are we asking something that people are able to easily answer?
– Are we asking something people will be willing to answer?
– Are we asking with an appropriate Fme frame?
– Are we asking something too hypotheFcal?
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33. THANK YOU!
Questions?