Tim Macer recently reviewed GMI’s Research Analyzer in the February 2007 issue of Research Magazine. Research Analyzer is a fairly easy to use package for analyzing your data and creating reports without the usual hassle that comes from a more "statistical" program like SPSS. Basically, take everything you would do to analyze your data in Excel or SPSS and develop a program that is specifically designed to streamline the process and you get GMI Analyzer. Tim gave the program a 3.5 out of 5 for ease of use; a 4.5 out of 5 for cross-platform compatability; and a 4 out of 5 for value for money.

Tim liked the fact that GMI Research Analyzer is easy to master without taking a class; it has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface; it neatly combines online data serving with offline convenience; and it has a serious range of analytical capabilities. He didn’t like the fact that controlling the look and feel of the output could be difficult; that it dosn’t support the making of blanket changes to tables and charts that are already set up; and he didn’t think there was enough documentation.

Compare GMI Research Analyzer to SPSS Desktop Reporter and web-based MarketSight.

• Read Tim Macer’s review of GMI Research Analyzer 2.0
• Visit the GMI Research Analyzer web site

Martin Day, a Director of SurveyGalaxy, wrote an interesting article entitled "20 Top Tips to Writing Effective Surveys." The article is simply laid out, easy to read, and offers some pretty simple straightforward tips for writing online surveys (or offline surveys for that matter). My favorite tip (of the 20) is "Ensure that the questionnaire flows: whenasking questions group the questions into clear categories as this makes the task of completing the survey easier for the participants."

Sometimes it seems that many of the folks writing surveys — even the professionals — don’t seem to get it that the people taking the survey are for the most part volunteers (unless you’re paying everyone who takes your survey and not doing some kind of a drawing, almost all of your respondents are effectively volunteers) and if you don’t make the experience interesting and perhaps even fun then it is unlikely that anyone is going to go to the trouble of finishing the survey.

Not every survey can be fun. Some surveys are on boring topics. Some surveys use complex methodologies that make it difficult to create any kind of positive user experience. But it seems to me that it is important for us to at least try. If we’re going to ask our volunteers to give us their time and their opinions, it seems that the least we can do is try to make the experience at least somewhat entertaining and interesting.

To that end, in addition to Martin’s article below, I also present you with a link to a page on SurveyGalaxy which offers a list of the most highly rated (i.e., most interesting) surveys available on SurveyGalaxy as rated by respondents. Note that these aren’t always the prettiest survey in the world or the most interactive — but something about them has made respondents give them high ratings.

• Article: 20 Top Tips to Writing Effective Surveys
• SurveyGalaxy List of Best Public Surveys