Library Research Service

Surveys are the rotisserie oven of the data collection methods. You simply “set it, and forget it!” That’s why it’s important to be strategic about how you’re reaching your target population. Otherwise, you may be leaving out key subsets of your audience—which are often voices that are already historically underrepresented.   Is your survey equitable?  Let’s say you want to send out a survey to library users, so you print off a stack of copies and leave them on the lending desk for patrons to take. While everyone in your target audience may have equal access to the survey (or in other words,...

Results from the 2020 Colorado Talking Book Library (CTBL) patron survey are in! Survey respondents gave CTBL high marks again with 99% rating CTBL’s overall service as good or excellent in 2020. This is the ninth survey in a row (over 16 years) where 98% or more of respondents rated CTBL’s overall service as good or excellent. The Colorado Talking Book Library provides free library services to Coloradans who are unable to read standard print materials. This includes patrons with physical, visual, and learning disabilities. The CTBL collection contains audio books and magazines, Braille books, large print books, equipment, and a collection...

The Colorado State Library (CSL)’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity Team (EDIT) is dedicated to raising awareness about EDI issues and spotlighting those values in Colorado’s cultural heritage profession. This guest post is the first in CSL’s new blog series that will regularly be posted on Colorado Virtual Library here. Twice a month, members of the LRS team will be looking at EDI research and how it applies to the library profession. We encourage you to visit the CVL website to learn more!  Using appropriate terminology is a vital part of being an effective communicator. Using inclusive language is a way of...

Bad Survey Questions – pt. 2 Don’t let those bad survey questions go unpunished. Last time we talked about leading and loaded questions, which can inadvertently manipulate survey respondents. This week we’ll cover three question types that can just be downright confusing to someone taking your survey! Let’s dig in.  Do you know what double-barreled questions are and how to avoid them? When we design surveys it’s because we’re really curious about something and want a lot of information! Sometimes that eagerness causes us to jam too much into a single question and we end up with a double-barreled question. Let’s look at...

In our last post, we talked about when you should use a survey and what kind of data you can get from different question types. This week, we’re going to cover two of the big survey question mistakes evaluators make and how to avoid them so you don’t end up with biased and incomplete data. In other words—all your hard work straight into the trash! Do you think a leading question is manipulative?  Including leading questions in a survey is a common mistake evaluators make. A leading question pushes a survey respondent to answer in a particular way by framing the question...

1. What is a survey? If you’ve ever responded to the U.S. Census, then you’ve taken a survey, which is simply a questionnaire that asks respondents to answer a set of questions. Surveys are a common way of collecting data because they efficiently reach a large number of people, are anonymous, and tend to be less expensive and time-intensive than other data collection methods. The purpose of surveys is to collect primarily quantitative data. Surveys can be administered online, by phone, by text, or in print.  2. Should I use a survey to collect data?  In our last post we talked about how...