One-to-One Survey

To get obtain honest and accurate feedback from clients on a proposed design.

PURPOSE:

This tool is useful for evaluating whether the proposed design meets the expectation of the client.

DESIGN PHASE:

(highlighted in bold are the phase or phases most applicable)

Vision and goals
Site exploration
Program development
Co-design
Design evaluation
Implementation

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Survey sheets, including print versions and online links to the survey
Contact info of the participants

TIME REQUIRED:

This activity allows for asynchronous completion; however it is recommended that participants take the survey synchronously during the meeting. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to fill out.

SUGGESTIONS:

Do encourage meeting participants to complete it as soon as possible during or after the meeting when the presentation is still fresh in their memory.
Do follow up with meeting participants to remind them to complete the survey.
Do be succinct and clear in the questions, and limit to no more than eight questions so it does not require a large amount of effort for survey-takers.
Do break down the survey into smaller parts that can be asked during the middle of the meeting.

Overview

The One-to-One Survey method involves a short questionnaire that is distributed to clients after a public meeting to get their feedback and ensure the proposed design is aligned with their vision. It provides the client time to reflect on their thoughts and give detailed feedback without having to do so on-the-fly during the meeting. Additionally, by taking out the face-to-face interaction of providing feedback, it allows the client to make a more honest evaluation of the design. This tool allows the designer to get more honest and accurate feedback from the client.

Two formats of the One-to-One Survey were developed:

Word Document via Email. This involved sending out a copy of the word document to a stakeholder email list. Survey-takers were expected to return their completed form via email.
Via Online Survey Platform. This option has a better user interface and helps manage the responses that come in which is useful in ensuring feedback is captured effectively. It also has the ability to allow multiple devices to access at the same time.

Using the survey method, we asked clients to evaluate whether or not the proposed design aligned with the vision they shared with us during the first client meeting. We used a matrix where participants were asked to select a range of satisfaction. This allowed us to understand what design decisions still needed to be made or modified. We asked the same questions for each design option, which allowed us to compare the level to which stakeholders liked each option.

Organization and Process

The following is a summary of steps to implement the survey:

Identify gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed in the survey
Obtain design team consensus on survey questions
Distribute survey and provide deadline for submission
Analyze survey results

Case Example

The group of MLA students who undertook the Brooklyn Cemetery project utilized this tool as a means to receive feedback from community stakeholders. This was part of the engagement phases of "Co-Design" and "Design Evaluation" and happened after our first client meeting. The survey helped facilitate communication between the students and client, and to document client feedback. This tool worked well for us because there were several stakeholders who seemed to want time to digest the information over a longer period of time before providing feedback, as opposed to providing feedback during the meeting. This allowed them to provide feedback on their own time. Additionally, the survey format allowed those who were not able to join the public meeting to nonetheless provide their feedback on the project. Some sample questions are included below.

We had two versions of the survey that went out - one from the focus group which utilized the online survey platform, and the other group which responded to the survey via email. The one-to-one survey worked well for us overall. We did not receive as many responses as we had hoped; however the responses that we did receive helped us refine our design and provide a final product that was more aligned with the client vision. The survey also helped to identify problems that weren't specifically addressed by the questions asked, because we included a free response section.

Figure 3: Client priorities, as determined by survey

Figure 4: Matrix of client satisfaction

There were some limitations we experienced as well. This included:

Some questions were only relevant to certain groups of people, and therefore were difficult to address via the universal survey
The effectiveness of a survey is in part determined by the number of people participating, and we did not receive as many responses as hoped. Some people had technical difficulties and could not access the survey
Questions for the survey were at times difficult to design, as it was important to write questions in a way that was to the point, but also avoided ambiguity.

In the future it would be a good idea to be flexible in the format of distributing the survey. While we only sent out a word document and online survey link, additional options for completing the survey such as a paper copy would be beneficial. Another option would be to ask some of the questions during break-out sessions in the meetings.

Lessons Learned

Determine if survey is best suited for clients needs
Identify gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed in the survey
Be willing to modify survey format based on feedback.
Create some redundancy in questions, to ensure that responses are accurate
Ask questions about client priorities for the design
Follow up to remind client to take survey, based on response rates
Encourage meeting participants to take survey before leaving

Sources:

Martin, Bella, and Bruce M. Hanington. 2012. Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions. Rockport Publishers. Page 112-117

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