Here are the steps you can take to
accomplish this project:
Team up with a classmate
that is working within an organization and can obtain permission from the
organization for you to plan a satisfaction survey to address their needs.
Obtain a
letter of introduction
from the instructor and send it to the sponsor.
Download►
Decide on the survey tool you will use.
We have developed a tool for active solicitation of complaints and praise
which we call “Minute Evaluation” to emphasize the short nature of the form.
Short surveys are expected to increase the client's response rate and reduce
cost of conducting satisfaction surveys. The response rate to current
satisfaction surveys is relatively low. It takes repeated call backs and
other reminders to improve the response rate. Naturally, the cost of
conducting satisfaction surveys is high. One way of improving response
rate is to make it easier for people to respond. The following form
reduces the number of questions asked from the patients to a bare minimum.
Note that patients respond to two
questions. The first question asks the patient to rate their
experience. The second question provides the explanation for the
rating. In addition, the provider enters the information on visit code
and location code prior to providing the postcard to the patient. The
question on the visit code establishes the sequence of the data collected
and is important in analysis of time (number of visits) to dissatisfied
customer. The question on location relates the rating to a specific
unit within the health care institution and allows the provider to focus on
evaluation of specific units. The Minute Evaluation of Satisfaction is
typically printed on a postcard. Preferably, patients should drop
their response in a box before leaving the organization. Some, may
wish to mail the postcard at a later time. The postcard contains no
personal information and can be mailed without cover.
Sometimes, when organizations want to
understand more details about the reason behind the patient's complaint or
praise, additional survey tools are used to gather more details.
Patients who rate their experience in the two extremes may be contacted to
complete a more detailed survey tool. In this manner, most patients
are spared the burden of completing long and detailed survey tools.
Patients find the Minute Evaluation of Satisfaction more convenient than
other longer tools, response rate improves and cost of collecting patient's
satisfaction with care is reduced.
Decide on the frequency of the survey.
Discuss
sampling strategies (convenient sample, sampling the next n patients,
two stage sampling, inverse sampling or sampling until two dissatisfied
patients are found, adaptive sample or sampling more intensively when a
dissatisfied patient is found.
More►
Decide on who will do what, when and how.
Decide survey procedures (e.g. list of patients, sampling steps, cover
note, consent form, questionnaire distribution, collection of
questionnaire, data entry, timing of data analysis, timing of reports,
recipients of reports.) Consider various options for who
will hand out the survey (mail, receptionist at start, receptionist
exit, etc.) Give details and discuss these details with the organizations.
Estimate resources needed to carryout the survey. Estimate the
start and end times.
More►
Do not collect data. You are expected
to only plan for data collection and not actually collect the data. Use the
data provided by the instructor (or make up your own data) to
demonstrate your project plans. Analyze the data and show how the
findings will be reported. In your presentation make sure it is
clear that the tables and graphs are not based on real data.
Download►
Describe who will use
the data and why. Specify the improvement team that is waiting for
the data or plan the selection and maintenance of the team.
Engage members of the
organization in your plans and get their reactions.
Prepare a
narrated slide showthat provides an over view of your plans. The intent is to
prepare a short narrative that is effective in selling your plan to others
within the organization (use customer's voice, use vivid images or videos,
use short slogans, give the advantages of the plan, why it is easy, why it
is effective, etc.).
See guide on how to post narrated videos to the web.
Video►SWF►You
Tube►
Prepare a final report using the following
headings:
Executive summary: A one page summary of
the entire plan
Time to dissatisfied customer: Review the literature on satisfaction surveys
(at least 2-3 pages) and report the low rate of response to satisfaction surveys.
Discuss what is known to improve response rate and the importance of
examining time to dissatisfied customers.
Minute survey: Describe different questionnaires available for measuring
satisfaction of patients. Contrast these with the minute
evaluation form.
Survey timing: Describe how often
patients will be surveyed and why. Describe the two stage sampling
plan and why detailed information is not collected in the first stage.
Plan details: Describe who, what, where, when the survey will be done
Pilot test: Using a sample data, show how the data will be analyzed.
You can obtain sample data from the instructor. Analyze the data and
show the results that could be obtained from the data collection.
Plan acceptance: Describe reaction of
people who have reviewed the plan or participated in the planning
process
The following resources may
be of use:
Listen to the instructor's view on
how satisfaction surveys should be organized.
Slides►
Listen►
Read paper on advantages of Minute Survey of
satisfaction.
More►
Examples
Here are some examples of the work done by
a student. Please note these examples are provided without
judgment of quality of the work. Furthermore, note that the
instructions for the project have changed since these assignments were
completed.
Example 1►
Example 2►,
Example 3►and
Example 4►
The following are two examples of narrated slides prepared
by students about their plans:
Here is a comic example of media students put together to present their
work:
Here is another narrated example on use of Minute
Survey. Note that in this example the use of Time-between Control
Chart is not appropriate, as multiple surveys are available after each
class.
You Tube 3►
Peer Evaluation
We ask students to evaluate each other’s work because
they often have fresh perspectives that are absent when only instructor
provides feedback. In addition, when students teach an idea, they learn it
in much more detail. The exercise ends up helping the evaluator more than
the person being evaluated. When providing
peer evaluation of group projects, students can use the following rubric to
guide their evaluation:
1)Date: The document should include the date the draft was
received and the date evaluation was sent back.
2)Praise: Student evaluators should start with what worked
well. They should use many adjectives and be clear about what was done
well.
3)Presentation: Comment on effectiveness of the presentation.
Students will do their colleagues a service by setting a very high standard
for effective presentation as that is what the instructor expects. There is
no specific prescription but asking the following questions may help:
Is it too much text and too little visual guides?
Is it written poorly?
Are pages numbered and titled clearly?
Is the document fun? Are there any cartoons to break the boredom?
Are there images to help make the points more succinctly?
No one is required to do any of these elements but these are given as
examples of thoughtful presentations.
4)Improvement: Student evaluators should describe what needs
more improvement within each section (literature review, survey selection,
survey timing, plan details, pilot test and plan acceptance). They should
make at least one comment in each section. They should not use any
adjectives in their comments. They should give details of the improvements
and avoid general statements. They should be honest and clear.
5)Completeness: Student evaluators should comment on whether
all sections of the report were present, including sections waiting for
input or data:
a)Executive summary (all reports should have this or have a
placeholder for it)
b)
Literature review (there should be a reasonable review attached)
c)Survey (there should be several different surveys discussed
and contrasted)
d)Survey timing (two stage sampling or other sampling strategies
should be discussed)
e)Plan details (it should be clear who is doing what and when)
f)Pilot test. (some data should be analyzed and presented or
plans to do this should be clear)
g)Plan acceptance (plans to solicit and report acceptance should
be described)
6)
Student evaluators should finish by
describing in detail what they have learned from the review of the draft
project. They should give details of how they plan to change their own
project as a consequence of what they have learned.
Students should not provide a grade. Email the
evaluation to all members of the group as well as to the instructor. Please
send one email copied to the relevant people.
