There are two primary methodologies for conduction employee satisfaction surveys -- Internet and paper-and-pencil. The choice of methodology should be based on what is best for the respondents -- best in terms of convenience, ease of use, trust in the method. There is little difference in price between either method until the sample size numbers in the thousands, in which case Internet is more cost effective.

If all employees, or substantially all employees have access to the Internet from work, Internet is our recommended methodology. It generally results in a higher response rate and is faster than paper-and-pencil. It also gives a bit more control in terms of how the questions are presented and gives the ability to require that certain questions must be answered. We have a secure server, so there is no issue with regard to confidentiality of sending results when an Internet survey is done with us.

If only a small percentage of employees have Internet access from work, we recommend using the traditional paper-and-pencil methodology. Even if cost savings could be realized by forcing employees to a central location to complete the survey, it is better to use paper-and-pencil in this circumstance to avoid user errors caused by a lack of familiarity with the Internet medium on the part of some users.

In some cases, it is appropriate to mix methodologies. This is the preferred approach when there are large contingents of employees with Internet access and large contingents without. The mixed method generally will yield a higher response rate than will the paper-and-pencil method.