Survey data consists of answers people give to questions about their attitudes, opinions, behaviors, or characteristics. In analytics, those answers can help answer questions that activity records alone cannot settle: a clickstream records what someone did on a website or app, while a survey can capture what they report or think. section 2.1.2 section 10.3.2
Choose a survey source to fit the question:
- Use organizational survey responses when they are available and relevant to the product or customer question. section 2.1.2
- Look for existing public surveys before collecting new data. The General Social Survey includes demographic, political, and wellness topics; Monitoring the Future surveys students in grades 8, 10, and 12. section 10.3.2
- Check who was surveyed and whether the questions fit the analysis. Some recurring surveys retain questions over time, making longitudinal analysis possible; that does not mean every survey supports the same comparison. section 10.3.2
Figure 10.18 Sample question and answers downloaded from the Monitoring the Future survey.
A downloaded Monitoring the Future question and its answers show the kind of raw survey item an analyst may encounter. section 10.3.2
