Survey for formative research

Abstract

Surveys are used frequently for formative research. Most frequently this involves baseline behavioural measures. However, surveys are very useful for a wider range of formative research including studying existing knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of a population. One reason is that there is a considerable amount of secondary data that already exists. An advantage of surveys is that data can be collected from a large population relatively cheaply. Surveys can be used to understand a population or to evaluate an intervention. Questions can be asked in a variety of forms-either quantitative or qualitative, open or closed-ended-and allow the potential to get honest answers to sensitive information. In actual use, several surveys have been used to study people’s existing behaviours. Examples include the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveys such as the BRFSS, NHIS and NHANES. Surveys have also been used to assess the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs that help us to understand those behaviours, often to help segment and target specific segments of a population. Finally, a case study examines how Porter Novelli’s HealthStyles survey was developed and how it has been used to understand a variety of health behaviours.