Workshop Objectives Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
Describe the importance and benefits of Client Satisfaction Surveys (CSS) List the steps required to develop a CSS tool Analyze and critique sample CSS questions Begin the development of their own CSS tool
Agenda
Definition of terms Purposes and benefits of CSS Steps in the CSS development process
Lunch
Analysis & critique of CSS tools and questions Development of your own CSS tool Workshop Evaluation
Surveys
Knowing what the client wants is the key factor to success in any type of organization or business
Organizations need to know what their members want
The best way to find this information is to conduct a survey What is a Client Satisfaction Survey (CSS)?
A relatively simple but effective way to evaluate the delivery and quality of the services your agency provides to clients
Provides you with data that tells you what clients really think about your services and the people that deliver them (rather than what you think they think!).
What does a CSS do? Identify trends in client satisfaction Measure results over time Identify new service areas Improve your existing services Provide indicators of agency and staff strengths and areas of improvement Improve accountability Benefits of CSS
An opportunity to target areas for (continuous) improvement
An opportunity to present the full range of services offered to your clients on an annual basis
Clear Objectives The Clients The Survey Questions The Results Implementing Change
What Makes a Successful CCS? The Steps in a CSS Project Establish the goals of the project Determine your sample Choose interview methodology Design questionnaire Pre-test the questionnaire Administer survey Collect and enter data Analyze data Present data Step 1: Establish Goals Establish the goals of the project
What do you want to learn? What will you measure (e.g. overall service, specific services, program efficiency or responsiveness, etc.) ? Why do you want to measure this factor? What are the possible benefits?
Try not to mix too many purposes into a single CSS. Keep it focused. Step 2: Determine Sample Determine your sample
Who will you interview? Who is your clientele? Will this group provide you with the necessary data to meet the goals of the project?
Keep the sample large enough for a sufficient amount of data but small enough so that it is manageable.
Step 3: Choose Interview Methodology Choose an interview methodology
How will you conduct the interview? - mail out; questionnaires; individual interviews; case study; focus group; on-line surveys
Make up of your clientele - Language; accessibility options; age; education Step 4: Design Questionnaire Create your questionnaire
What you will ask? What do you NEED to know? Will the questions asked meet the goals of the project?
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
Researchers often use a combination of QUANTITATIVE and QUALITATIVE questions to assess client satisfaction. Quantitative Questions Aiming for clear answers (that can be quantified)
Often focused on the descriptors/variables and their relationship - E.g. ---- # of days in hospital
The Checklist Please select which in-patient services you used in the last month?
Individual therapy Group therapy Medication Twelve-step program (NA, CA, AA) Other (please describe) ________________________
Ranking Please order which in-patient services you found the most helpful (where 1= most helpful & 5 = least helpful)?
_ Individual therapy _ Group therapy _ Medication _ Twelve-step program (NA, CA, AA) _ Other (please describe) ________________________
Rating / Likert Scale
Please rate the degree to which you agree/disagree with the following statement:
I was completely satisfied with the in-patient services I received.
Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Typically open-ended (e.g. how questions)
A way of finding out more in-depth information about what client feels or experienced
Can be time consuming for client to respond to and for CSS administrator to process Qualitative Questions Sample Qualitative Questions How satisfied were you with the responsiveness of the program staff in meeting your needs?
How might the program might improve its services to better meet your needs?
Exercise 1 Evaluating Questions Working in small groups discuss the differences between questions 1 & 2.
In what ways have our services benefited you?
Can you tell us the ways in which our services have affected you? Exercise 2 Critiquing Questions Critique the following questions:
1. How would you rate our organizations internal capacity (circle one)? 1-poor 2-fair 3-good 4-great 5-excellent
2. Did the group sessions ever adversely affect you? Structuring Your Questions: Things to Avoid Avoid technical terms and acronyms, unless the respondents know what they mean
Avoid using an odd-number rating scale, such as a 1-5 scale (e.g. poor, fair, good, great, excellent) as people will tend to choose the middle choice
Avoid biased or loaded questions
Avoid questions that are unclear or can be interpreted in more than one way
Structuring Your Questions: Dos Ensure the questions are valid
Check that they really measure what they are aiming to measure
Ensure the questions are reliable
Ensure they are understood the same way by different people and that a person answering similar questions will answer similarly
Make sure your questions accept all the possible answers
Depending on the goal of the project, include demographic information
More Dos
Keep it short. Long surveys are a turn-off to most people.
Keep it simple. Limit the number of open-ended questions.
Keep it real. Use language that is easily understandable to your client.
Make it look good. Organize your questions logically, use a simple font and keep it looking neat and tidy. Exercise 3 Designing Questions
In your small group, develop a CCS (on flip chart paper) that measures peoples satisfaction with the workshop thus far.
Determine specifically what you want to measure and why.
Include a combination of quantitative and qualitative questions (5-8 total).
Keep in mind the question design dos and donts discussed earlier.
Exercise 3 Continued The Gallery Walk Post your groups CSS on the wall. Silently walk around the room to look at the other groups CSSs.
Choose two (not your groups) to respond to. Record the questions and your answers. No one will see your responses.
Note similarities and differences between the design of CSSs and whether and how the CSS design effects your responses. Debrief of Exercise 3
What did you notice about the various CSSs that were created? What was similar? What was different? Any surprises? What worked well? What could be improved? What did you learn about CSS design from this activity? Step 5: Pre-test the Questionnaire How to Pre-test?
Test questionnaire with a small number of interviews Test the survey on the same kinds of people you will include in the main study
Why Pre-test?
Pre-testing can reveal unanticipated problems with question wording, instructions, structure, etc It can help you see if the interviewees understand your questions It helps to determine if the responses meet the objectives Step 6: Administer CSS Distribute the survey and include the following:
A cover letter/introduction explaining the purpose of the CSS and how the information will be used When it needs to be returned A thank you to the client
Step 7: Collect & Enter Data Collect and enter data
Expect to collect data 2-3 weeks after distributing
Determine ahead of time (before or while CSS is being developed) data management program (e.g. NVIVO or NuDist for qualitative; SPSS, SAS, Stata for quantative)
Determine ahead of time who will enter data; provide them with adequate training
Step 8: Analyze Data Identify themes & patterns Frequencies - counts of things, how many times things happen; get mean, median, mode Descriptives - percentages or raw numbers of demographics and other factors that would be nonsensical to take an average of such as gender or ethnicity Outliers - things that fall outside the expected values
Step 9: Report Results Produce the reports
Who is the target audience? Identify specific areas for change Identify action outcomes of the CSS Make results available to clients Exercise 4 Question Revision
Review your CSS questions with a partner and gather their feedback.
Specifically focus on what extent are the questions:
Clear and simple? Valid and reliable? Unbiased? Manageable in number?
Reflection & Next Steps Reflect on and record 1-3 things you learned today.
Record 1-3 related goals you have going forward.
Record 1-3 related next steps you plan to take upon leaving the workshop. Workshop Objectives Having completed this workshop you should now be able to:
Describe the importance and benefits of Client Satisfaction Surveys (CSS) List the steps required to develop a CSS tool Analyze and critique sample CSS questions Begin the development of their own CSS tool