How to Work with a  Survey Consultant

The Division of Labor Between Your Organization and a Survey Consultant

The structure of a survey project will allow your organization to appropriate various responsibilities for itself rather than have the survey consultant do them.  You may feel that your own resources are adequate for the task, you may possess special talents or credibility, and there may be a saving in out-of-pocket expenses.  These tasks may involve consulting duties, reproduction and distribution, administration, processing or analyses.  How do you make a decision on what to delegate to a consultant, and what to reserve for yourself?

In our experience, organizations can be successful in assuming project tasks for an Organizational Survey when they have the people and experience to handle project management, when they have disciplined business operations, when they can be counted on for strict adherence to tight schedules, when they have flexible data processing operations, when they give great attention to administrative detail, when they are vigilant on avoiding employee relations problems, and when they show concern for appearances as well as substance.

Look at the track record of your staff and your consultant in delivering error-free products and services the first time, on time, and within budget.  There are logistics about which experienced survey consultants are very anxious, and about which inexperienced organizations have a casual attitude:  The role of communications, accurate questionnaires and address labels, statistical analyses based on error free data processing, timeliness of report distribution, and good interpersonal skills among project team members.

Whose Survey Is It, Anyway?

It may also be possible for your organization to conduct some of the analyses, execute statistical procedures and hypothesis testing on the data, produce tabular and graphical displays of quantitative information, and write reports.  However, some survey consultants do not allow you to do this.  Many organizations are surprised to find out that the consultant owns the data and the client organization is not permitted to get a copy of the data file or to transfer the data to another consultant.  As if to add insult to injury, they also learn that the questionnaire is copyrighted by the consultant which prevents them from duplicating the process on their own or with another consultant.

Not all consultants behave this way.  Make sure you and the consultant understand from the beginning that the data are your property, that you may elect to have another consultant process your data at a future time, and that you may wish to use the survey questionnaire on your own.

Anonymity and Confidentiality

The protection of the confidentiality of the survey data and the anonymity of the respondents must be maintained in fact and in appearance.  This is to ensure candid responses, high participation, and credibility in the process.  We counsel against installing a database of survey responses within your organization which has case-wise data representing the responses of individuals. 

When people ask, "Can't you figure out who I am when I tell you what department I am in, how old I am, what my gender is, and so forth?", the answer is, "Yes!"  You can alleviate this concern by assuring respondents that all individual data will be maintained by an independent consulting firm in a repository away from your organization, and no one in your organization will have access to case-wise records or original documents.  [See also Anonymity and Confidentiality]

What Makes for a Successful Relationship with a Survey Consultant?

Client responsibilities.  You and your survey consultant should work as partners in this effort to improve the organization and promote good employee relations.  The survey consultant should recognize that your company is the final authority on this project and the ultimate arbiter of satisfactory performance.  To facilitate effective management of this project, we suggest that you take the following steps.

• Your company should designate a single point of contact to whom the survey consultant will be responsible.  This person will usually be the Organizational Survey project manager and the chair of any Steering Committee.  This individual will have access to all important decision makers and constituencies in the organization.  The project manager will have the authority to make final decisions, arbitrate differences among the committee members, allocate resources, and assign responsibilities.  The project manager will be available to the survey consultant team members.
   
• Your company should appoint members of a Steering Committee who will represent various constituencies and competencies.  The members will participate fully in this work and regard this project as among their primary responsibilities.  They will have access to important decision makers in their respective organizations and make themselves available to the survey consultant team members.  Members will make substantive contributions throughout the project and facilitate its implementation.
   
• Your IT organization should provide the survey consultant all necessary access to information resources for the purpose of work-group facilitation, communication, and application usage.  Your survey consultant may need to access these resources from within your facilities, from their main offices, and from anywhere they travel.  You may need to provide specific application software to the consultant that is needed for compatibility with your company's standards, productivity, and access. 

Consultant responsibilities for archival support.  Your survey consultant should maintain all data and data processing records in a secure facility with back-up and disaster recovery procedures.  They should maintain these archives so that prior results can be incorporated in future reports to show historical comparisons and trends.  Upon request, the consultant should provide copies of data files or reports to individuals or organizations designated by your company.  There may be reasonable administrative costs associated with such requests.

Proprietary information notice.  Your survey consultant should provide a notice similar to this one:

• This Organizational Survey proposal contains material based upon proprietary work products of the consultant and may contain material based upon proprietary products of the client.  The materials are provided for the express purpose of permitting the client to discuss, review, and evaluate a proposal for consulting and research services.  To achieve this purpose, both parties may acquire valuable trade secrets, design methodology and/or confidential and proprietary information of the other party.
   
• Receipt of this proposal shall constitute agreement to treat the contents as confidential, including any information, oral or written, that is not generally known outside the client and the consultant  including, but not limited to, information relating to the client's and the consultant's products, designs, methods of research, business operations such as marketing plans, customer lists, and pricing methods as well as personnel and organizational data.
   
• The client and the consultant agree to receive and maintain all Proprietary Information in confidence using at least reasonable care to preserve such confidence and, except as provided herein, shall not use proprietary information for its own benefit or disclose it to third parties without the written consent of the other two parties.

Confidentiality of client information.  The consultant's employees and sub-contractors should sign confidentiality agreements specific to your Organizational Survey project.  This is above and beyond the general confidentiality agreements they sign.  The client should be welcomed and invited to make unannounced visits to the consultant's facilities to examine their work and assess the adequacy of their security.

The consultant should have secure premises, electronically alarmed, with automatic radio contact to their security provider in the event telephone and electric lines are disabled.  Offices and project files should have locks, and sprinkler systems should be installed throughout.  Your survey consultant should have no public thoroughfare through their offices or production area.

Other consultant arrangements should include the following:

• Project files backed up at least once a day and backup media removed from the premises.
   
• Project files periodically transferred to a non-destructive medium (CD-ROM WORM Technology) and placed in a vault.
   
• Specific arrangements must be worked out with your IT organization on the transfer and encrypting of data over the internet, password access to FTP servers, and access to your application and file servers.  The consultant should conform to whatever standards and protocols are required by the client.
   
• Confidential materials destroyed by a professional, bonded document destruction service which issues a signed affidavit upon destruction.