#004 – 2006 Autumn

In this edition we include a Tribe Research services update on the development of the Tribal Tool-Kit online survey software; and the expansion of our Tribal Know-How workshops.

We discuss how to ask questions for useful data outcomes. We have provided a practical example of the impact of asking a simple question in different ways and how this can have striking results. The example, applicable across a wide range of industries, uses several Multiple Sclerosis datasets.

We also talk about 3 great networking organisations and hope you enjoy the exciting adventures of our Tribe Research bags.

Happy reading!

Kate Tribe
ask@triberesearch.com.au
T | +61 2 9264 4432

Tribe Research News

Introducing Tribal Tool-Kit

The summer 2006 edition of Tribal Voice introduced the online survey tool Tribe Research are developing. Tribal Tool-Kit will have several advantages over the online survey products currently available, including:

• Greater range of question formats
• Improved branding options for clients
• Multi-lingual capability
• Data will easily import into the SPSS statistical package, reducing the time and cost of analysis
• Web-standards compliant user-end surveys – XHTML 1.0 Transitional, CSS 2, WAI Priority 2, Semantic page structure
• Web-standards compliant administrative tool – XHTML 1.0 Transitional, CSS 2, WAI Priority 1/2, Semantic page structure
• Drag and Drop Survey development interface using AJAX technology
• Enhanced Email facilities, allowing Group or individual emails to be sent prior to or during the running of a survey

Tribal Tool-Kit will be launched towards the end of 2006. We will keep you informed on its progress.

Tribal Know-How Workshops

Our interactive Customer Feedback: for small business workshop was a great success. Participants learnt the necessary skills to create their own customer feedback survey tool and shared experiences of dealing with customer feedback with each other.

100% would recommend the workshop to others.

Upcoming workshops…

If you missed out on the first one, the next Customer Feedback: for small business workshop has been scheduled for 4 evening sessions in August.

In October we’ve scheduled Utilising Data [you didn't know you had]. You will learn how to maximise the data collected in the day-to-day running of a business, which can be utilised to improve your business regardless of the primary reason for its collection.

If you are interested in these workshops please email us for a registration form. You don’t need to pay now to reserve a place.

More information is on our workshops webpage.

Where has your Tribe Research bag been?

Thank you to those who have sent us photos of their adventures with their Tribe Research bags. Each week a new photo will be on our home page and we will email you to let you know if your photo is the current one. If you would like a Tribe Research bag email us and we will post it to you.

Networking opportunities

Networking functions are a valuable resource to help promote and improve your business. With so many networking opportunities around, it is a good idea to determine the best match for your business interests. Here are three that we have been involved with.

The Last Thursday Club (LTC)

LTC is a networking event for creative businesspeople in Sydney. If you like thinking outside the square, you’ll love LTC. More at http://www.lastthursdayclub.com.au.

The 2006 LTC survey was sponsored by Tribe Research. To thank us, LTC have offered 4 guest tickets to their June event which has Keith Cunningham from the USA [http://www.keystothevault.com]. Keith is the author of “Keys to the Vault: Lessons from the pros on raising money and igniting your business.”

Email us for the chance to come to LTC as a guest of Tribe Research, celebrate the end of the financial year with some of the Tribe Research Explorers, and hear Keith Cunningham. Just put “LTC offer” in the subject and the first 4 to contact us will win!

The Australian Businesswomen’s Network (ABN)

The ABN was established to provide business education for women across Australia and to facilitate opportunities for them to network, learn and be inspired by role models and by each other. More information at: http://www.abn.org.au

A recent ABN event was at AMP to hear NATSEM’s director Dr Ann Harding talk about a recent report they produced: Small business in Australia 1995-2004. The graph below shows how businesswomen who are involved with the ABN are working more hours than the NATSEM report indicates is generally the case – 71% of small business owners and 94% of employees work over 35 hours a week, compared to 43% and 53% in the 2004 NATSEM report. I’m not sure if this is good news or not!

Hours worked by Small Business Operators and Employees as reported by Australian Businesswomen’s Network 2005 survey participants and as reported by AMP.NATSEM in Small Business in Australia 1995-2004

Hours businesswomen work in an average week…

The Canada Bay Business Group (CBBG)

The Canada Bay Business Group offers informal networking to business owners, managers and entrepreneurs located in or servicing the Canada Bay / Inner West area. They meet over a drink and nibbles on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at PJ Gallaghers Hotel Drummoyne. The meetings are $25 per person, which includes your first drink. You will hear from a variety of guest speakers on business topics and issues, plus an opportunity for open networking. Council representatives and State Parliament members regularly come along to keep us up-to-date with issues, events and information relevant to business.

The next meeting is June 14 at 6pm. We offer you a discounted attendance fee of $20 through Tribal Voice. RSVP is essential. Email us to register your attendance or for more information.

Feature Article

Asking questions for useful data outcomes

Tribe Research’s involvement in numerous MS projects has allowed some interesting observations to be made, particularly for how symptom reporting can be affected by the way a question is asked.

Don’t stop reading if you think this doesn’t relate to you… this comparison could be made in any sector or industry.

The most direct comparisons we can make are between:

• MS Society of South Australia and Northern Territory
  • 2003 Member Census Study
  • 2006 Needs Study

Both studies asked participants what their 3 “most impacting” symptoms were:

• In the 2003 study they were prompted with a list of symptoms
• In the 2006 study no prompts were given

Additionally, the MS Society of NSW 2001 Client Census Study asked for general symptoms, with no prompting of interviewees. The reporting of symptoms in the NSW study can be compared to the SA and NT 2003 study which also asked for general symptoms, but prompted for a list of symptoms.

This resulted in noticeable differences between the proportion reporting particular impacting symptoms, with much higher figures when the question was asked with prompts. See the first two columns of the table below, for five MS related symptoms*. The same pattern can be seen between the reporting of general symptoms for the 2003 SA & NT and 2001 NSW studies, in the last two columns.

Study	2003 SA & NT	2006 SA & NT	2003 SA & NT	2001 NSW
Question	3 most impacting	3 most impacting	general symptoms	general symptoms
Prompted	Yes	No	Yes	No
Pins & Needles	18%	9%	70%	40%
Numbness	18%	12%	68%	41%
Incontinence	39%	11%	60%	25%
Coordination	22%	9%	59%	17%
Sexual Function	11%	1%	35%	20%

This finding highlights the importance of considering survey question design during the development stage, and also when interpreting research results. Participants are much more likely to agree to something when specifically asked, than when given an open ended question.

One reason for this is recall bias – an open ended question like “what symptoms have you experienced?” will depend on what comes to mind most easily, which would be influenced by current symptoms and how long ago previous symptoms occurred. Another consideration is response [or embarrassment] bias – for example, people may find it easier to say “yes” when specifically asked about incontinence than when they have to bring it up themselves.

When phrasing a question you also need to be sure about what you need to know and how the results will be used. If the purpose of the research is to inform decision makers about what symptoms need the most support services, the 3 most impacting symptoms would be more useful. If the purpose is to profile the wide range of all possible MS symptoms, then it would be more useful to know all symptoms the participant has ever experienced.

Responses can also vary depending on who you ask, such as when the person’s neurologist is asked what symptoms the person with MS has. Using data from the Australian MS Longitudinal Study, supplied courtesy of Dr. Rex Simmons, AMSLS Project Manager, at Canberra Hospital, we compared the results for incontinence and sexual function reporting. This Australia wide data found that neurologist reported incontinence issues in 52% and sexual function issues in 20% of their patients with MS. These figures were most similar to the reporting in the 2003 SA & NT Census Study, where general symptoms were prompted.

If you are interested in learning more about survey design and how to get meaningful results that you can use, then why not attend one of our Tribal Know-How practical interactive workshops?

Notes

* These symptoms were selected as examples because there was available comparative data and proportions large enough to show the pattern of differences. They do not represent the most common or most impacting MS symptoms.