Let's Talk About Pricing...

So I wanted to look into what the features were for SurveyMonkey that cost money.  Below are the 4 plans, starting with the basic free and moving to the "select", the "gold", and finally  "platinum" plans.  As you can see, the features improve dramatically with the price increases, and I thought that this must be a great service.  Because I can't afford to sign-up for this service, I wanted to see what others had experienced, so I went off to do some research.  What I found wasn't pretty.

A quick google search revealed pages and pages of customer complaints, the most common being that the prices quickly escalate as individuals and businesses built the surveys that they needed.  The overwhelming sense, at least through the informal research that I did, was that the price was not worth the services that were being provided.  The other big negative for SurveyMonkey was their customer service...or lack thereof.  Multiple complaints were out there about not being able to obtain a refund for services that were bought under "misleading" circumstances.  It seems like there is a whole lot of promise about what SurveyMonkey can do (for a fee), but those promises didn't pan out for many customers.

BASIC

Free              10 questions

                           100 responses

                           Standard email support

        

SELECT

$26 / month   1000 responses

BEST VALUE

GOLD

$25 / month   Unlimited questions

                           Unlimited responses

                           Priority 24/7 email support

                           Custom logos, colors & more

                  Skip logic

                  Cross-tabs & filters

                  Export data & reports

                  Statistical significance

                  Text analysis

                  Question & answer piping

                  Randomization

        

FOR TEAMS

PLATINUM

$65 / month / user

                                   

                           Add multiple users

                  Team collaboration

                   White label surveys

                  Phone support

                   HIPAA-compliant features

Finally!  Some results are in...

Sorry it took so long, but I was trying to wait out my students to see the results of two polls that I gave them through Survey Monkey.  Here is what I found:  the surveys were really easy to put together and I really liked that I could adjust the notifications from SurveyMonkey so that I my phone wasn't blowing up with notifications.  Now that the surveys are complete, though, I'm just not sure what to do with the results!  I suppose this is the real consideration of using technology...to what end? My plan is to take the data and bring it back to the students and see if it is helpful to them.  I am also planning to ask them (today!) if they have suggestions for surveys.  My experience has definitely taught me that if the ideas come from the students, they are far more likely to participate.

A bit about the two surveys:  I had them available for students for two weeks.  They were not required to participate and the system is set up so that only one computer can respond, but a student could easily submit multiple responses from separate devices.  This seems to be a glitch in the matrix with SurveyMonkey, but I'm trying to see if there is a way around it.

Both of these questions are ones I typically ask students during the first few weeks of school, but I do it through a discussion in class.  When I brought the results of the surveys back to the classes, the discussions were far less dynamic than in previous years.  Perhaps this was because of the survey or it may just have been a result of the students.

Feedback is ALWAYS helpful!!

Are you a reader who writes OR a writer who reads?

I am a reader who writes 56.1%  (23 votes) 

 

I am a writer who reads 24.39%  (10 votes) 

 

I am neither a reader nor a writer...I'm something else altogether! 12.2%  (5 votes) 

 

I don't think I understand the question 7.31%  (3 votes) 

 

 

Total Votes: 41

How Do You Find New Books?

Friend Recommendation 26.32%  (5 votes) 

 

Browsing Book Store Shelves 26.32%  (5 votes) 

 

Parent/Teacher Recommendation 15.79%  (3 votes) 

 

Browsing Library Shelves 15.79%  (3 votes) 

 

Bookseller/Librarian Recommendation 10.53%  (2 votes) 

 

Other: 5.25%  (1 votes) 

 

Websites 0%  (0 votes) 

 

 

Total Votes: 19

Data collection:  no easy task!

This week I am looking at how to analyze the results of a survey.  I am finding that Survey Monkey seems to have some sophisticated tools, but they appear to require an upgrade (which I'm not willing to do...just yet!).  But I was able to cut and paste the results of last week's post:

Have you ever used Survey Monkey?

• Answered: 5 
• Skipped: 0

Yes, I set up

surveys with...

Yes, I set up

surveys with...

Yes, I set up

surveys with...

I have never

set up surve...

I don't think

I have ever...

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%

Answer Choices–	Responses–
– Yes, I set up surveys with Survey Monkey professionally, through a job	20.00% 1
– Yes, I set up surveys with Survey Monkey for school, either high school, college or beyond	40.00% 2
– Yes, I set up surveys with Survey Monkey personally, for friends/family	0.00% 0
– I have never set up surveys, but I have used surveys through Survey Monkey before	20.00% 1
– I don't think I have ever come in contact with this service!	20.00% 1
Total	5

In addition to the above charts, I am also able to see the IP address for each response, which could be useful if I knew how to "track" IP addresses.  I intend to set up a substantially larger survey to use with my classroom, but that won't happen until later this week. Hopefully, though, the design, implementation and evaluation of a "real" survey with over 100 respondents will push me to understand the potential with this tool.  

I think, given the reading we had this 2nd week, I'll ask my 7th graders about their Internet use. Any suggestions for questions to pose?? 

Simple Survey:  

Simply, Surveymonkey is a widely used tool that offers services for free as well as more sophisticated services for various pricing. Their website declares that users can create "any type" of survey, simple to sophisticated, for use with multiple platforms.  Because they are so well established, Surveymonkey has significant partnerships which enables users to use their services easily. 

So...without further ado:

Simple Survey