TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Working with online surveys

For researchers, there are several online tools to host questionnaires

Putera Hasudungan (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, April 21, 2013 Published on Apr. 21, 2013 Published on 2013-04-21T16:25:02+07:00

Change text size

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

For researchers, there are several online tools to host questionnaires.

The websites such as surveymonkey.com and Google Docs can generate questionnaires for various purposes. Users can design the question list and email the link to their question list to potential respondents.

A software designing company, PT Prasimax Inovasi Teknologi, has used Surveymonkey to spread surveys that helped to design its new product, Engine Control Unit (ECU), which monitors fuel consumption in a motorcycle.

'We've created a type of ECU that can be connected to smartphones and laptops through the Internet. Currently, it is in registration with the Directorate General of Intellectual Rights,' Prasimax's chief executive
officer, Didi Setiadi, told The Jakarta Post recently.

'This combination between hardware [ECU] and software [on smartphones, laptops] was targeted to become an online marketplace named Ototrax,' he said.

To get insight into their potential market, general users and automotive enthusiasts, Didi said he designed two kinds of questionnaire in Surveymonkey.

The website offers survey software that can be used by anyone, anywhere and anytime. Its gold membership can be subscribed to for US$133 per year.

'I once tried using Google Docs. I think that surveymonkey.com was more advanced. There were more features, such as tabular presentation and a rating system,' Didi said.

He said that the free membership was enough for him to reach respondents through social media and mailing lists.

'However, I think this method was not right, because only the people who access the Internet can be surveyed. That's the weakness ' not everyone uses the Internet,' he said.

Prasimax has also designed Trumon, a program that sends a record of restaurant transactions to the tax
office in real time.

Faris Rachman Hussain, a fresh graduate, used Google Docs for his academic research about readers' appreciation in a column called 'Beauty & Mode' at Femina magazine.

The respondents were members of an online forum named Femina & Friends.

'I chose to use Google Docs because it helped me to circulate the questionnaires. The respondents were located in various areas within the country,' he said.

Google Docs is one of the free apps developed by Google within its Google Drive services. It offers hundreds of templates that can be used for various purposes, both for personal and collaborative work.

'It was simpler than to visit each respondent or to send them papers by the postal service,' Faris said.

'However, not all the respondents were online everyday. Some of them only went online once or twice a month and this became an obstacle.'

Through the research, he found out that people, who were raised with a predominantly feminine influence in their families, were more likely to read about fashion.

He concluded that knowledge, behavior, and norms that have been taught since the members were children, affected them in choosing which articles to read.

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.

Share options

Quickly share this news with your network—keep everyone informed with just a single click!

Change text size options

Customize your reading experience by adjusting the text size to small, medium, or large—find what’s most comfortable for you.

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

Continue in the app

Get the best experience—faster access, exclusive features, and a seamless way to stay updated.