Why, When and How to Conduct Surveys

Mission

The MicroProfile Working Group Project values the proactive input of MicroProfilers & Users in diverse areas. At times, strategic surveys & polls, together known as “ Community Trackers”, aka “Trackers” are conducted by the MPWG as an approved marketing activity.

When is a Tracker needed?

• Analysis - eg: competitive market and dynamics
• Positionings - eg: X vs Y vs Z
• Market Research - eg: How fast is the ecosystem adoption MP. 41 release?
• Engagement
• Choice - eg: Voting on the Compatible Logo design?
• Changes

How is a Tracker conducted?

After it’s determined the Tracker is needed, Trackers need a set time period, a method to collect data, and the results must be shared publicly:

Time:

How long should a tracker run?

• Polls: are usually a max of 7-days, up to 4 choices ( Twitter’s polls are limited to 4)
• Surveys: 7 to 14 days

Form:

How should information be gathered?

• SurveyMonkey: allows for extra features for surveys. It is SmartSurvey and General Data Protection Regulation, GDPRand allows for ranking surveys + more features needed.
• MP Media: preferred for Twitter polls. MP uses Hootsuite connected to FB, TWTR & LNKD
• MP general forum: the Google forum/mailing list is public, informal and the open-ended conversations often extend beyond 14 days without leading to a conclusion.

Results sharing:

Should the Tracker be open to all or private to MicroProfile group? How are results shared?

• Sharing proactively the Tracker’s stats during the open period depends on whether or not doing so negatively disrupts the Tracker outcome with ~“general” grouping bias
• The Steering Committee should be kept informed on the stats as votes are taking form, if the tracker is conducted privately.
• The Tracker results & metrics are shared 100% with the community via the public channels (MP Community forum & the SurveyMonkey public email access) once trackers are concluded
• Transparency & formal follow-up actions are made explicit upon the start of the Tracker as well as when it finishes. For example, Constructive feedback received is always useful, and should be converted to action items whenever possible to improve MicroProfile.
• The MPWG Committer Representative will follow these guidelines while gathering and evaluating community feedback. This person is empowered to initiate surveys at their own discretion. For example, to gather insights from the committers or a broader community when deemed necessary.