You want to know the state of the nation. How would you find out? You could look at GDP, unemployment and a host of indicators. Or, you could ask people how the nation is doing. After all, people live here so they should know. Right?
This approach of asking people their opinions brings us to a serious mistake made by those new to survey writing.
Perceptions are not the same as facts.
We’ve heard the stories where several people see a wreck or a robbery and each have a different eye-witness description. Our perceptions are subjective. Zuckerman and Jost (Social Psychology Quarterly, 2001, Vol. 64, No. 3, 207-223) remind us that Garrison Keillor was onto something in describing Lake Wobegon as a place where “the women are strong, the men are good looking and the children are above average.” They note a Stanford study where 87 percent of MBA students rated their academic performance in the top two quartiles (top 50%). Almost everyone thought they were above average as students. In general, we tend to see ourselves as better than average.
Zogby noted one of its polls (http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.cfm?ID=1781) where 72% of Americans said most of the country does not follow the news from Washington, yet 85% said they follow the news closely.
So, knowing that people are not the most accurate judges of themselves or others, what do we do with this knowledge?
First, stay as close to the source as possible. Rather than asking how the economy is faring, ask each person how they are doing, perhaps compared to a year ago. Rather than asking if they think the country is going to elect person A or person B, ask how they plan to vote.
Next, be as specific as possible. Ask their opinion in the context of their last purchase or their checkbook balance, giving them an anchor point in which to examine their situation or feelings. Vague questions result in vague answers.
Third, understand how to use your findings. Realizing these are perceptions, try to find out what caused them. Ask people why they are very satisfied or not at all satisfied. Ask what is better or worse than a year ago. “Why” and “what” questions can generate amazing insight.
We live in a world of our perceptions. Customers may even perceive a problem that doesn’t exist. But those perceptions are important to them and it should be important to our clients.
