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These days it seems we are inundated with surveys. If you go to a fast food restaurant, hotel, or service your car, you are asked to complete a survey. Professionally, many health care organizations use surveys to collect data from patients and staff, particularly if they have achieved or are hoping to achieve designation through the Magnet Recognition Program®. Surveys are an important data collection method for research and organizational quality improvement. On the other hand, frequent requests for surveys can be overwhelming for busy nurses and can negatively affect nurses' response rate to requests.
As a nurse researcher, I am concerned about several key points related to the proliferation of surveys. First, other data collection methods, such as interviews, focus groups, and other qualitative methods, can be used to collect data. These methods are time consuming and require expertise, but they are particularly effective for gathering detailed, meaningful information. Surveys are an efficient way to generate data from large numbers of people, but they are not always the most effective method when you need to address sensitive material or in-depth meaning of a phenomenon. Consider the kind of data or information you need and from what groups or individuals.
Second, the number of...