Living in the new normal with COVID-19 in the community means most survey data collection efforts for evaluation will be done through online surveys rather than in-person. In the absence of face-to-face human interaction, it can be somewhat difficult to get people to participate in online surveys. Even more so, tāngata whaikaha (disabled people) and tāngata whaiora (people who use mental health services).
Low engagement with surveys would mean low response rates, and results not being representative of the population being studied. It is therefore important that evaluators consider what they should do differently to maintain high response rates for online surveys. Te Pou implements multiple surveys across its mental health, addition, and disability workforce development programmes. With the changing COVID-19 situation, we share some technical and culturally appropriate reflections practitioners and individual evaluators can implement to maintain high survey response rates.
Cultural sensitivity and ethics play important roles. From the Māori worldview, a survey in which the language demonstrates manaakitanga (respect, support), upholds people’s mana, acknowledges, and respects Māori tapu (sacred) and kia ngaku māhaki (being humble in your approach), would get more response than not. Other factors that determine how people engage with a survey include length of the survey, the topic, and the survey specificity. Practitioners are encouraged to take advantage of the ‘one question per page’ feature of online survey platforms. Survey questions should be simple and only make use of skip logics when unavoidable and should be targeted to enhance its engagement. These factors, if properly considered, would help potential participants feel their time is being respected, thereby encouraging online survey completion. These factors are even more important, for our Māori, tāngata whaikaha and tāngata whaiora participants.