In Web ministry, you want to receive regular feedback from members, visitors and seekers to your church or organization’s Web presences, such as a website, blog or social network. One way to gain this feedback is through polls and surveys, which can be created and posted electronically and generate quantitative as well as qualitative data.
Online Poll
Polls are usually limited to one question with a multiple choice option or range to gauge a person’s opinion or impression of a particular aspect of your Web ministry or Web presence. For example, you might post a poll to your newly launched website to ask people how appealing they find the design. They would select one of several options: Very appealing, somewhat appealing, not appealing. Or, you might ask something related to a ministry of your church, such as, “What topic is most interesting to you for the next sermon series?” Then offer several topics under consideration from which they can select a top preference. Polls are best suited for quick and short responses to a specific question or concept.
Most online poll creators are free and very easy to use. Here are a few possibilities for you to consider if you are ready to create and post a poll to your website or Web presence.
- PollDaddy
- Poll Junkie
- easypolls
- Micropoll
- Doodle Poll (scheduling meetings)
Online Surveys
Online surveys, on the other hand, can have multiple questions in a variety of formats (yes/no, multiple choice, short answer, ranking, etc.). This type of feedback is best suited for a more comprehensive evaluation or response to an event (pre or post), ministry area or overall planning process. Learn more about developing church survey questions.
Creating online surveys will take more time to develop and design, and you should always consider the purpose of using a survey as well as what you plan to do with the results. Most online survey tools will provide a link you can send in an email message so people can access and complete the survey online.
Once the survey closes, you can retrieve the quantitative and qualitative responses to analysis and use in evaluation. Here is a sample survey created with Survey Monkey.
Some online survey tools are free while others have a free trial or limited number of surveys you can create or number of responses you can gather before incurring any costs. The free survey tools are usually more limited in the size and type of surveys you can create, but most will serve your purpose for getting substantive feedback. Consider these possibilities when you’re ready to create a survey to evaluate some aspect of your church or organization’s ministry.
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