Paper survey services for research consultancies

You retain control of the research, analysis and online survey. We manage the agreed paper-survey production and processing under one quote: form layout, printing, distribution, reminders, returns and data capture, with handling rules agreed in writing.

Relevant experience: our work spans more than 30 research and consulting agencies across more than 100 projects since 2007. For one research agency, we have supported a longitudinal survey program for ten years.

Organisation counts include identifiable end organisations where CDS performed the work through a research consultancy or other intermediary.

What you need from a paper-mode partner

Professional presentation for your project. We work to your consultancy's or end client's supplied brand guidelines, style guide and print requirements, combining professional graphic design with specialist form usability. Efficient layouts can reduce unnecessary pages without compromising readability or answer space. Questionnaires, participant information, letters, postcards and envelopes can be prepared as a coordinated set. You retain control of the research questions and written content; we handle form layout and supporting artwork.

One quote, early. You're building a proposal or a budget and need the paper component priced before you commit. Tell us the quantity, approximate pages per form, how forms will be distributed and returned, roughly how many open-ended questions, and your fieldwork dates. We quote from that.

Distribution and returns that fit the study. We support individual postal surveys, bulk distribution through participating sites, and combinations of both. Bulk deliveries can be made through Australia Post and other couriers. Completed forms can return directly to CDS or be collected by your team or participating sites and forwarded to us in bulk, regardless of how they originally went out.

Exception rules in writing, set at the right stage. How a double mark on a single-answer question is resolved. What counts as a blank. What happens to a form that arrives after close, or with no ID. Whether a mark on the fold line is an answer or a crease. Each rule goes in writing and is set when it can be judged properly: rules that shape the form before print, rules about handling before distribution, and rules about how marks are read once we've seen the first real returns and how respondents actually filled the form in. The same rules then apply to the whole run, and the data you hand your client follows them.

Reporting you can pass straight on. We agree daily or weekly return reporting based on forms received by CDS and any updates supplied by your team or participating sites. Completed, undeliverable and outstanding counts are included where the available records support them. You can use those figures in your fieldwork update without rebuilding the counts. Respondent IDs behind the counts are available on request as an extra, for your own breakdowns by sample group. IDs are captured at scanning and can lag behind receipt counts.

How the loop applies

You send the questions and any brand, print or clear print requirements. We develop the graphic design and specialist layout, set the form to Scantron specifications and you approve the proof. We print and personalise with your respondent IDs where required, then distribute individually or in bulk as agreed. For example, forms can go to schools in bulk and completed forms can come back from schools in batches.

For mixed-mode projects, the form, letter or instructions can carry a QR code and link to your online survey, or each respondent's own login, so online and paper responses match to the same sample record. Returns may come directly to CDS, including by Reply Paid where arranged, or through your team and participating sites. Before any targeted reminders, we agree how paper returns, online completions and undeliverable records will be available for exclusions. See distribution and returns for the available arrangements.

The data arrives as an Excel file with column names and values agreed with you, a linked PDF image of every scanned form, and the respondent ID that ties each identified row back to your sample. You merge it with the online data and report.

Surveys we typically run for consultancies

• Government program and service evaluations
• Community and resident satisfaction surveys
• Patient and client experience surveys
• Staff and stakeholder surveys

Confidentiality

You may not be able to tell us who the end client is, and you don't need to. We don't name our clients and we don't need to know yours.