Now that you know what is involved in getting a strong survey response, you might be wondering how you know when you have collected a sufficient number of responses. The simple answer is that larger samples provide better estimates of how the population actually thinks, feels, or behaves. It is unlikely that an excess of survey responses would negatively impact your results, so you should aim for as many as possible. There is also a calculation you can use to determine how many responses you will need to represent a population of a given size, but you will have to decide how much room for error and unreliability you can tolerate. For more information on setting your target sample size, you can check out a Sample Size Calculator or our section on Selecting a Sample.
Blazek, L. (2017). Turned on Black and Grey Computer Photo. Unsplash.
While performing these calculations, keep in mind that you should plan ahead when you can, but also be ready to adapt as needed to changing circumstances. If you notice that you’re not getting the response rates that you were hoping for, try sending a reminder to potential participants. Or, you could also work with the collected data despite the reduced participation, as long as you take the lack of participation into consideration in your analysis section. We’ll talk more about this on our next page.
Above all, keep your end goal in sight: no matter how many or few responses you get, you may still gain valuable insights for your research.
