Awarded Services

Survey Services: SIN 874-3

Meeting Client Needs

Westat is a full-service company with capabilities in survey design, data collection, analysis, and data utilization.

All of our survey services are tailored precisely to the client’s requirements to ensure that the organization’s unique problems and concerns are properly addressed.

Our survey work covers all key constituencies of an organization—customers, employees, suppliers, stakeholders, and the public at large.

Providing Range of Services

Westat has conducted hundreds of survey projects for organizations of all sizes, in both the public and private sectors. This work has spanned the gamut of Federal program areas, including health and nutrition, education, social services, substance abuse, science and technology, and employment and training.

We have extensive experience in designing, implementing, and analyzing program evaluations and surveys of customer satisfaction, employee opinion, organizational culture, diversity assessment, and communication patterns.

Focusing on Objectives

Westat uses a number of key factors to ensure success:

  • Latest technologies ensure the highest possible response rates and on-time delivery.
  • Our senior staff are involved in every stage of the process.
  • Unparalleled quality control standards are used for all aspects of survey operations, ensuring the work is performed on time, within budget, and of exceptional quality.
  • All surveys are conducted to generate action on priority issues.

The following steps are an example of the approach that could be taken to conduct an organizational survey:

  1. Orientation and Planning: Meetings are held with the client to reach agreement on project objectives, provide an understanding of the basic survey steps, and design the details of the project, including timeframes and responsibilities.
  2. Interviews with Senior Management: Interviews are conducted to obtain management input on the issues to be covered in the survey. Ideally, all survey sponsors are interviewed.
  3. Process Identification: The organization’s major internal processes are identified so that survey results can be analyzed in terms of core processes.
  4. Exploratory Focus Groups: In-depth group interviews are conducted with samples of potential survey respondents to provide qualitative "depth" and input for the development and understanding of survey items.
  5. Survey Development and Review: A customized survey is developed based on the interviews and Westat’s core questions. The draft survey is then reviewed by the client to confirm that all key areas have been addressed.
  6. Survey Administration: The survey is administered using the latest and most appropriate technologies. Steps are taken to enhance survey response rates.
  7. Data Processing: Completed surveys are returned directly to Westat for processing to preserve confidentiality. Custom-formatted reports are prepared to meet client design specifications.
  8. Analysis: Results are statistically analyzed, interpreted, and translated into the “vital few” issues that must be addressed.
  9. Communication of Results to Senior Management: The organization-wide results, conclusions, and recommendations are presented to senior management in an easy-to-understand form and format, pinpointing priority areas requiring attention.
  10. Communication of Unit-Specific Results to Unit Managers: Westat delivers the results and reports for the various units of the organization and the key processes.
  11. Feedback and Action Planning: Westat guides the organization in applying a bottom-up approach to survey feedback and translating results into unit and organization-wide action plans.
  12. Followup and Continuous Improvement: A plan is developed for regular followup surveys to track and monitor progress and identify new opportunities for improvement.