The format for reports varies greatly according to needs. All reports can be presented in tabular or graphical format.

Establish the purpose of the survey
Prior to conducting any survey the first issue to be settled is the reason for administering a survey; or put another way, determining how the information will be used. This is perhaps the most critical part of developing a survey because it serves as the basis for the design of the questions, guides who will be surveyed and helps establish what will be done with the data. Common reasons for conducting surveys include:

• Determining employee attitudes about various subjects
• Measuring the effectiveness of customer service
• Assessing the climate of an organization
• Determining appropriate steps in team development
• Providing both personal and organizational developmental feedback
• Establishing a longitudinal or test/re-test database for tracking changes

Specify what will happen to the information
Once the purpose for collecting the information is clear the next question to be answered is what will happen to the information. Examples of issues addressed in this step are:

• Determining how the data will be shared with the respondents
• Specifying management’s actions with respect to the survey data
• Deciding how widespread the distribution of the information will be
• Eliciting management’s public commitment prior to the survey to take action after the survey

Design the questionnaire
Designing the questionnaire, including the writing of questions is one of the most difficult and time-consuming parts of the process. Questions should be unambiguous and easily understood. A given question should contribute to only a single dimension. If it measures more than one dimension then we really aren’t sure what it measures. These and other issues that are addressed included:

• Determining the dimensions to be measured
• Creating valid and reliable questions to measure the dimensions
• Deciding on meaningful demographics
• Selecting appropriate scale(s)
• Determining questionnaire length by balancing the need for complete data against respondent fatigue and/or boredom

Administer the questionnaire
Examples of decisions that need to be made in this step are:

• Determining who the population is and whether or not to survey the entire population or to sample
• Selecting the most appropriate method of administration
• Constructing the timetable for administration and scoring
• Determining if data will be collected instantly using keypad technology or through other methods such as the Internet or paper instruments

Analysis and Application
This step involves analysis of the data.  Based on the analysis we can facilitate processes to determine applications in response to the assessment results or to perform additional analysis as requested. 

Print reports
The final step is to print and deliver the reports.