Survey Design for Associations

Inês Carvalho-Reyes holds a PhD in survey methodology and leads NANA's own State of Associations survey, its annual compensation survey, and the quarterly State of Associations Quarterly data briefs. This guide sets out the practical decisions behind a member survey that produces data an association can actually compare from one year to the next, rather than a one-off snapshot that has to be thrown out the moment the questions change.

It covers writing questions that stay comparable across survey years, setting a sample size that supports a valid finding for a given membership base, choosing a response scale that measures what the survey actually needs without leading a respondent toward an answer, and reporting a margin of error alongside the headline findings — the practice Carvalho-Reyes follows for every State of Associations release.

Research and membership staff planning their association's first member survey, or trying to make an existing one comparable across years for the first time, will find a working template for each stage of the process: drafting, piloting, fielding, and reporting. The guide pairs with NANA's Survey Design for Associations course, taught by Carvalho-Reyes.