Analysis and reporting

Surveys

This section of the guide will provide light-touch advice on how to go about analysing your data, and highlights some best-practice tips for analysis and reporting. If you require more substantial support with analysing your survey data see the support section.

Analysing your data

Once your survey has closed, and you have collected your data, it is time to begin your analysis. Analysing your data involves transforming raw data into insights you can use to inform decisions.

Clean your data

This is a key step in the analysis process which involves identifying any errors in your data that might impact your analysis. Here are a few things to consider when cleaning your data:

  • Check for duplicate responses and remove them as needed (e.g., one respondent completing the survey multiple times)

  • Review any incomplete responses and decide whether to include partially completed responses or not

  • Be mindful of any unusual or deceptive responses

  • Standardise your data into the same or correct format

Summarise the basics

Before diving deeper into identifying any patterns or comparing your data, start by summarising any basic information from your survey.

  • Calculate and report your response rate where possible (e.g., how many people completed your survey vs how many were invited or eligible)

  • Use simple counts, percentages or averages for closed questions.

For more support see the quantitative methods section.

Examine your responses in more detail

  • Break down results by key groups if you can or need to (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity) but be cautious of reporting small numbers that could identify any respondents.

  • Identify any themes or patterns in your open-text responses using established methods (e.g., content or thematic analysis). Look for recurring themes or issues that appear across multiple answers.

  • Focus on differences which seem meaningful and try to avoid cherry-picking one or two quotes from open-text responses.

Reporting your findings

After your data has been analysed, you are ready to bring your analysis together into a report, slide deck, or other output format.

Consider your audience

The first step in preparing to report or present your findings is to think carefully about who you are reporting to. If you are presenting to multiple groups (e.g., residents, and professional stakeholders) you might want to develop two separate outputs.

Different groups will likely need different presentation styles, levels of detail and ways of communicating findings. Asking yourself the following questions can support you to develop the most appropriate output for your audience:

  • What format works best to present findings to this group? Public health colleagues may want a detailed report with charts, whereas community members or residents might prefer plain-language summaries or an infographic.

  • What level of detail is needed? Practitioners or delivery staff may want more detail on practical findings and the implications of your results for service delivery, whereas senior council staff may want concise summaries and key takeaways.

  • What information are you trying to communicate? Residents might want to know how their input was used, whereas commissioners might want information focused on the ‘what now?’ elements of your findings.

Use a clear structure

Using a logical and organised structure is key to clearly communicating your findings. Planning your structure before you begin writing, and using clear headings will help ensure that your output flows nicely too.

Frontloading your content (i.e., reporting your most important first) can be a good way of structuring your findings. 

Use visualisations effectively

Graphs, charts, and tables can be really useful ways of communicating some of your findings to your audience.

A few things to keep in mind if you are using visualisations:

  • Present data that has been analysed or summarised and avoid presenting any raw data.

  • Avoid using too many graphs or tables as these can clutter your output and make it harder for people to read. Visualisations should be used to highlight the most important information.

  • Choose your graph, chart or table carefully. Bar or column charts work well for comparing different groups in your dataset, whereas tables are a good way to show exact numbers or percentages. Avoid using pie charts as they can easily misrepresent percentages and become hard to read.

Be honest about any limitations of your data

No survey is perfect. Being transparent about any limitations of your data shows that you are thinking critically about your findings.

  • Explain any limitations to your data (e.g., small sample size) and how they might have impacted your findings.

  • Report any ‘negative’ findings. If your data suggests something isn’t working well, or needs to be improved, make sure you highlight it.

  • Highlight any unexpected findings, even if they differ from what you anticipated.

Planning how you will analyse and share your survey findings at the start of your project will help keep your outputs focused, clear and most useful.

Further reading

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