The Gist

The trickle down survey method is simple in nature but has great potential. Its method of delivery is simple:

1. Generate your list of survey questions on an externally accessible website.

2. Create an initial contact list of recipients to complete the survey.

3. Send the survey to the contacts of the list, making sure to place emphasis on the importance of sharing the survey to another group of people. (particularly those that would take the survey seriously)

That’s the gist of my new polling style, happy surveying, but i do recommend reading the rest of this brief to make the best of it.

Potential Hurdles

1. As with any online survey, there is a risk of Cyber Attacks. In this case the key risks would be as follows:

   • Spamming the survey with responses via bots

   • Conducting an attack on the host website or survey data aggregation software

2. As with any survey in general, there is always a potential for Disingenuous Answers

3. Participants that choose not to share the survey hinder the growth of the survey participant population prolonging surveying time to get to the preferred amount of data needed; this time hindrance has the potential to outweigh the cost reductions and population reach improvements of this new style of survey.

4. Inherent Probability Sampling as a result of the requirement that participants have access to a functioning communicative device with internet.
   

The Benefit

• The survey’s participant pool grows itself.

  • If all goes well, it has the potential to grow exponentially. (10 share to 10 that share to 10 = 1000)

• The surveys administration is less costly as a result of its self growing nature.

• Fast participant results, especially in the information age.

• Its larger pooling ability with its low cost of administration makes it much more cost effective than previously established forms of surveying.

Potential Solutions to Potential Hurdles

• Pot. Solution to Hurdle 1A: Add a reCAPTCHA or pseudo-reCAPTCHA that can be used to filter out potential bots either on the front end or in the data aggregation phase of data analysis.

• Pot. Solution to Hurdle 1B: Chose a secure host website and secure data aggregation software to minimize risk.

  • Sites like Google Forms and Survey Monkey are great places to start.

• Pot. Solution to Hurdle 2: Ask well developed, kind/neutral questions; It’s vital to ask question in as neutral of a way as possible to foster not only the most accurate, unbiased results but also to create the most welcoming surveying environment.

• Pot. Solution to Hurdle 3: Incentivisation for completion. Whether the incentive is psychological, social, or monetary, providing an incentive for completion and sharing is paramount to the success of the survey.

  • Ex: Raffle at the end. And your probability of winning stays present as more people participate.

  • Ex: “Thanks for doing your part to help us gather this data!”

  • Ex: “Please share if you want to see the data once results are in after a certain point is reached.”

• Pot. Solution to Hurdle 4: Spending additional capital to reach less privileged populations to insure they will be able to access technology to participate in your survey.

Surveys I’ve Conducted Using the Trickle Down Survey Method