Focus groups, 'Best Value' evaluations and client satisfactions audits, are increasingly important to the Public Sector, but are time consuming to run and often outsourced at considerable cost. Keypoint, a new software tool from Cambridge Software Publishing combines questionnaire generation, data collection, analysis and presentation in a single package and makes it easy for non-specialists to create and implement professional surveys inhouse.

Terry Phipps, managing director of Perspective Marketing, market research consultants to the public sector, has been evaluating Keypoint for a number of his clients. He sees a growing need for good software tools to support the running of surveys.

'An important component of the Best Value Review is consultation with service users. This may be via paper based questionnaire, through focus groups or, increasingly, electronically via a web site.  Many of my clients would like to bring the survey process in-house to manage it more effectively and reduce costs.  

"Keypoint is very intuitive. It is possible for someone with quite basic skills to create a professional looking questionnaire that is easy to complete. This increases the response rate, which is all important if the results are to be meaningful."

"According to an administrator for the Travel to Work programme, a big issue for survey managers is loss of control when the data entry process is subcontracted.  'We always had problems with time and accuracy. Projects took longer than expected and the time you waste chasing could have been invested in completing the work."

Data entry is simplified with Keypoint, which generates a data input screen to support the questionnaire. One user comments that it takes only a few minutes to show a temporary worker how to use Keypoint effectively for manual data entry. Accuracy is assured by filters that prevent 'dirty data' being entered, as values have to be within a predefined range.

Alternatively it is possible to scan paperbased entry forms directly into the Keypoint database, cutting data entry times dramatically. 

Terry Phipps predicts that the public sector will be impressed by the ease in which questionnaires developed by Keypoint can be converted into e-mail or web based surveys, without loss of presentation or functionality. This feature should be popular with departments that currently use HTML to convert questionnaires for the web, as this procedure will now be unnecessary.

He is also impressed with the data processing and analysis capabilities. "The automated features enable you to provide management with a snapshot of the results and to present the results within the questionnaire if required. The analysis is powerful, particularly for a product at this price point."

Keypoint is compatible with most commonly used software packages which includes Geographic Information or mapping packages, making it possible to incorporate location information into the survey.

Keypoint in Action

One of early users of Keypoint is a centralised research group for a County Council in East Anglia. The Research Group supervises 20 surveys a year. Some of these are conducted for public relations purposes for which the group provides an advisory role. Large surveys because of the resource requirements are currently outsourced but the Group is evaluating this to see if more can run within the Council.

Best Value

An increasing number of the surveys are linked to Best Value performance where users are asked about their satisfaction with the service delivered. The size of the review is related to the value of the service and Keypoint has a particular role where a short, inexpensive overview is required. 

Researchers use Keypoint to create a two page questionnaire. These are frequently reused with the questions modified each time. The library facility enables successful question formats to be saved which speeds up the process. 

Keypoint provides powerful analysis tools, many of which are automated, so that the researcher can quickly gain an overview of the data. However, the department also uses dedicated statistical analysis software such as SPSS and the data from Keypoint can be easily imported into most commonly used packages.

Crime and Disorder Audit

Local Authorities work in partnership with the police and community to provide Central Government with feedback on incidents and perceptions of crime. This includes consultation with the public. Keypoint has been used to produce the questionnaires that are completed during face-to-face interviews with the public in places such as shopping centres. The data is then entered manually via the data input screen, which is created simultaneously with the questionnaire. Once stored in the database the information can be analysed in a variety of ways and the results presented graphically or as tables within a written report. 

The decline in electoral turnout means that much emphasis is now given to using focus groups to consult with 'hard to reach' groups. Feedback is from these groups by entering text-based answers into Keypoint and using the package to present the results in a meaningful format.

Public Relations

The PR department conducts surveys to gauge public reaction to proposals and plans.  The format of the questions is therefore different in order to reflect shades of opinion. Keypoint enables the design of sophisticated questionnaires to support this type of audit.