|
SURVEY AND SECURITY AUDITS
SECURITY IS A COMPROMISE BETWEEN
'THREAT AND SAFETY'
Surveys can be carried out to
examine the effectiveness, or otherwise, of a client's current security
measures. A survey report can be provided to advise the client or company of any
improvements or further measures that can be taken to enhance their security.
The survey's will establish the level of security required. They only provide
specialist security once a security assessment has been undertaken, following
extensive consultations with the client or the client's representative. They
will be asked to provide as much information as possible and this will be
considered together with our own research.
Statistical surveys are used
to collect quantitative
information in the fields of marketing,
political polling, and social
science research.
A survey may focus on opinions or factual information depending on its purpose,
but all surveys involve administering questions to individuals. When the
questions are administered by a researcher, the survey is called an interview
or a researcher administered survey. When the questions are
administered by the respondent, the survey is referred to as a questionnaire
or a self-administered survey.
Structure and standardization
The questions are usually structured and
standardized. The structure is intended to reduce bias (see questionnaire
construction). For example, questions should be ordered in such a way that a
question does not influence the response to subsequent questions. Surveys are
standardized to ensure reliability,
generalizability, and validity
(see quantitative
marketing research). Every respondent should be presented with the same
questions and in the same order as other respondents.
In organizational
development, carefully constructed survey instruments are often used as the
basis for data gathering, organizational diagnosis, and subsequent action
planning. Some OD practitioners (e.g. Fred Nickols) even consider samples
are possible. Statistical techniques can be used to determine validity,
reliability, and statistical significance.
- Surveys are flexible in the sense that
a wide range of information can be collected. They can be used to study
attitudes, values, beliefs, and past behaviours.
- Because they are standardized, they are
relatively free from several types of errors.
- They are relatively easy to administer.
- There is an economy in data collection
due to the focus provided by standardized questions. Only questions of
interest to the researcher are asked, recorded, codified, and analyzed. Time
and money is not spent on tangential questions.
|
|