Surveys have been popular for a long time because they are easy to customise and respondents can remain anonymous. With the advent of the Internet, and most businesses going digital, online survey sites started appearing too. These were especially helpful for organisations in Singapore as these websites usually have a large number of users from all types of backgrounds which they can easily tap onto if they wanted to conduct a survey. Whether it was to enter a giveaway or to give feedback for a service, you would have probably done a few online surveys before. For example, in a recent HappyDot.sg survey conducted, Singaporeans often say that we love to queue up and it seems like 71% of HappyDotters (based on 155 people polled as of 12th August 2020) agree too!
As online surveys are everywhere now, it is strange to remember that we once used to do paper surveys! Just like how strange it is that we once had a mode of transport known as a ‘mosquito bus’. So, how did we get from paper surveys to having websites that offer rewards in exchange for completing surveys? Keep reading to find out more!
What Is The Purpose Of A Survey?
Surveys help to collect information from a random group of people through their answers to questions. This is especially useful for the social sciences and market research as it is a good way to get fair opinions on social issues and about company products.
How Were Surveys Done In The Past?
In the past, people received surveys in the mail, or were approached on the streets by researchers as they tried to avoid eye contact and walk away from them as quickly as possible or were even telephoned to answer a few questions. As you can imagine, these methods were exhausting as it took at least 3 days for researchers to even receive the first completed response after posting the survey by mail! Not only that, it was also time-consuming to organise all of the information in order so that researchers could analyse it properly.
With the boom of the Internet in the 1990s and everything going online, email surveys became extremely popular. Researchers spent less money creating them and they were environmentally friendly (and still are!). They were also able to reach a larger number of people very easily and even globally! However, email surveys did not have enough functions for researchers to collect all types of information and so, they started looking for other tools.
The Beginning of Online Survey Sites
Before online survey sites could come about, online survey-making websites needed to exist. When the first few survey-making websites emerged in the early 2000s, they quickly became attractive to researchers. Besides being able to create surveys easily, researchers could also organise the information almost immediately. This allowed them to analyse the data faster and produce results quicker too. Take our Quick Polls for example – you get to view instant results right after submitting your answer!
While a big number of people can be reached through email surveys, researchers realised that they could engage a wider audience if they were to have all of their surveys on a website. That led to the creation of online survey sites. How did these websites attract users? By advertising rewards in exchange for doing surveys! That was how paid surveys became so popular.
So, there you have it: a brief history of online surveys in Singapore. Whether you are doing surveys to earn money or simply to get your opinions heard, surveys are a powerful tool to gather data and they are not going to go away anytime soon.
Looking to share your opinions on issues in Singapore? Join our HappyDot.sg community and take part in a variety of online surveys and quick polls!