A survey is a research technique that’s commonly used to collect factual information about individuals, their views, experiences, habits and selfreported behaviour. Surveys tend to be more useful to non-fiction writers, but fiction writers can also benefit from the technique: for example, if you ask your beta readers to give anonymous feedback on the final draft of your novel or short story, you may get more honest comments than you would by asking the same questions face-to-face.
An easy way to create professional-looking online surveys is to use a webbased survey tool SurveyMonkey (www. surveymonkey.com). In addition to helping you design your survey, it helps you collect responses and analyse the results. Its basic features are free (see the box-out), but you do have to register.
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