While traveling to Orlando recently, I stumbled across these two feedback stations at the airport – one in the intra-terminal tram waiting area and the other in the women’s restroom. As an evaluator, the thought that instantly jumped into my head (aside from, “quick, snap a photo!”) was how they planned to make sense of any data they gathered.
The feedback station in the bathroom made sense, but it occurred to me that feedback about the tram was likely to skew toward the negative, simply because people who’d have the greatest opportunity to provide feedback would be those left waiting for greater periods of time. Conversely, if a tram was already at the station or just pulling in, the odds that someone would see and/or stop to respond to the question would presumably be much lower. This was a great reminder that the context in which we ask evaluation questions can have a great bearing on the outcomes.
Your Eval Pal 