WASHINGTON \u2014 One key idea floating around the 2022 Association of the U.S. Army conference this year is the service\u2019s across-the-board need to collect, analyze and take action on massive amounts of data, which lies at the core of its new \u201cinformation advantage doctrine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But data doesn\u2019t grow on trees, and according to a RAND corporation expert, soldiers may be tired of helping commands get it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers say \u201csurvey burden\u201d can occur when populations grow tired of overly complex or frequent surveys, and it can reduce the quality or quantity of responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Army, there\u2019s a survey for everything. Command climates, the quality of new troops, medical treatment facility experiences and the cleanliness of bathrooms at the Post Exchange are all measured through questionnaires that bombard troops and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a Monday afternoon quality of life forum, an audience member asked RAND senior economist Dr. Heather Krull whether the Army could benefit from \u201cweekly or monthly micro surveys to keep a pulse on the force and proactively identify problems before they become a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Krull agreed that the data would be useful, and that RAND \u201ctalked to the Army\u201d about the idea. But she added that troops could sour on another survey unless it were well-designed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe also know that there\u2019s some \u2018survey burden\u2019 [in the force],\u201d said Krull. \u201cSoldiers and their family members are asked to answer a lot of surveys, but I do think [collecting data regularly] \u2014 that\u2019s really important for getting ahead of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order to reduce that problem, Krull argued, the Army should look less at \u201c200-question surveys\u201d and consider \u201cfive-question surveys or 10-question surveys that people can answer very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since official data on harmful behaviors like sexual assault and suicide have months-long reporting delays, the economist explained, having a flow of real-time data on those topics is likely worth the risk of additional survey burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Krull\u2019s comments, the service\u2019s top medical officer, Lt. Gen. Scott Dingle, chimed in to \u201cplug\u201d the Military Health System survey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe [MHS] is very persistent with getting that email to you after you\u2019ve had that appointment…we need that feedback,\u201d Dingle said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe response rate is not high,\u201d Dingle added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cSurvey burden\u201d can occur when populations grow tired of overly complex or frequent surveys, and it can reduce the quality or quantity of responses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":60405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[78,29,14],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3470],"class_list":["post-45429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ausa-digital-show-dailies","category-digital-show-dailies","category-land"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"2JSQGYL34JEKHIP4SPOD2QBAEE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2022\/10\/11\/does-the-army-ask-soldiers-to-do-too-many-surveys-maybe-expert-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n