Facilitating an NHRI Gender Audit It is important you receive a good response rate to the survey as this is the one chance many staff, Commissioners and Ombudspersons will have to submit their thoughts. The larger the number, the stronger the result and the more ownership there will be over the recommendations made from the analysis. The survey response rate is calculated as the number of surveys returned divided by the number you sent out. Fig 21 below calculates rates of return for the number of surveys distributed. If your rate of return is not high enough, consider as a team how you can increase it. You may want to extend the response time, ask division leads to follow up with their staff, send out further communications or offer alternate ways to complete the survey. Figure 21: Rate of return on surveys # Surveys Distributed # Returned Rate of Return Quality of Response 20 4 20% Not acceptable 10 50% Acceptable 14 70% Excellent 20 20% Not acceptable 50 50% Acceptable 70 70% Excellent 100 20% Not acceptable 250 50% Acceptable 350 70% Excellent 100 500 If you have distributed a large number of surveys, begin collating the information as soon as it is returned. Remember: at this stage you are merely recording the findings and not yet analysing the results. Store the data in a safe place until you are ready to analyse the data you have gathered. 53