Making decisions between people through email seems to be more and more common. Are there any ideas around about how to make an effective decision when people are not face to face? A kind of protocol? I have seen date setting software(which seem good for that purpose admittedly) The project management sites (like basecamp) don't seem to really address the question. I can see that a live chat forum would at least take the time delay out of the equation. But are there other options?

I'm about to carry out a survey within a community. Normally I wouldn't think about use software but this might be quite a large survey and complex analyses may be required. Any thoughts on, relatively, simple software solutions. Thanks