Writing Effective Surveys Top Tips
How to create a survey using Survey Galaxy
Writing surveys is easy; isn’t it? The truth is that writing surveys is easy but writing surveys that will be effective is a little bit more difficult. The following are twenty tips that if followed will help you write more effective surveys.
1. What is the survey’s purpose?
Questionnaires are conducted for many reasons. By correctly phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in a multitude of ways and for a variety of reasons. When designing a survey don’t lose sight of its purpose.
2. Title the survey
The survey title represents an opportunity to instantly summarise a survey’s objective and encourage respondents to participate. Respondents need to invest time in completing the survey so encourage them that the investment they make will be worthwhile.
3. Do not make the survey any longer than it needs to be
Every question that is asked should be asked for a reason. Pay attention to the ‘need to know’ questions and minimise ‘nice to know’ information.
4. Use plain English, avoid jargon and acronyms, maintain consistency and don’t ask questions that may result in ambiguous answers
Care must be taken in wording a question. If a question can be interpreted in more ways than one then there is a real risk that any analysis of the resulting survey data will be worthless or at the very least suspect.
5. Don’t have long questions
Try to use short sentences wherever possible. Long questions tend to cause respondents discomfort and can lead to a higher level of incidents where respondents abandon a survey.
6. Ask one question at a time
Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like ‘Do you like athletics and football?’
7. Do not influence the answer
Do not load the question. ‘Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell cigarettes to minors be prosecuted?’ is unlikely to have any value.
8. Make sure that the chosen answer format allows the respondent to answer the question being asked
Allow the respondent to answer how they really feel or they may be inclined to abandon the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a “Don’t know”, “No comment” or similar response option.
9. While compiling your survey consider how you will analyse the results once the survey has been published
When asking questions that allow for a free text open ended response appreciate that such information is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider grouping answers. For example “How long have you worked here?” – ‘less than 1 year’, ‘between 1 and 5 years’ and ‘more than 5′.
10. Try and ensure that the questionnaire flows
Group the questions into clear categories as this makes the task of completing the survey easier for the participants.
11. Target your respondents carefully
In some cases you will want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you can’t easily control the respondents consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents that don’t match your target profile.
12. Allow the respondent to expand on their answer or make comments
Allowing respondents to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and the comments will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Remember though for a large sample collection it may be difficult to analyse free text open ended responses.
13. If the survey you are conducting is to be confidential ensure that you honour your pledge
If you have made guarantees to the respondents that the survey is confidential you need to ensure that the individual data is not shared with anyone or used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained and any contact information deleted after the survey is complete.
14. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable
If your respondents are to be anonymous then you will be unable to follow up specific complaints or match “pre” or “post” surveys. However in some cases allowing people to remain anonymous will allow people to respond without possible peer pressure.
15. Carefully consider what the best response format will be
Maintaining a consistency in the format used for responses is good practice. Keep in mind that when analyzing the data radio buttons are easier to analyze than check boxes that offer the respondent multiple responses. Do not use a check box if a radio response would do.
16. Advise the respondent as to how much time the survey will take to complete
If the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions then respondent drop out can occur. It is good practice to indicate how long the survey is likely to take so that the participants can choose the best time to complete the survey.
17. Inform respondents of the survey end date
Encourage respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advise respondents as to the survey’s end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.
18. Test the survey
Before publishing a live survey publish the survey as a trial to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.
19. Before publishing the survey proof read the survey carefully
Carefully check and then check again that the survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If possible get someone else to proof read the survey before you publish, if no one else is available then take a break before checking again.
20. Remember to thank the respondent
To complete surveys respondents need to invest their time and they should be thanked at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as a prize draw or reward.
For more information please visit Survey Galaxy
