Survey Tips

Words are often used in different ways by different people; yourgoal is to write a Survey /Questionnaire that each person will interpret in the same way. Agood questionnaire should be short and straightforward.

A Survey / Questionnaire should not be too long, use plainEnglish and the questions shouldn't be difficult to answer. Only throughcareful writing, editing, review, and rewriting can you make a goodquestionnaire. The following provides you with guidelines for conductingyour surveys.

Last Updated - 20th October 2005

Survey Writing Tips

Write a short questionnaire
Above all, your questionnaire should be as short as possible. Whendrafting your questionnaire, make a mental distinction between whatis essential to know, what would be useful to know and what wouldbe unnecessary. Retain the former, keep the useful to a minimum anddiscard the rest. If the question is not important enough to includein your report, it probably should be eliminated.

Use simple words
Survey recipients may have a variety of backgrounds so use simplelanguage. For example, "What is the frequency of your automotive travelto your parents' residents in the last 30 days?" is better understoodas, "About how many times in the last 30 days have you driven to yourparent's home?"

Relax your grammar
Relax your grammatical standards if the questions sound too formal.For example, the word "who" is appropriate in many instances when"whom" is technically correct.

Assure a common understanding
Write questions that everyone will understand in the same way. Don'tassume that everyone has the same understanding of the facts or acommon basis of knowledge. Identify even commonly used abbreviationsto be certain that everyone understands.

Start with interesting questions
Start the survey with questions that are likely to sound interestingand attract the respondents' attention. Save the questions that mightbe difficult or threatening for later. Voicing questions in the thirdperson can be less threatening than questions voiced in the secondquestion. For example, ask: "How do your colleagues feel about management?"rather than "How do you feel about management?"

Don't write leading questions
Leading questions demand a specific response. For example: the question"Which day of the month is best for the newly established company-widemonthly meeting?" leads respondents to pick a date without first determiningif they even want another meeting.

Avoid double negatives
Respondents can easily be confused deciphering the meaning of a questionthat uses two negative words.

Balance rating scales
When the question requires respondents to use a rating scale, mediatethe scale so that there is room for both extremes.

Don't make the list of choices too long
If the list of answer categories is long and unfamiliar, it is difficultfor respondents to evaluate all of them. Keep the list of choicesshort.

Avoid difficult concepts
Some questions involve concepts that are difficult for many peopleto understand.

Avoid difficult recall questions
People's memories are increasingly unreliable as you ask them to recallevents farther and farther back in time. You will get far more accurateinformation from people if you ask, "About how many times in the lastmonth have you gone out and seen a movie in a movie theater or drive-in?"rather than, "About how many times last year did you go out and seea movie in a movie theater or drive-in?"

Use Closed-ended questions rather than Open-endedones
Most questionnaires rely on questions with a fixed number of responsecategories from which respondents select their answers. These areuseful because the respondents know clearly the purpose of the questionand are limited to a set of choices where one answer is right forthem.

An open-ended question is a written response. For example: "If youdo not want a company picnic, please explain why". If there are anexcessive number of written response questions, it reduces the qualityand attention the respondents give to the answers.

Put your questions in a logic order
The issues raised in one question can influence how people think aboutsubsequent questions. It is good to ask a general question and thenask more specific questions. For example, you should avoid askinga series of questions about a free banking service and then questionabout the most important factors in selecting a bank.

Pretest your survey
It is better to identify a problem during the pretest than after youhave published the survey. Before sending a survey to a target audience,send it out as a test to a small number of people. After they havecompleted the survey, brainstorm with them to see if they had problemsanswering any questions. It would help if they explained what thequestion meant to them and whether it was valid to the questionnaireor not.

Naming your survey
Some people discard an electronic message based entirely on its subjector sender. You should consider other titles that will pique the interestof the recipients. Here are examples of survey names that might besuccessful in getting attention:

Memo From the Chief Executive Officer
Evaluation of Services of the Benefits Office
Your Opinion About Financial Services
Free T-shirt
Win a Trip to Paris
Please Respond By Friday
Free Subscription
Win a notebook computer

Cover memo or introduction
Once a recipient opens your survey, you may still need to motivatehim or her to complete it. The cover memo or introduction offers anexcellent place to provide the motivation. A good cover memo or introductionshould be short and includes:

Purpose of the survey

Why it is important to hear from the correspondent.
What may be done with the results and what possible impacts mayoccur with the results.
Address identification.
Person to contact for questions about the survey.
Due date for response.