How to Write Effective Surveys

How to create a survey using Survey Galaxy

Writing surveys is easy; or is it? The truth is that writing surveys is easy but writing effective surveys is more difficult. The following are twenty tips that if followed will help you with your survey questionnaire design and help you write effective surveys.

1. What is the purpose of the survey?

Surveys and 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 compiling a survey don't lose sight of the survey's purpose.

2. Title the survey

The survey title is key and an opportunity to instantly summarise a survey's objective and encourage respondents to participate. Respondents are going to invest time in completing the survey so make them feel that their investment is worthwhile.

3. Ensure that you do not make the survey any longer than it needs to be

Every question that is asked should be asked for a reason. Focus on 'need to know' questions and minimise 'nice to know' information.

4. Use plain English, avoid jargon and acronyms, be consistent and ensure that the questions you ask will not result in ambiguous answers

Be careful when wording the question. There is every chance that if respondents can interpret any question that is not clearly written differently to that intended by the survey’s publisher then any analysis of the survey results may be worthless or at the very least misleading.

5. Don't have long questions

Where practical use short sentences. Long questions tend to cause respondents discomfort and can lead to respondents abandoning a survey.

6. Ask one question at a time

Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like 'Do you like football and athletics?'

7. Avoid influencing the answer

Avoid loading the question. 'Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell tobacco to children 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

Ensure that the respondent is able to answer how they really feel or they may abandon the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a "No comment", "Can't say" or similar response option.

9. While compiling your survey consider how you will want to analyse the results once the survey has been published

Appreciate that questions that allow for a free text open ended response, such as when asking the respondent for their comments, is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider grouping answers. For example "Indicate your length of service?" - 'less than 1 year', 'between 1 and 3 years' and 'more than 3'.

10. Ensure that the questionnaire flows

Group questions into clear categories as this will make it easier for the participants completing the survey.

11. Target your respondents

In some cases you will want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you can't control who responds to your survey consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents who don't match your target profile.

12. Allow respondents to expand on their answers and/or make comments

By allowing respondents to make additional comments you 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 guaranteed the respondents that the survey is confidential ensure that the individual data is not to be shared with anyone and the information is not going to be used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained at all times and any contact information destroyed after the survey is complete.

14. Weigh up the advantages of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable

If your respondents are to be anonymous then you will be unable to follow up or match "pre" or "post" surveys. There are advantages to allowing respondents to remain anonymous for example it would allow respondents to respond without possible peer pressure.

15. Give careful consideration to the best response format

Being consistent with the format used for responses is good practice. When creating your survey keep in mind that when analyzing the data single selection radio buttons are easier to analyze than multiple selection check boxes. Do not use a check box if a radio response would do.

16. Provide the respondent with an estimate as to how much time the survey will take

Respondent drop out can occur if the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so that the participants can determine the best time to complete the survey.

17. Advise the respondents of the survey end date

Try and encourage your invited respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advise the respondents of the survey’s end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.

18. Trial the survey

Before publishing a live survey publish a small pilot survey 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

Check and then check again that a 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. Say 'Thank You'

To complete surveys respondents need to invest their time and should be thanked either in a covering letter, at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as entry into a prize draw or a reward.

Getting started is easy and there are many survey software websites to choose from.