Survey DesignConsiderations

Recommendations or Writing Eective Questionnaires

WHITE PAPER

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Survey DeSign ConSiDerationS

Survey DesignConsiderations

Recommendations or Writing Eective Questionnaires

This white paper was written prior to Perseus and WebSurveyor coming together as Vovici.

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Survey DeSign ConSiDerationS

Fdbck h ds s.

Know Your Audience

Many surveys are designed such that the length, content, or wording is not matched tothe intended audience. A rule o thumb or all communications (and surveys are two-waycommunications ater all) is: Audience + Purpose = Design. Determine, with as much condenceas possible, your audience and the purpose o your survey. Survey design, which is comprisedo questions, invitation ormat and interactivity, should be optimized or the audience and shouldocus on the dened purpose o your research.Respondents preer shorter surveys to longer ones.• Keep questions clear and concise. Wordy or complex questions can conuse or turn o respondents.• I the content is controversial or sensitive, be sure to check your questions and responsesto ensure the respondents can answer them as comortably as possible. This may requirethat the survey be condential (identiying inormation is kept secret by the surveyor andnever revealed to any other parties) or anonymous (identiying inormation is not collected—respondents can only be matched to a survey by a random number).• Avoid use o technical wording, including jargon and acronyms. Acronyms should beexpanded unless the target audience commonly knows them.

Put First Things First

Many surveys put demographic questions at the beginning. The purpose o the survey is to havethe respondent answer the core questions—address the important issues—not to answer boringdemographic questions or ll in background inormation.Survey design research demonstrates that respondents will be more likely to complete longsurveys and answer honestly i they can begin by answering the core material rather than beingdistracted by questions that are not pertinent (to the reason the survey is being conducted).Put demographic questions at the end. Alternately, only ask or the minimum amount o absolutelyessential inormation at the beginning (inormation that would uniquely identiy the respondent,such as their name) and put the remaining demographic questions at the end.

Pilot Test Whenever Possible

Surveys oten have problems with unclear wording, conusing design, questions that are dicultto understand, and typos that could easily be corrected by a small pilot test.Pilot test your survey beore releasing it. Even the eedback o one other person can be valuableto help clariy and improve the survey. I you can, try to get a handul o respondents to pilot test.A greater number (0 or more) o respondents makes it possible to conduct statistical analyses onthe reliability o questions i it is important to do so.