Survey Design Tips

survey design tips for interactive surveys What make a good survey great? You guessed it - the questionnaire design. After all, the quality of the answers and subsequently the survey data are largely dependent on how questions were phrased. Because when it is all said and done, the outcome of a survey should enable the decision-makers to base decisions and act on the survey results.

The 3 objectives of questionnaire creation ...

Render the information needed in specific questions the respondents can easily understand and answer
Maintain the interest of the respondents throughout the survey in order to avoid incompletes
Word the survey questions in a way that will prevent response errors as seen in biased and double-barreled questions

... and 6 tips for better questionnaire design

Start with defining what information is needed. For example: demographics, satisfaction; experience ratings for products and services; frequency of use; likelihood of return; likelihood or recommendation; company or product specific information you wish to explore;
Determine the type of interviewing method being used: interviewer-assisted or self-administered. While in an interviewer-assisted environment the respondent can interrupt and ask for explanations, in a self-administered situation the respondent is by himself.
Draft the individual questions. The successful completion of the survey is dependent on the respondent's immediate understanding of each question. Use ordinary words, avoid generalizations, avoid abbreviations, avoid dual statements; avoid assumptions; use only non-leading and non-biasing questions. Keep the questions simple and straight forward.
Adapt the questionnaire to a specific cultural environment
Arrange the questions in a logical order
Pretest the survey (and test again)

Structured vs. unstructured questions

Structured questions (closed-ended questions):

Respondents prefer closed-ended questions because these are faster and easier to complete and require less effort on their part.

Unstructured questions (open-ended questions):

Use open-ended questions sparingly for mainly two reasons: a) If confronted with two many open-ended questions, the respondent may abandon the survey or enter nonsense responses and b) It is much easier to create reports from structured questions

Survey Design Tips

The 3 objectives of questionnaire creation ...

... and 6 tips for better questionnaire design

Structured vs. unstructured questions

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