Keys to a Successful Survey

For over 15 years, SurveyShare has been helping individuals & organizations to create and deliver their most successful surveys. Here is our time-tested advice in each of 4 key areas:

• Plan
• Organize
• Construct Questions
• Document

Key 1: Plan

• Define specific goals for the survey.
• Only include questions that directly address those goals.
• Consider options to increase respondent participation, including advance messages, incentives, and reminders.
• Use question types that support the analysis that you will be performing and the kind of results you wish to report.
• When selecting question types, consider the time involved in the analysis stage; for example, coding and evaluating open-ended items.
• Select respondent samples that are representative of the population.and who have the knowledge to answer the questions.
• Pilot-test the survey with a small number of people to identify problems in question wording and instructions; remedy the problems before sending the survey to a large group

Key 2: Organize

• Write an introduction that explains the purpose of the questionnaire, explains confidentiality issues, and includes the due date.
• At the conclusion of the survey, include a thank you and (if appropriate) information about how results can be accessed.
• Place the quickly and easily answered questions at the beginning of the questionnaire. Difficult and/or sensitive questions should be placed toward the end of the questionnaire. Otherwise, potential respondents might assume the entire survey is composed of difficult and/or sensitive questions, which could be a disincentive to participate.
• To encourage a large number of respondents, keep the survey as short and concise as practical.
• Group related questions or questions of a given response type in sections and arrange in a logical order.
• Look for possible order bias (the order in which questions are asked may affect the answers). Choose randomize answers, if appropriate.

Key 3: Construct Questions

• Write questions as clearly as possible. Write for the intended audience (consider their vocabulary and grammar levels and styles). Use simple, everyday language that all respondents will understand - jargon-free, without technical language, slang or culturally specific words. Avoid complex sentence structures.
• Define any terms that you feel may be unclear or not obvious to your audience.
• Avoid asking leading or potentially biased questions.
• Make questions as specific and concrete as possible; i.e., instead of "Do you read regularly?" use "Do you read the Washington Post five or more days per week?"
• Avoid "double-barreled" questions: make sure each question addresses only one issue, attribute, or skill.
• Give respondents the option of "I don't know" or "Other" as a choice, unless you have specific reasons for forcing them to make a choice of responses.
• Consider, for each question, the necessary background information that is required for a thoughtful response. If you use multiple-choice questions, check to see that all possibilities are addressed in multiple choice answers and that each answer is mutually exclusive and neutrally phrased.
• If you use multiple-choice questions, check that the answers are approximately the same length and complexity.
• If you use true/false questions, check that each response option is true or false without exception.
• With all types of questions, avoid determiners "always, never, without a doubt, invariably".
• With all types of questions, avoid negatives and double negatives.

Key 4: Document

• If you are planning to report or publish your results, document your survey construction, administration, and analysis procedures in enough detail that someone else could replicate them.
• In any report of your data, make sure you are conforming to the level of confidentiality that you have promised to your respondents.

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