8 Common Sense Tips for Creating Surveys that Work

Creating online surveys is more like an art than science. This involves paying attention to details in the flow and design of the survey. Making an effective survey which yields actionable insights can be hard. Effective survey flow and design provides power to your research. However, questions are the foundation of a good research. There are basic practices to follow when preparing survey questions that every researcher should know about. Below are the tips that will simplify the task of coming up with the right survey for your respondents:

Keep Everything Simple

Average survey respondents don’t like lengthy surveys. In fact, 15 minutes is the best upper-limit for a majority of surveys. When the survey is very long, there are several things that might happen and these include:

• Clients get angry. Upsetting customers with overly long satisfaction survey isn’t lost on your respondents. The perfect way in collecting quality data is keeping the surveys simple, well-organized, and short.

• People stop paying attention. Take note that your elementary classmate who considers filling in random bubbles during the test already grew up. If this takes a bit long to take the survey, he just might do it again. Many experts have seen this often and encourage the researchers for using attention filters.

• Some respondents drop out. They quit taking surveys and the worse is that it costs money when finding respondents and have high dropout rate that may influence the quality of the results. Having rewards for completion may lessen the number of dropouts, however, you cannot stop it completely.

Use the Scales If Possible

Scales are more important than you think. Instead of asking the respondents the basic yes/no question, go for scales that measure both the intensity and direction of opinions. This is also critical for research.

Keep the Coded Values Consistent

Each survey response, question, option or answer is coded as a numeric value that’s reported as a percentage of the responses or as a median, mean, range, and so on. These values form the basis for an analysis. Always remember that the values should be coded in a consistent manner.

Explain the Reasons Why

The respondents will likely help you once they see something of positive value. The value offerings may range from general altruistic appeal for their help to a particular offer of economic incentive. For example, with the customer feedback survey, you may explain this feedback will help enhance customer service.

Embed Surveys as a Requirement of Intervention Experience

The best way to ensure that the survey will be completed is to make sure that your users know that completing the surveys are a part of the program. The surveys must not be perceived as just an add-on or something asked through intruding evaluators.

Select an Appropriate and Efficient Delivery Method

The correct delivery method can break or make the response rate of the survey. Knowing your audience and the preferences and capabilities has strong effect on the response rates. Several users may need the formality or professionalism of email surveys.

Understand the Results You Require

Like any data-driven research, it is essential to know how much data you require to validate the conclusions you want to make.

Keep the EAST Principles in Mind

If you like to encourage the behavior, use the language in your surveys that’s EAST – Easy, Attractive, Social, and Timely.