1.       Keep it short and simple. If a question is not necessary, do not include it.

 

2.       Start with a Title (e.g. Leisure Activities Survey).

 

3.       Start with an introduction or welcome message - who you are and why you are doing the survey. If you are asking about different brands, it is often a good idea to give the name of the research company rather than the client to avoid possible bias. In some cases, though, it may help to mention the client. If you are surveying members of an organization, the members may be more likely to respond if they think the organization is asking their opinions on how it can best meet their needs. The same could be true when you are surveying users of a particular service.

 

The most effective invitations include the following elements: Ask the recipient to take the survey. Explain why taking it will improve some aspect of the recipient's life (it will help improve a product, make an organization better meet their needs, make their opinions heard). Mention the incentive (if any). Appeal to the recipient's sense of altruism ("please help"). Include the name and telephone number of someone the respondent can call if they have any questions. Include instructions on how to complete the survey itself. Ask the recipient again to take the survey.

 

4.       Allow a “Don't Know” or “Not Applicable” response to all questions, except to those in which you are certain that all respondents will have a clear answer. In most cases, these are wasted answers as far as the researcher is concerned, but are necessary alternatives to avoid frustrated respondents.

 

5.       Include “Other” or “None” whenever either of these is a logically possible answer.  When the answer choices are a list of possible opinions, preferences, or behaviours, you should usually allow these answers.

 

6.       Consider the question order. Ideally, the early questions in a survey should be easy and pleasant to answer.  These kinds of questions encourage people to continue the survey. Grouping together questions on the same topic also makes the questionnaire easier to answer. Whenever possible leave difficult or sensitive questions until near the end of your survey.

 

Question order can affect the results in two ways.  One is that mentioning something (an idea, an issue, a brand) in one question can make people think of it while they answer a later question, when they might not have thought of it if it had not been previously mentioned.

 

The other way is through habituation. This problem applies to a series of questions that all have the same answer choices.  It means that some people will usually start giving the same answer, without really considering it, after being asked a series of similar questions. One way to reduce this problem is to ask only a short series of similar questions at a particular point in the questionnaire.  Then ask one or more different kinds of questions, and then another short series if needed. A second way to reduce habituation is to change the “positive” answer.  This applies mainly to level-of-agreement questions. You can word some statements so that a high level of agreement means satisfaction (e.g., “My supervisor gives me positive feedback”) and others so that a high level of agreement means dissatisfaction (e.g., “My supervisor usually ignores my suggestions”).  This technique forces the respondent to think more about each question. One negative aspect of this technique is that you may have to modify some of the data after the results are entered, because having the higher levels of agreement always mean a positive (or negative) answer makes the analysis much easier.  However, the few minutes extra work may be a worthwhile price to pay to get more accurate data.

 

7.       Consider the answer choice order. This can make individual questions easier or more difficult to answer. Whenever there is a logical or natural order to answer choices, use it. Always present agree-disagree choices in that order. Positive to negative and excellent to poor scales should be presented in those orders. When using numeric rating scales, higher numbers should mean a more positive or more agreeing answer.

 

8.       Reassure your respondent that his or her responses will not be revealed to your client, but only combined with many others to learn about overall attitudes.

 

9.       Include all the relevant alternatives as answer choices. Leaving out a choice can give misleading results.

 

10.   Do not put two questions into one. Avoid questions such as "Do you buy frozen meat and frozen fish?" Similarly with a question such as "Have you ever bought Product X and, if so, did you like it?" Be as specific as possible. "Do you ever buy pasta?" can include someone who once bought some in 1990. It does not tell you whether the pasta was dried, frozen or canned and may include someone who had pasta in a restaurant. It is better to say "Have you bought pasta (other than in a restaurant) in the last three months?" Few people can remember what they bought more than three months ago unless it was a major purchase such as an automobile or appliance.

 

11.   Be unbiased. Try to make sure the wording does not favour one answer choice over another - the way you phrase a question can change the answers you get. Avoid emotionally charged words or leading questions that point towards a certain answer.

 

If you are comparing different products to find preferences, give each one a neutral name or reference. Do not call one "A" and the second one "B." This immediately brings images of A grades and B grades to mind, with the former being seen as superior to the latter. It is better to give each a "neutral" reference such "M" or "N" that do not have as strong a quality difference image.

 

12.   Avoid technical terms and acronyms, unless you are absolutely sure that respondents know they mean. If you must use an acronym, spell it out the first time it is used.

 

13.   Make sure your questions accept all the possible answers.

 

14.   If you want only one answer from each person, ensure that the options are mutually exclusive.

 

15.   Use appropriate score or rating scales. Many surveys use a ten-point scale, but there is considerable evidence to suggest that anything over a five point scale is irrelevant. This depends partially on education. Among university graduates a ten point scale will work well. Among people with less than a high school education five points is sufficient. In third world countries, a three-point scale (good/acceptable/bad) may be all some respondents can understand. 

 

16.   Giving a verbal or written label to each point on a scale, instead of just the endpoints, will usually yield higher-quality data, though this may not be practical when there are more than five points on the scale.

 

17.   Consider including an odd number of points on the scale. In a self-administered interview, such as a Web page survey, a person who is frustrated by being unable to give a middle answer may leave a question blank or quit the survey altogether.

 

18.   If you have used a particular scale before and need to compare results, use the same scale. Four on a five-point scale is not equivalent to eight on a ten-point scale. Someone who rates an item "4" on a five-point scale might rate that item anywhere between "6" and "9" on a ten-point scale.

 

19.   Leave your demographic questions (age, gender, income, education, etc.) until the end of the questionnaire. This applies with internet questionnaires as well as others, although the necessary rapport must be built by good question design, rather than personality.

 

20.   Leave a space at the end of a questionnaire entitled "Other Comments." Sometimes respondents offer casual remarks that are worth their weight in gold and cover some area you did not think of, but which respondents consider critical.

 

21.   Always consider the layout of your questionnaire. You want to make it attractive, easy to understand and easy to complete.

 

22.   Do not use too many colors or fonts. They are distracting. On the other hand, bolding, italicizing, and changing the colours of key words, used appropriately, can make your questions easier to understand. Using color and/or a smaller font size to make instructions distinct from question text can make your questionnaire easier to follow.

 

23.   Background images usually make text harder to read, even when they make a page more attractive at first glance.

 

24.   Use graphics sparingly. Most home Internet users still connect via modems, and graphics slow download times. Remember that showing a large graphic at a small size on a Web page does not reduce the time needed to download the graphic. Create or modify the graphic to a file size that is no bigger than you need.

 

25.   Make sure you do not require people to scroll horizontally to view part of the survey page.

 

26.   Consider screen width. Since less than one percent of people still use 640x480 screen resolution, you may want to design your pages to be up to 760 pixels wide, but no wider.  About 17% of Web users still use 800x600 resolution.   Pages designed for that width will still look fine on screens with a higher resolution.

 

27.   Put instructions at the point they are needed, instead of grouping them on the first page.

 

28.   Be consistent. Make sure your page and question layout are consistent and use color consistently.

 

29.   Consider your sample when designing the pages. Using answer grids and presenting answer choices in two or more columns can look attractive, save space and help avoid vertical scrolling. Unfortunately, these formats are a bit harder for some people to understand than a simple vertical list of answer choices. If you think your target population may have some trouble understanding how to fill out the survey, use these formats sparingly.

 

30.   Allow space for long replies to comment type questions.  Some people will type in longer answers on a Web page than they would write on a paper questionnaire or say to an interviewer.

 

31.   Drop-down lists save space on the screen, but be careful using them. Lists that require scrolling to see some choices can bias the results. Use them only if there is only one possible choice a person can make, e.g. state of primary residence.

 

32.   Consider page content. There is some evidence that grouping several similar questions on a page may result in answers that are more similar than if the questions were on different pages. Some people may dislike scrolling down a long page, while others may dislike the brief wait between questions when each is on a different page. Having your questionnaire split into multiple pages has the advantage that if someone quits partway through, at least you have the answers they have already given.

 

33.   Test a survey thoroughly when you have finished creating it.

 

34.   Monitor the live results as your survey progresses. Doing so can help you spot any problems that did not appear during your testing.