Traditionally, for questions where it is legitimate for respondents to say they can’t answer, a “Don’t know” response has been added to the end of the answer list. For methods where a researcher is present “Don’t know” works satisfactorily. Often interviewers don’t even read out the “Don’t know” answer but it is there to use if the respondent genuinely can’t…
Month: March 2014
Constructing rating scales
Rating scales are simply a set of answers to a question that allow respondents to provide a rating. An example is shown below: How would you rate the supermarket you use most often in terms of value for money? Very good Quite good Not very good Not at all good When constructing rating scales there are some key factors to…
Writing attitude statements – a checklist
Attitude statements form key parts of many surveys. In this post I’m not going to look at how to generate attitude statements for surveys or at the best scales to use (this subject is dealt with here). Rather I am providing a checklist that will help to present your attitude statements to respondents in the best possible way. 1. Attitude…
Net Promoter Score: the market research industry’s equivalent of the Atkins diet?
There always seems to be a healthy appetite for the next fad diet (pardon the pun). People’s desire to get slimmer outweighs (another pun, sorry) any cynicism that might have been built up through failures on previous diets. We’re constantly looking for the quick fix, the silver bullet. The only proven long-term way to get slimmer is to lead a…
Keep it simple
In our view the most important thing to bear in mind when designing a survey is to keep it simple. The best researchers translate the often complex needs of their clients into a survey that can be universally understood by respondents and produces data that can be meaningfully analysed. Respondents’ needs are key. Respondents for a single survey can come…
Using SurveyMonkey: Give people space to answer open-ended questions
A key aspect of designing open-ended questions that is sometimes ignored is the comment box that is presented below the question. The size of the box guides respondents’ expectations as to how long their answer should be. Small boxes suggest that only brief answers are sought which could mean missing out on respondents’ full thoughts. Boxes that are too big…
Ending with an open-ended question
A good, respondent-friendly way of ending a survey is with an open-ended question asking respondents if there is any further feedback they’d like to make about the topic or organisation that has been the subject of the survey. This type of question allows respondents to give more in-depth responses than the questionnaire allowed them to or to tell you more…
Use open-ended questions sparingly
As a rule respondents don’t like open-ended questions. Compared to questions with pre-defined answer lists respondents are forced to think more and, for online surveys, they also have to type their answers. These things take time. Open-ended questions take 2 or 3 times longer to respond to than a question with pre-coded answers. Bearing this in mind resist the temptation…
Make your answer lists complete
When constructing questions for surveys it is important that the answer categories cover all possibilities. Respondents should always be able to give a valid answer. Below is a screengrab of the first question of a survey I was recently invited to complete: As I imagine was the case for the vast majority of people sent the survey I hadn’t…
Using SurveyMonkey: Randomising and rotating answer lists
1. Log in to SurveyMonkey and click on the survey you’d like to work on from the “Active Surveys” list. This takes you to the “Edit Survey” screen. 2. Find the question where you’d like to rotate or randomise the answer list and click the “Edit Question” button for that question. The following window should appear: 3.Scroll down to…
- The Austin Research approach to survey design
It's easy to design surveys but very difficult to design surveys well. At Austin Towers ...Read More
- Avoid binary options when writing attitude statements
I've just received a survey from an insurance company that recently provided me with a ...Read More
- In questionnaire design clarity trumps brevity
When designing survey questions two considerations that should be uppermost in your mind are making ...Read More
