Designing a Great Survey: A Friendly Guide
1. Know what we want
Purpose: Be clear about why we’re running this survey and what we hope to find out. This clarity will guide everything else.
Stay focused: Keep our main goals in mind and make sure all our questions help achieve them.
2. Pick the right way to ask
Survey type: Decide how we’ll reach our audience, whether it’s an online survey, phone calls, or face-to-face chats. Choose what fits best.
3. Understand our audience
Who are they: Think about who’s taking our survey. Are they young, old, students, professionals? This affects our wording and style.
Keep it simple: Use language that’s easy to understand for our audience. Avoid confusing terms.
4. Craft clear questions
Keep it simple: Make sure our questions are clear and straightforward.
Stay neutral: Ask in a way that doesn’t lead people toward a certain answer.
One thing at a time: Each question should focus on just one topic.
5. Mix up our questions
Yes/no or multiple choice: These are great for quick answers and easy to analyse.
Open-ended questions: Allow for detailed answers and deeper insights.
Scales and rankings: Use these to understand preferences or the intensity of opinions.
6. Order matters
Logical flow: Start with general questions and move to more specific ones.
Ease them in: Begin with simple, non-sensitive questions and save the tough ones for later.
7. Keep it short and simple
Conciseness: Aim for a survey that takes 5-10 minutes. People don’t like long surveys.
Focus on what’s important: Only ask what we need to know.
8. Test it out first
Pilot run: Test our survey with a small group to catch any issues with wording, flow, or technical issues.
Get feedback: Ask for feedback on clarity, length, and overall experience, then make improvements.
9. Assure privacy
Confidentiality: Let respondents know their answers will be anonymous and confidential.
Data safety: Ensure we follow data protection laws to keep their info safe.
10. Make it user-friendly
Clean layout: Use a neat and consistent format.
Clear instructions: Provide simple instructions for each section or question type.
Mobile-friendly: Ensure our survey works well on phones and tablets too.
11. Get it out there
Choose our channels: Use email, social media, or other channels that best reach our audience.
Send reminders: Follow up to boost response rates.
Say thanks: Always thank our respondents for their time and input.
12. Analyse the data
Plan: Decide how we’ll analyse the data before collecting it.
Use the right tools: Pick tools (like Excel or survey software) that help us make sense of the responses.
Look for insights: Find trends and patterns to draw meaningful conclusions.
13. Act on what we learn
Make decisions: Use our findings to make informed decisions and act based on them.
Close the loop: Share results with respondents and stakeholders to show how their input is used.