There’s nothing more integral to a quality survey than its question. If the questions are bad, the data produced is just as bad. Today, survey questions are shorter and more direct than ever. This is on purpose. Here are three survey mistakes that help to explain why.
Double-barrelled questions. Longer questions can feel like they get more accurately at what the survey is assessing, but this can be problematic. An easy trap to fall into is questions which ask two questions, indirectly or not. For example “Did the product arrive on time and meet expectations?”. This question needs two answers, but asks for one.
Loaded questions. Questions that are indirect can start to assume something about the participant. If a survey creator wants to know how often someone does something, they should account for all answers. This can mean having two questions, one of which asks if they do something, the other asking how often. Or it can mean having a wide range of answers which fully account for all possibilities.
Leading questions. Questions that lead the participant to the answer can skew data dramatically. The question of “How much do you enjoy using this product?” is problematic. Even if they can answer not at all, the way it’s posed will lead them to think they did enjoy it. A better way to ask the question is “How would you rate your experience using the product?”.
Infographic by: incquery
