Surveys are a data collection tool that can help your company identify opportunities, assess challenges, and set direction. Surveying your customers, internal team members, and other key stakeholders can reveal powerful insights that enable you to make data-driven decisions and propel your business forward.
The quality of the data captured, however, can only be as good as the questions themselves. If you're looking to design a survey for your organization, you should be aware of the common pitfalls that novice survey creators encounter.
Here are three survey question development mistakes made by startups and well-established companies alike.
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“Our product reduces your tension by 10 percent. Would you like to buy it?”
A biased survey question, like the one above, prompts or leads a respondent to answer in favor or against a specific outcome, resulting in inaccurate data. The example mentions a reduction in tension that might influence the respondent to indicate they would make a purchase. A better question would be, "How likely are you to buy this product?" Examples don’t need to be as extreme as the one highlighted to be considered biased.
Tips to avoid bias:
“How do you feel about your purchase?”
This question uses ambiguous and imprecise language. Quantifying or assessing subjective attitudes is difficult, and the burden shouldn’t fall on the respondent. A better approach is to provide options: "How satisfied are you with your purchase? Extremely satisfied, somewhat satisfied, neutral, somewhat unsatisfied, or extremely unsatisfied?"
Tips to avoid ambiguity:
“If you had to get to work using a bicycle, bus, train, car, or on foot, which would you choose? Consider annual precipitation, your transportation budget, and carpooling opportunities.”
The question above assesses propensity for transportation methods, perhaps to help a city decide whether to allocate funding to bike-share programs, commuter rail services, or bus routes. However, this question is overly complex, making it difficult for the respondent to answer.
When a researcher overcomplicates a question, it can become what’s known as a double-barreled question, or one that asks about more than one subject but requires a single answer. Such questions can confuse the reader and greatly diminish the quality of the data collected.
Tips to avoid complexity:
In addition, qualitative interviews and focus groups are alternative methods of receiving detailed answers if time and effort allow.
When thoughtfully executed, surveys can be an effective means of collecting data and unlock powerful business insights.
To ensure your data is reliable, design clear, concise survey questions. When your company conducts surveys, look for red flags that could lead to inaccurate conclusions.
These three tips are only the beginning of becoming a proficient survey designer. Knowing the best way to design assessments—and being aware of when other tools may be more appropriate—can lead to more informative company research.
Are you interested in unlocking the full potential of your organization’s data? Explore our online analytics courses to get started.
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