When a client (or sometimes prospective client) shares their first draft questionnaire with us it is not un-common to see a series of yes/no questions presented in a grid – an example screenshot is below.
A better way to write (and answer) this type of question is to convert it into a multi-answer question (aka “tick all that apply”). For example, instead of
Do you have any of the following at home?
- Nintendo Wii … Yes / No
- Sony Playstation 3 … Yes / No
- XBox 360 … Yes / No
- PC computer for playing games … Yes / No
Change the question ever so slightly:
Which of the following do you have at home?
Please click all that apply[ ] Nintendo Wii
[ ] Sony Playstation 3
[ ] XBox 360
[ ] PC computer for playing games
[ ] None of the above
It is important to add a new option “none of the above” (or similarly worded option) in case the respondent needs to answer “no” to all the options offered.
By converting your Yes/No grid to a list of checkboxes the respondent can more quickly read down the list and tick off the relevant answers (compared to read each answer, scan across the screen to where the Yes/No button is, and repeat). It looks less daunting, and with longer lists the action of answering doesn’t feel like a chore.
When it comes to analysis, this result should also be more readily usable. Your online reporting will show a summary table with all the answers together, e.g.
Nintendo Wii – 50%
Sony Playstation 3 – 28%
XBox 360 – 38%
PC computer for playing games – 25%
None of the above – 11%
(these are all made up numbers)
However, if you had asked Yes/No questions the results would be independent of each other, so one result for Nintendo Wii would show:
Yes – 50%
No – 50%
And separately, the result for Sony Playstation 3:
Yes – 28%
No – 72%
Dan Wardle
