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 … [Read more...]
Tips for better survey design #5: Replace a grid of Yes/No questions
March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Avoiding errors in survey design
January 12, 2010 By 1 Comment
There are two blog posts published just before everyone went back to work after New Year's (and all that snow) which I thought are worth sharing. The first is Panel Crazy - an observation about the number of errors present in surveys. Sheila Wilson wrote Clients know that with the technology we now have, it is possible to script a project and complete the fieldwork online in a matter of hours. … [Read more...]
Asking the right questions
December 29, 2009 By 2 Comments
A very good tip was posted on Econsultancy the other week that is so easily overlooked. Zagat made a critical and not-uncommon error in crafting their survey. All possible answers were ones they wanted to hear: namely, that respondants are and will be willing to pay for their service. Once I was, but I no longer am. [my emphasis] This allows me to promote an old blog post - Survey Design Tips: … [Read more...]
Tips for better survey design #4: Keep ranking questions simple
October 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment
A popular type of question to ask in a survey is the ranking question, e.g. Please rank each of the following items in order of importance From the respondent's perspective, this question involves more effort to answer than others because of the need to compare each item in the list against every other item in the list, and also requires more time to fill-in as the list gets longer. In many … [Read more...]
How to get better quality comments in your survey results
October 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I've been meaning to share this post on Top Right Corner's blog that highlights two common mistakes when asking an open-ended verbatim type question after the Net Promoter Score question (e.g. would you recommend [company name] to your friends and family). Asking the Right Question to get to the Key Drivers of NPS or Customer Satisfaction gives good practical advice how to avoid two possible … [Read more...]
How to make a survey’s results look good
August 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment
One other article I bookmarked this week. How to make data charts look good - Ten Chart Design Principles (screenshot below). Excellent... Our own charts are customised for different clients. This one below is a fairly common example (chart from our ficticious company demo). You might also like Smashing Magazine's Data Visualization: modern approaches article (lots of high quality examples … [Read more...]
Beware incentives and verbatim questions in online surveys
June 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Yesterday, my wife was completing an online survey when she came across a question that asked: [How far do you agree/disagree with] Name-of-company makes me feel that my custom is greatly valued (wording might not be exact). Originally, she answered Disagree, clicked Continue and then a follow-up verbatim question was displayed that asked: We are sorry to hear [...] - why did you answer in that … [Read more...]
Tips for better survey design #2: Avoid compulsory questions
April 28, 2009 By 1 Comment
Every now and then I take a survey where at some point I don't want to answer a particular question - usually because I can't give a relevant answer. At that point it's quite common to find I can't continue any further until I answer the question. So what to do at this point... Abandon the survey Answer something, anything, to get past this question If I were feeling bloody-minded, answer … [Read more...]
Evaluating and Maximising Employee Engagement
April 17, 2009 By 1 Comment
OK, the credit crunch has resulted in millions unemployed so we should all be lucky to have a job. But with the pressure on human resources being greater than it has for many years it's even more important that we ensure our people are fully engaged - that lovely word which means switched on, motivated and positively focused towards the Company! Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Even … [Read more...]
Tips for better survey design #1: Hallway Testing
April 7, 2009 By 2 Comments
Each week I see new questionnaires - ours which are on behalf of a client and, not surprisingly, other people's surveys stumbled upon which nearly always grab my attention (although my patience is quickly tested - I won't plod through a survey that's not keeping my interest or that takes more than a few minutes). At Surveylab, we have a process for Quality Assurance (QA) to make sure we don't … [Read more...]
