Survey Builder Questionnaire Best Practices

We've developed best practices to help you create a top-notch survey for your research. Our guidelines empower you to understand the crucial role of a well-structured questionnaire in research.

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating a concise yet effective questionnaire on the Survey Builder:

1. Define Your Objectives Clearly: Before designing your survey, understand what you want to achieve. Clearly defining your objectives will guide the entire process.
2. Identify your Target Sample:  Who are the individuals you want to survey? Consider our pre-profiled demographics such as gender, age, ethnicity, education, income, geography (State + DMA), and parental status. Also, included is Mobile Targeting such as Carrier and Device 
3. Keep It Short and Focused: Respect respondents' time. Only include questions that directly relate to your objectives.
4. Use Simple Language: Ensure all respondents understand your questions. Avoid jargon, technical terms, or overly complex language.
5. Use Closed-ended Questions: These are questions that have predefined answers, such as multiple-choice or rating scales. They are easier to analyze than open-ended questions. However, sometimes including a few open-ended questions can give richer insights.
6. Avoid Leading Questions: Don't lead the respondent to a particular answer. For example, "Don't you think Product X is great?" is a leading question.
7. Avoid Double-barreled Questions: Ensure each question addresses one item only. For example, "How satisfied are you with our product's price and quality?" is double-barreled.
8. Use Mutually Exclusive Response Categories: Especially in multiple-choice questions, ensure categories don’t overlap, e.g., "18-25, 25-30" (25 falls in both).
9. Randomize Response Options: To prevent order bias, especially in multiple-choice questions, randomize the order of response options.
10. Ensure Response Options Are Exhaustive: Always consider adding options like "Not Applicable" or "Don't Know" to cater to every potential respondent.
11. Use Consistent Rating Scales: If you're asking several questions on a scale (like 1-5), keep the scale consistent throughout.
12. Avoid Absolute Terms: Words like "always" or "never" can seem extreme to respondents. It might make it hard for some respondents to choose an answer.
13. Use Logic and Piping: Based on a respondent's answer to one question, you can decide which question to ask next. This makes the survey more personalized and less cumbersome.
14. Clear Instructions: Where needed, provide clear instructions on how to fill out the survey or answer a particular question.
15. Test the Survey, a few times: This is the final step that will be required before your survey goes into field. The survey will provide a short summary of your selected quotas, fielding dates, and survey final price. Review these final points before submitting, to ensure your survey is set up correctly with your desired pricing.

Remember, brevity and clarity are essential when working with the Survey Builder. By following this guide, you can create a concise yet effective questionnaire that provides valuable insights for your business.

Want more? Check out our Survey Builder Help Center, here.