THE ART OF ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS: CRAFTING EFFECTIVE SURVEY INSTRUMENTS
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INTRODUCTION
A good survey question is one that effectively captures the information needed to achieve the survey’s objectives while being clear, concise, and relevant to the customers. Each question should be constructed in an easily understandable manner, free from ambiguity, and devoid of jargon or technical language that may confuse participants.
The right survey design can become the determining factor in the success of your project. When customers clearly understand the question being asked, they are more likely to provide accurate and meaningful answers, which improves the reliability and validity of survey data.
With the aid of survey, we can fully recognize customer behavior in the market. With a well carved research design survey, gathering the needed information can be made possible which allows you to create a better decision-making strategy, prevent problems and maintain the continuous development of the company.
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Tel: (+234) 802 320 0801, (+234) 807 576 5799)
E-Mail: info@qeeva.com
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HOW TO AVOID LEADING QUESTIONS
A leading question is phrased in a way meant to steer the respondent’s answer in a particular direction, often by implying that there is a correct answer, using suggestive language, or even including part of the answer in the question itself.
Leading questions are often set up as yes or no answers, or respondents are given a limited range of choices that may not be reflective of how they truly feel.
Example of a leading question: “Which is a better use of end-of-year profits for the employees: extra PTO, or a holiday bonus?”
The problem: A survey-taker is now constrained to those two options disguised as an open-ended question. If given the ability to answer honestly, the respondent might have suggested a completely different priority, such as a company party or charity donation. Instead, they’re now choosing between two choices that may have little importance to them.
Proposed solution: “How would you like to see extra profits at the end of the year being used to reward the employees for their hard work?”
What is a Loaded Question?
A loaded question is similar to a leading question, but it starts with a biased premise based on unverified assumptions. Loaded questions are often seen as trick questions, and in many cases, they make the respondent feel defensive.
Example of a loaded question: “What problems do you have with your manager?”
The problem: This question starts with the presumption that the respondent has issues with his or her boss, when that may not be the case. Instead of focusing solely on the negative, an unbiased question would leave the response open for both positive and negative feedback.
Proposed solution: Describe the relationship you have with your manager.
WHY LEADING AND LOADED QUESTIONS SHOULD BE AVOIDED IN A SURVEY
The success of a survey isn’t solely tied to the response rate. False or coerced answers hurt the accuracy of the data being collected, or worse – they can paint an incorrect picture.
The goal of a survey is to identify what’s working, what isn’t, and what has room for improvement. If a survey is comprised of leading questions that push respondents to answer in a particular way, the company running the survey is missing out on honest feedback that could have offered unexpected insights.
PRACTICAL WAYS TO AVOID LEADING SURVEY QUESTIONS
Don’t Rephrase a Participant’s Response in Your Own Words
Don’t Suggest an Answer
Avoid Yes/No and Either/Or Answers
Remove Biased Language
Don’t Make Assumptions
Don’t Lead with a Biased Statement Before the Question
Avoid Combining Two Questions into One
Unbiased Surveys Deliver More Accurate Results
Avoiding leading and loaded questions, and even general bias as a whole, can present a challenge to survey creators. It’s human nature to impose our own opinions into conversations.
When in doubt, recruit some trusted volunteers to serve as beta survey-takers and provide feedback about the neutrality of your questions. Be sure to let them know your goal beforehand so they can be on the lookout for biased language. Alternatively, harness the power of Check Market, and take advantage of one of our pre-built survey templates which are put together by research experts according to best practice.
– Call-to-action to contact for a consultation
Tel: (+234) 802 320 0801, (+234) 807 576 5799)
E-Mail: info@qeeva.com
Office Address: 5, Ishola Bello Close, Off Iyalla Street, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
TIPS FOR CLEAR AND UNBIASED QUESTIONS
For every survey process, the crucial thing to do is to perfectly craft questions which measures respondents’ opinions and behavior. The feedback rates will be of no relevance if the information provided are based on sentimental questions. In order to get good feedbacks, you need to know how to come up with both writing good questions and using a good survey design to garnish those questions.
Find out what you want to cover in a survey:
Even before you finalize the survey design, it is vital to think about the objective of deploying a survey. Identify what you want to cover in a study and make sure the topic is clear at once. Once there is clarity obtained on what the survey will be about, other steps will follow.
Split your core objective into multiple unique points. The brief should answer some basic questions: What kind of demographic details do you want to capture? Do you want to calculate Net Promoter Score Will it be a micro or macro survey? How many questions do you want to have? What type of questions should be open-ended? Do you want to add variables to personalize surveys for respondents?
Effective online surveys will have distinct blocks designed to guide the respondent through the process. Here is what the most common survey blocks will look like:
Introduction: Sets the respondent’s expectations – may also be covered in the survey invite.
Survey duration: Give respondents a realistic time estimate and remind them their opinions are secure.
Screeners: Questions designed to ensure the respondent meets your criteria.
Typical screeners include demographics (age, gender, region), level of responsibility or purchase ability, product/service usage, or brand/company awareness. Screeners are useful for establishing quotas.
Body: The bulk of the survey. Questions on usage, attitudes, awareness, concept testing, competitive perceptions, etc.
Demographics: Questions used for profiling or segmenting the respondents. No need to repeat any demographics used as screeners.
Final thoughts: Close with an open-ended question asking for any additional ideas.
Redirects: Could be a simple thank you page, a redirect to your website, or back to a panel provider.
Arrange your questions in a chronological order:
Now that you have your core objectives brief ready, it is time for you to convert these core points to real survey questions. It is rather easy to start deviating from the core objectives and boundaries once it starts creating the survey given the amount of freedom and choices that the platform provides. However, it is essential to stick to what you had already decided unless you know that the objectives need some alterations to make your survey better.
Avoid multiple questions at a time:
Branching questions or asking more than one question at a time can confuse respondents, and they might not be able to choose the correct option/options from the list of answer options provided to them. Therefore, it is advisable to ask one question at a time, to give clarity to respondents. Make it concise and straightforward:
Respondents may get irritated and less likely to complete the survey if a topic is not precise and tend to bounce back and forth. Therefore, follow a logical order in placing the questions and stick to a specific topic. If the survey is too lengthy, respondents might not stay interested in filling out the entire study, and survey results might get compromised. Hence, keep it short and straightforward.
Avoid using jargon:
To help respondents answer the survey, avoid using jargon and too many technical terms. Using language that is easy for respondents to understand will help them understand and respond to surveys better.
Language is very important when creating a survey. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for the respondent to answer the survey. The more difficult it becomes; the more likely respondents will abandon their survey.
Open or closed questions:
Asking open or closed questions is always difficult.
The trick here is, balance out both these options. Try and include descriptive and objective questions to balance the survey. Again, question types should be carefully sorted as it defines the tone and importance of asking a question in the first place.
Be patient to design your survey:
When preparing for an initial client meeting, make sure you prepare questions regarding the nature of the problem, including their “gut feelings”, as well as asking for any relevant information about their business operation in which you might not already know.
Market research, or research in general, does not thrive if it is kept in a vacuum. Therefore, researchers need to be proactive in communications with internal and external clients. Management is likely only to see the “result” of a problem, such as a decline in sales or a downtrend in customer satisfaction ratings. The cause of these problems, e.g., a shift in market preferences, can only be identified when we look below the surface. Researchers” job is to query clients to understand what is known (a decline in sales) and to identify possible causes of the problem that we quantify via our research efforts.
A survey needs to create brand awareness with respondents. For this, the survey creator can use the brand language (brand logo and brand color), so respondents can correlate with it.
Take time to analyze the responses:
Once you’ve sent out the survey, collect all the responses, and maintain a document or excel sheet for the collected responses. The excel sheet should have all the mentioned classifications of the survey to have all the data in place.
You need to make sure you follow this step and categorize data into Behavior, Psychographics, and Demographics. Any researcher needs to have organized data so that analyzing, predicting outcomes, and writing reports become easy.
Compile and write your survey report:
After collecting responses and analyzing it, share your analysis with your customers using a summary report. You should have all the data gathered from surveys in a particular format by this stage. The readers should get a clear picture of your goal, i.e., what were you trying to attain from the survey? Make sure you cover questions such as do users prefer/use a particular product or service? Which product do the users prefer? Any comment?
Draw a conclusion of action:
Prepare your final action plan based on your goal, responses put together and conclude. Mend your final plan and start executing the changes.
A survey creator may direct a pre-testing of the survey to a focus group during the development process to better understand how respondents in that group may respond. Pre-testing is a good practice as a survey creator can comprehend in the initial stages if there are any changes required in the survey.
– Call-to-action to contact for a consultation
Tel: (+234) 802 320 0801, (+234) 807 576 5799)
E-Mail: info@qeeva.com
Office Address: 5, Ishola Bello Close, Off Iyalla Street, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
TYPES AND EXAMPLES OF SURVEY QUESTIONS
The rating questions ask customers to rate their agreement, satisfaction, or preference based on a numerical basis. These questions provide quantitative information and allow researchers to measure the strength of customer opinions or attitudes.
On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with our product/service?
On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our company to others? (0 – not at all likely, 10 – very likely)
On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate the quality of our customer support?
Likert Scale survey questions
This is an image of a Likert Scale type survey.
Likert scale questions are rating scale questions that measure customers’ agreement or disagreement with a statement.
A range of options are available to customers for selecting between strongly disagree, disagree, Agree
Examples:
Indicate that you agree with the following statement: “I am satisfied with the speed of the service provided.
(Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree)
How strongly do you agree or disagree with the statement: “Our company values customer feedback?
(1 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)
To what extent do you think our product meets your needs? (Not at all, Somewhat, Moderately, very much, Completely) Open-ended survey questions
This is an image of an open-ended survey type.
Customers can provide free, comprehensive answers to open-ended questions. This is especially useful when prioritizing product improvements or new features. Example Rate the following characteristics on a scale of 1-5: Sustainable planning Rate the importance of the following factors in making a purchase decision: Price n Product feature Demand reviews How would you rate the following characteristics of our customer service and ask? make choices about the images offered. These questions visually engage customers and can provide valuable insight into their preferences.
Media Upload Survey Questions
Media Upload Questions allow customers to upload files, images or videos as part of their responses. These questions are useful when collecting multimedia content from participants, such as testimonials, product reviews, or user-generated content. Start your first customer survey and connect with your customers with different types of questions using well-designed surveys. They are especially useful when companies want to gather in-depth knowledge, feedback or suggestions from their customers.
Examples:
What factors influenced your decision to buy our product?
Tell our customer service about any additional comments you may have.
What improvements would you recommend to improve the usability of our site?
Closed Poll Questions
This is an image of a closed poll question from the CSAT study with multiple choice options.
Closed-ended questions offer ready-made response options for customers to choose from. These questions are useful for quantifying responses and improving data analysis.
Examples:
Was the information provided useful to you? (Yes/No)
On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you with our delivery service?
(1 – very dissatisfied, 5 – very satisfied) Have you used our mobile application in the last month? (Yes/No)”Yes” or “No” Poll Questions. This is an image of a poll with a yes/no question.
Yes/no questions offer binary response options where customers must choose between two options. These questions are easy to answer, so they are good for simple surveys.
Examples
Have you ever visited our site before? (Yes/No)
Are you satisfied with the response time of our customer support team? (Yes/No)
Would you recommend the product to a friend or colleague? (Yes/No)
Multiple Choice Survey Questions
Multiple choice questions provide customers with multiple response options, allowing them to select one or more options that work best for them. These questions offer customers flexibility and can cover a wide range of topics.
Examples:
How satisfied are you with your recent interaction with our customer service? (Very Dissatisfied, Dissatisfied, Neutral, Satisfied, Very Satisfied)
Which of the following factors influenced your purchase decision? (Price, quality, brand reputation, ease of use)
How often do you buy from our brand? (Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, Very Often)
Grid Survey Questions
This is an image of a survey with a grid survey question.
Quadratic survey questions, also known as matrix questions, help collect data on several related variables in a structured and efficient manner. They present customers with a grid or table format where they can respond to multiple dimensions using similar scales or response options.
These types of questions can be used to measure satisfaction along several different dimensions, such as product quality, customer service, and price.
Examples:
Rate the following aspects of our product/service on a scale of 1-5:
Ease of use Customer support Value for money Product quality
How would you rate your satisfaction with the following features of our website?
Navigation Search Features Content
Relevance Visual Appeal Indicate that you agree with the following statements:
Our company values customer feedback.
Our products meet the agreed quality standards. Our price is competitive in the market.
Our customer service responds to questions.
Assessment
Attributes Survey Questions
This is an image of a survey with an Assessment Attributes question type. The rating asks customers to rate each attribute on a scale so companies can understand which attributes are most valued or need improvement. These types of survey questions help assess satisfaction levels for different features of a product, service or experience for the same question.
CONCLUSION
Knowing the right sets of questions to ask will eventually become the determining factor in the success of your project. When your audience clearly understand the question being asked, they will eventually provide helpful, accurate and meaningful answers, which improves the reliability and validity of survey data.
– Call-to-action to contact for a consultation
Tel: (+234) 802 320 0801, (+234) 807 576 5799)
E-Mail: info@qeeva.com
Office Address: 5, Ishola Bello Close, Off Iyalla Street, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
FAQ
Why are research questions important?
The quality of your research questions has a direct impact on the quality of your data. Well-designed questions provide:
- Accurate and reliable answers: Clear questions show that respondents understand what you are asking and provide accurate answers.
- Practical Information: Practical questions gather the information you need to make informed decisions and solve problems.
- Increase response rates: Answer relevant questions by encouraging them to participate and fill out your survey.
- Reducing respondent burden: Reducing confusing or unnecessary questions shortens the survey and respects respondents’ time.
What are the essential elements of an effective research problem?
- Be clear and concise: Use clear and simple language that your target audience can easily understand. Avoid jargon or technical terms.
- Focus on one point: Each question should cover a specific point to avoid confusion.
- Objectivity: Avoid language that leads participants to a particular answer.
- Important: Make sure the questions are relevant to your research objectives and audience.
- Answer: View the possible way to answer the follower’s question.
What are the different research questions to consider?
- Multiple Choice: Provide a list of answers from which respondents can choose. Ideal for collecting data about preferences or demographic information.
- Likert scale: Ask participants to indicate on a scale the extent to which they agree with statements (e.g., strongly disagree). Useful for evaluating thoughts or attitudes.
- Binary (Yes/No): State a question that has only two possible answers. It is best to collect information directly.
- Open-ended: Allow participants to respond in their own words. Good for deep insight and uncovering unexpected ideas.
- Rating Scale: Ask participants to rate an item on a numerical scale (e.g. G., stars 1-5). Useful in measuring satisfaction or usability.
What are some pitfalls to avoid when writing research questions?
- Two by two questions: Avoid asking two questions in one question as this can lead to confusing answers.
- Important questions: Don’t ask questions to get the answer you want.
- Jargon or technical terms: Use language that will resonate with your target audience.
- Default information: Do not think about previously requested information.
- Choosing impossible answers: Make sure the answers are useful and complete.
- Positively solicited answers: Avoid questions that might force participants to choose an answer they think is ‘correct’.
How can I test research questions before I start?
- Pilot testing: Conduct a small test with a sample of your target audience to determine if any questions are clear or answerable.
- Peer review: Ask colleagues or external reviewers to review your research for clarity and accuracy.
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