There are different reasons for conducting a survey. In academia, researchers conduct surveys to collect data relevant to their area of interest or research. Marketers find surveys to collect data about existing customers. Such data include product presence and consumer behavior which is handy when it comes to onboarding new customers. Opinion polls are also conducted to find public opinion about a particular issue.
Surveys can be done online, during face-to-face interviews, through paper questionnaires, over the phone, or through polls. There’s an art to carrying out surveys, as the right questions must be asked if the answers provided by the respondents are to be considered reliable.
Below, you’ll find easy and actionable tips that will come in handy when setting up a survey. Here we go.
- Prioritize Close-ended Questions
Surveys can contain open-ended questions, close-ended questions, or a combination of both. Ideally, you should prioritize close-ended questions as they are easy to read and understand by respondents, and your target audience won’t have to read and re-read the questions to understand them. Also, close-ended questions provide definitive answers that can be easily analyzed and quantified.
This is not to say open-ended questions don’t have their place in surveys. But they generally take more time to answer, something that can be discouraging for many respondents. Open-ended questions have the advantage of providing deeper insight into the subject matter.
Ideally, a survey should have just a couple of open-ended questions, which should be included towards the end of the survey. Even if a respondent doesn’t feel like answering the closing open-ended questions, they’ve already answered the previous questions, and their answers can be recorded.
- Ask Neutral Questions
The whole idea of surveys is to collect data and find out the target audience’s opinion. As a result, the questions asked should be neutral and void of any opinion or sentiment. Consider a survey question like this – “We think our customer care service is superb as we respond to inquiries promptly. How awesome do you think we are?”
The above question shows that those who set up the survey have a good opinion of themselves which is fine. But they are already projecting that opinion to the respondents, which may consciously or unconsciously affect the target audience’s response.
So, neutral questions must be asked. A question like “What do you think about your customer care service?” would be more appropriate in the above scenario, and this encourages the respondents to truly say how they feel.
- Consider Translating the Survey
You’d need to translate the survey if you want to reach a global audience or an audience whose native or preferred language isn’t English. Respondents are more eager to answer surveys if it’s in their preferred language. So, a Spanish speaker or national would want a survey in Spanish translation.
There are two aspects of translating surveys. The first aspect is translation, which is about making the survey available in the native or preferred language of the respondents. The second aspect is localization which deals with adapting the survey to the culture and local nuances of the audience.
Using the above example again, a Spanish speaker could be fluent in Mexican Spanish, Peruvian Spanish, or US Spanish. By localizing a survey, such a survey will be made available in a variety of Spanish the target audience is familiar with.
- Avoid Double-Barreled questions
For those not familiar with double-barreled questions, it’s a type of question that asks about two different issues yet allows for only one answer. The main problem with double-barreled questions is that there’s no way to know the question that respondents are answering.
Consider a question that says, “How would you rate our product and delivery time?”. If a respondent says he’s satisfied, it could be referring to the product, delivery time, or even both. But there’s no way to know this. So, double-barreled questions are problematic and should be avoided.
Luckily, it’s easy to spot double-barreled questions as they have the conjunction “and.” So, be sure to go through your survey to check if there are double-barreled questions.
- Do a Test Drive
The last thing you’d want is to send out a survey and then find out it has several issues. Depending on the severity of the issues, you may need to cancel the survey and set up a new one.
So, before sending out a survey, send it to a number of selected people and analyze their responses. This will give you insight into what to expect when the survey is sent out.
