Filed in Questionnaires

A survey needs clear questions, the right answer scales, and a cohesive flow. See also the Technology category, which focuses on survey functions rather than content.

Ask about the small stuff: I recently had lunch with a fellow consultant who focuses on employee surveys. Contrary to what you might expect in the grand scheme of employer/staff relations, he spends much of his time getting executives to pay attention to "small" problems....; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on August 24, 2007 | Last updated May 19, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Management | Questionnaires; TAGS: Customer satisfaction | Developing surveys | Employee surveys
Assembling a customer satisfaction picture: Most everyone wants to measure (and improve) customer satisfaction, but how? First and foremost, if your organization is new to surveys and doing this in-house, start simple! The goal of any survey is better information for decision-making, and a modest...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on March 7, 2008 | Last updated May 18, 2008; COMMENTS: 1; CATEGORIES: Management | Questionnaires; TAGS: Benchmarks & trending | Customer satisfaction | Developing surveys | Index metrics | Service quality
Balancing topics in your questionnaires: A client working on a project for a non-profit recently sent me two questionnaires: Version 1 Written by my client, and primarily driven by their contact, the CEO. The survey focused on evaluating the organization as a whole, though a...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on November 9, 2007 | Last updated May 18, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Management | Questionnaires; TAGS: Developing surveys
Can someone neither agree nor disagree?: One of the recurring debates in the research community is about using "even" or "odd" scales. This refers to scales such as: Strongly Agree Agree Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree Where the labels go from one extreme to...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on July 2, 2006 | Last updated April 25, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Questionnaires; TAGS: Scales
Creative password schemes: While we always like to study best practices, sometimes it's the failures which are most illuminating—in this case an unusual password design. The plan was hatched by a client's client before we came in on the rush project, so I...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on February 21, 2006 | Last updated April 25, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Questionnaires | Technology; TAGS: CAPI & CATI | Data validation | Passwords | Usability | Web surveys
One page per question syndrome: A common design for surveys is to make them like a PowerPoint slide show, with one question on each page. In practice, what this does is make the survey longer for respondents, which is a good way to irritate them...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on July 28, 2006 | Last updated April 28, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Questionnaires; TAGS: CAPI & CATI | Layout & styles | Usability | Web surveys
Piping answers and data in surveys: "Piping" at its most generic refers to moving information in, out, and around a survey. This makes it a very useful technology for any dynamic survey (Web, telephone, kiosk), potentially enriching the respondent experience or increasing data quality. It's also...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on October 30, 2006 | Last updated May 19, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Data Handling | Questionnaires | Technology; TAGS: CAPI & CATI | Import & export | Piping | Telephone surveys | Web surveys
Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys: Experiments on Question Form, Wording, and Context: by Howard Schuman & Stanley Presser

Despite being in a quantitative industry, surveyors rarely conduct tests to measure what happens when we rearrange questions, add a neutral point in a scale, or make other adjustments. If you're ready to absorb some more advanced issues, complete with footnotes, this is a great book to pick up. Note that the 1996 copyright is simply a reprint of the 1981 text.

Amazon; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Books | Questionnaires; TAGS: Developing surveys | Scales
Single or multiple—avoiding a common mistake: Survey designers of all experience levels make mistakes, and even when we have multiple proofreaders it's amazing what can be missed. I've seen errors ranging from typos to—more than once—overlooking an entire division of employees. These things happen. This article...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on June 29, 2006 | Last updated April 25, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Questionnaires; TAGS: Scales | Testing
The beauty of a one question survey: I'm not talking about current events polls whose results too often depend on which online community pounces first. I'm talking about real, useful feedback achieved with just one question....; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on February 21, 2006 | Last updated April 25, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Questionnaires; TAGS: Benchmarks & trending | Developing surveys | Writing questions
Want to write better surveys?: Answer every one you can. When I spot a "Take our survey" link on a Web site or feedback URL on a store receipt, I generally answer the questionnaire. Sometimes it's a smooth, well orchestrated experience. Occasionally I find myself...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on August 29, 2006 | Last updated April 28, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Management | Questionnaires; TAGS: Developing surveys | Scales | Testing | Usability | Writing questions
Watching for overly broad questions: Recently I completed a telephone survey, and in the course of the 22 minute conversation (estimated at 12-15) I was asked: Would you recommend a friend or family member attend University of California Davis? Recommend for what? I'm aware of...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on March 25, 2008 | Last updated May 19, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Questionnaires; TAGS: Customer satisfaction | Index metrics | Writing questions
When surveys are too adaptive: One of the strengths of Web, CATI and CAPI surveys is their adaptability. We can create a questionnaire which tailors itself in obvious and hidden ways to a respondent's answers. While in a sense the respondent is "driving" this process,...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on June 8, 2006 | Last updated April 28, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Management | Questionnaires | Technology; TAGS: CAPI & CATI | Data cleaning | Developing surveys | Open-ended questions | Postcoding | Web surveys
When you ask a question, do you offer the answer they need?: I love my new little laptop, so when the manufacturer popped up a survey invitation today (time delayed 3 months from purchase) I was happy to provide feedback. The survey was primarily about how I'd been using the system, which...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on July 15, 2006 | Last updated April 25, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Questionnaires; TAGS: Scales | Writing questions
Whole numbers or ranges?: When we write surveys, we often have to make a choice for dollar or frequency questions. We can ask for a precise number such as: How many times have you visited any of our stores in the past twelve months...; Read Article; BY: Ann Ray on August 24, 2006 | Last updated May 19, 2008; COMMENTS: 0; CATEGORIES: Questionnaires | Reporting; TAGS: Scales