What are AskYourTeam questions?

AskYourTeam validated questions are research-backed and independently validated by the Institute for Business Research at the University of Waikato. The responses to these questions provide the basis for benchmarking.

These questions use a six-point rating scale which you can learn more about in the following section.

Why do these questions use a rating scale?

When participants complete a survey, the aim is that they are able to respond:

• Honestly
• Easily
• Accurately
• Quickly

From an organisational psychology perspective, it is believed that individuals naturally gravitate towards positivity. Asking questions phrased as a positive statement drives participant engagement in the process, and, as a result, individuals are more likely to give a truthful and meaningful response.

What rating scale do we use?

AskYourTeam uses the six-point Likert scale with emoticons to represent the extent to which the participant agrees or disagrees with a particular statement. 

The scale consists of:

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Somewhat agree
• Somewhat disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

There is no neutral midpoint.

Research supports the use of ‘smiley face’ illustrations as a means of attracting participants' attention and encouraging engaged responses, particularly when assessing a variety of topics. Furthermore, the use of emoticons helps to reduce culture or language barriers.

Why is there no neutral midpoint?

The AskYourTeam scale doesn't include a neutral midpoint. This is because the purpose of the questions is to encourage feedback, both positive and negative, to varying degrees.

A neutral midpoint attracts respondents who tend to lean slightly toward a favourable or unfavourable response. Having a neutral response would then mask these sentiments, not giving an accurate reflection of their true perspective. 

What can you learn from the 'Don't know' option?

A 'Don't know' option is included with all AskYourTeam validated questions by default. It should under the main scale.

Including this option is important as some participants may have no opinion or may not know. This may be due to varying roles and levels of seniority within the organisation.

This is also a helpful response option when analysing your results as it will enable you to define any outliers that should know something but selected 'Don't know'. The number of people that do not know may indicate an issue. Is it a lack of awareness that could be addressed? Is the question not clear?

'Don't know' has no numerical value. As an example, if 1 out of 10 respondents selects 'Don't know' in response to a particular question, then the average score for that question is the total number of scoring emoticons divided by 9 (rather than by all 10 respondents).

Why are AskYourTeam validated questions randomised?

AskYourTeam validated questions are randomised to reduce the risk of satisficing.  Satisficing is when a participant might lose interest in answering the questions and select the same (or random) response for every question. If questions weren't randomised and satisficing occurred, the results of the last questions would be less valuable because all responses would not be genuine.

Randomising questions also helps minimise participants taking the survey together and influencing each other's responses.

Can you edit the AskYourTeam validated questions?

You can edit the question's explanation, but you can't edit the question itself. This is to ensure the intent of the question remains the same.

However, you can customise the keywords in these questions like:

• senior leadership team
• organisation
• team

Learn more about customising questions.

If you can't move forward with your survey without editing the AskYourTeam validated questions, please get in touch with our Customer Success Team. In some situations, they may be able to override the wording to suit your unique situation whilst ensuring the intent of the question remains the same.

What other question types are available?

Other question types that are available to use are:

• 0-10
• Yes/No
• Multi-choice (with up to 20 options)
• Free text

You can also add a comment box to all question types, except the free text, if you'd like to gather further feedback on a question.

Learn more about question types.