How to write great survey questions

Your survey audience will be diverse. They'll bring a range of perspectives to your survey and a range of literacy skills. So it's important to keep this in mind when writing survey questions.

For example, imagine you're running a survey in English only.

You might have participants who:

• grew up speaking English
• are learning English
• had limited access to education
• have trouble processing words or numbers.

You need to ensure your survey questions can be understood by as many people as possible. This allows you to capture as many perspectives as possible.

Here are some tips to help you write great survey questions.

1. Check if you really need to ask the question

This might seem like a strange place to start, but it's important to consider if you really need to ask a question in the first place.

Each time you add a question, you demand more from the participant. If the survey starts to feel long, this can impact completion rates and contribute to survey fatigue.

Only ask questions that represent the information you must gather from the survey. Avoid "nice to know" questions and keep the estimated survey completion time under 10 minutes.

2. Keep questions clear and simple

Everyone taking your survey benefits from clear and simple questions. It supports people with varying levels of literacy but it also reaches much wider than that.

Participants don't have time to read a question two or three times to confirm what it's asking, and they're likely to be completing your survey on mobile. This device has a small screen which is not well suited to long questions.

To keep questions clear and simple:

• make them as short as possible
• write for a general reading age of 12 years old
• define unusual or technical terms.

Avoid the following:

• unnecessary words
• jargon (e.g. end-user, blue-sky, touch base and bottom-line)
• double negatives (e.g. my working environment is not unsatisfactory)
• mixing positive and negative statements
• passive phrasing.

3. Focus on one point per question

Each question should focus on one point. Questions that include two or more points can cause confusion.

For example, consider the question: 'I am happy and motivated at work'. Participants might agree with one part of this question but not the other. They might feel happy but not particularly motivated.

This can skew your data when it comes to reporting, as they might:

• choose an 'in-between' option
• choose 'Don't know'
• skip the question altogether.

And none of those actions will give you a true understanding of their opinion.

Don't worry! Questions that use 'and' or a 'comma' are usually an indication that you're asking two or more things. So take a close look at any questions that use those.

4. Write for the question type

Think about what type of question you're writing for. Is it a Yes/No? Agree-Disagree? Free-text? 0 to 10?

If your survey focuses on one question type, it's important to be consistent with your phrasing. Don't switch between negative and positive statements.

If you've got a variety of question types, make sure the question matches how the participant selects their answer. Don't use a free-text question for a Yes/No question like, 'Have you used our product before?'.

• For 0 to 10 questions, 10 should always represent the most positive response and 0 the most negative.
• For free-text questions, include instructions on what type of information you want them to provide in the comment box.

5. Check for bias and leading questions

Make sure to review your survey for bias. It could be present in the type of questions you've asked or how you've asked them – it might also be accidentally introduced by what's not covered!

It's a good idea to ask a diverse group of people to review your survey before it goes live to catch any biases or gaps. You should also avoid leading questions. These are questions written in a way that may influence responses and skew the results.

Give the tips in this guide a go next time you need to write survey questions. And remember – good questions mean better quality data when it comes time to review results and reports!