AskYourTeam Scale Questions

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.

Rating Scale

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 (from strongly agree to strongly disagree), with no mid-point option, reflects the optimal way to give a rating on the questions. 

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 aids in negating cultural or language biases by eliminating the barrier of mapping feelings into words.

Neutral Midpoint

The AskYourTeam scale does not include a neutral midpoint as the purpose of the system is to encourage feedback, both positive or negative, to varying degrees.

The rationale behind not using a neutral response option is that a neutral point attracts respondents who tend to slightly lean toward a favourable or unfavourable response. Having a neutral response would then mask these sentiments, not giving an accurate reflection of their true perspective. 

Don't Know Option

Including an option for Don’t know is important as some participants may have no opinion, or may not know as their role may not enable them to offer an informed response. This option is included as all participants may not be able to provide feedback on every question. 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?

For example, 50% of your Executive Leadership Team select Don't know in response to clarity of the organisation's strategy, this would be helpful to identify.

Don't know is located on the left of the scale and 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).

The Questions report will identify the count and percentage of all responses that make up the average question score. 

AskYourTeam questions are randomised for survey takers to minimise the effect satisficing may have on survey results.  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.

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

Custom questions can be created using the following response options: 

• AskYourTeam rating scale (Emoticon Scale)

• 0-10

• Yes / No

• Multi-choice (with up to 20 options)

• Matrix

• Free text

With all question types except the Free text question, a free text response box can be added to gather further feedback to the question.

You can view the structure of all surveys available in your subscription by clicking More info on the survey panel under Create survey. The number of questions in a Baseline survey varies depending on the survey version.

An organisation has the option to select only the questions they wish to use. We would however strongly recommend using all of the questions (or at least as many as are relevant to your organisation) in both the initial Baseline survey and for future annual Baseline surveys. The value in doing this is that it will enable you to gain a full picture of how the organisation is performing, highlighting what is working well and also any opportunities for improvement. As a result of this, it is then possible to focus on specific areas and delve deeper to gain deep insight, enabling meaningful and relevant action plans to be put in place.

AskYourTeam recommended questions cannot be edited. However, our Customer Success team can assist you with tweaking wording to be applicable to your organisation.

AskYourTeam questions are research-backed and independently validated by the Institute for Business Research at the University of Waikato. The responses to the AskYourTeam recommended questions provide the basis for benchmarking. The meaning behind the question needs to remain the same.

For example: If you would like I like working for this organisation changed to I like working for AskYourTeam.

You are able to edit the explanations while creating your survey, again ensuring it is reflective of the question. You can add any detail you wish to this explanation to ensure that it is clear to the participant.

If you would like to discuss further, please contact your Account Manager or customersuccess@askyourteam.com