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Question types

Up to 20 custom questions can be used to ask specific questions, unique to your organisation, which gives further insights not covered by our research-backed assertions.

They can also be used to dig deeper in to a specific problem area highlighted in your baseline survey to understand the problem in more detail. 

Adding custom questions to your survey is done on the Questions tab when creating your survey.

Rating scales

When selecting which custom questions to use, you can use one of the following rating scales:

  • Agree-Disagree – Uses the existing Strongly disagree – Strongly agree emoticon scale and behaves the same way as our standard assertions. Free-text comments are optional.

  • Yes/No – Allows the participant to select Yes or No to a question. Free-text comments are optional.

  • 0 – 10 – Allows participants to respond on a 0 – 10 scale. Free-text comments are optional.

  • Multi-choice - Allows participants to select from a list of options. Free-text comments are optional.

You can also write a question that requires a free text response only.

NOTE: It is recommended that customers use the alternative scales only when needed and remain as consistent as possible in their choice of custom question scale. A change in scale or question type during the survey can introduce confusion and contribute to survey fatigue.

How to structure questions for each option

Each question type requires a different way of asking the question. This is important to avoid confusion and get the best possible response from the survey question.

Agree-Disagree

The Agree-Disagree scale allows participants to select how much they agree or disagree with a statement.

Example statements: 

  • AskYourTeam is a great place to work 

  • I take personal responsibility for my own health and safety

  • I believe our organisation values diversity (e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, language, education qualifications, ideas and perspectives)

  • Mistakes are treated as learning opportunities at our organisation

Participants select from one of six options. For example, 'Agree' or 'Somewhat Agree'. This type of scale is called a Likert scale, named after its creator, American social scientist Rensis Likert.

It's one of the most reliable ways to measure opinions, perceptions, and behaviours. It can also be used when you need to measure attitudes and opinions with more nuance than a Yes' or 'No' question provides.

Yes/No

The Yes/No response is a dichotomous question, meaning two possible answers. They are used for harvesting a clear distinction of qualities, experiences or opinions.

It must be written in a way that can be clearly answered with a yes or no response. It should avoid being leading or involve an emotion which the participant may feel uncomfortable answering either yes or no. If a comment is also required, the question must direct the participant to explain or clarify.

Examples: 

  • Do you travel by bicycle to your place of work? If ‘No’, please provide a reason why

  • Would you recommend our organisation as a great place to work to friends and family? 

0-10 scale

On the survey the 0-10 scale does not provide any indication of what 0 means or 10 means. The question must be written with a description of the scale included. The scale may be poor to good, low to high, difficult to easy etc

Examples:

  • On a scale of 0-10 – 0 being awful, 10 being perfect – how would you rate your work experience at AskYourTeam in the last 6 months?

  • On a scale of 0-10 (0-10, 0 being not at all, and 10 being strongly agree) Do you feel you are treated fairly as a valued part of the team? 

  • On a scale of 0 -10 (0-10, 0 being not at all, and 10 being extremely likely), how likely are you to recommend our organisation to friends or family? 

  • On a scale of 0-10 (0-10, 0 being not at all, and 10 being strongly believe) Do you believe our core values are alive within the business?

Multi-choice

The multi-choice question allows you to enter a question, along with up to 20 answer options that participants can select. You are also able to select the minimum and maximum number of responses that participants should select when taking the survey.

Response options can be ordered or randomised.  We recommend randomising options to remove the potential for bias by people just selecting the first in the list.

Examples: 

  • What benefits would you like to see added?
    Options: Health insurance, flexible work hours, birthday leave, increased sick leave.

Free text

A free text question isn't looking for an answer that fits into a set of options. It allows the participant to tell their story and write their own answer.

Examples:

  • What is the one suggestion that you believe would lead to our organisation delivering a higher standard of service to our customers?

  • What are the biggest challenges we are facing as a team and why?

  • What is the one thing our organisation is doing really well?