Making a Well Designed Survey
Poorly designed surveys will lead to receiving bad data that doesn’t answer our research purposes.
Don’t use multiple choice answers that leave room for the user’s own interpretation. For example, don’t make “frequently” or “rarely” multiple choice answers because “frequently” may mean a few times a week to one user, and it may mean a few times a day to another user. Avoid subjectivity in the choices.
Giving quantitative choices would allow for more accurate data and responses. Instead of using “frequently” or “rarely,” use specifics such as “A few times a week” or “once a week.”
A well crafted multiple choice question would have its answers lined up in a symmetrical order. For example:
a. Never
b. A few times a year
c. Once a month
d. Two to three times a month
e. Once a week
f. A few times a week
g. Every day
You would have the first and last options be the most extreme responses and the middle being the most moderate out of all the answers. It is also easier for users to predict what the choices are if you use similar words in the most extreme multiple choice answers (the first and last option). People expect the opposite of “never” to be “always” and the opposite of “not very important” to be “very important.”
If the questions are clear and concise to the interviewees, they will be spending less time analyzing the questions and they would be spending more time answering them.
