The design of the survey can influence the success or failure of your project. Designing a survey is not just about asking questions. Numerous characteristics of a survey’s design are important, and you will need to consider each in turn.
Below are some of the features that influence the design of the survey:
- Follow the Research Objective
First, determine your research objective, and then, design the survey so that you are following it. Finalize the plan for analysis once all the data has been collected. This will allow you to make tactical and strategic business decisions with confidence at the end of the survey.
- Survey Fatigue
Try to avoid questions that place a heavy burden on your respondents and increase their mental fatigue. Don’t include convoluted questions that require a higher comprehension of the topics you are gathering information on. Otherwise, you will see higher non-response rates, which will not help you get your desired data.
- Survey Question Wording
The right wording is one of the important and difficult tasks of creating custom surveys. You can’t explain the meaning of your questions when you collect data online. Don’t ask complicated questions and avoid using esoteric language or highly technical words. Slight changes in wording can completely change the meaning of a question, so make sure you carefully craft questions.
- Correct Order
Follow a logical flow and keep the questions in order. If you jump from one topic to another topic in the survey, this may confuse your respondents. Once you are done with the survey questions, carefully test your survey to ensure they are in the correct order.
- Choose the Right Survey Question Format
It is important to include survey question types according to the audience. There are two primary types of survey questions available–quantitative and qualitative. Qualitative questions allow people to answer in their own words, and quantitative questions will provide a limited selection of available responses. Depending on your objective, you may have a mix of both.
- Visual Survey Design
Along with the written part of your survey, it is important to consider the design elements. If the design is inconsistent, respondents may not be able to fully understand the meaning of the survey questions, or they may think there is an error and drop out early.
Design the survey to look more appealing. Make sure to be consistent and use the same font sizes, formatting, and colors across questions so that the respondent can easily move throughout the survey.
By following the above-mentioned tips, you’ll be well on your way to creating surveys that produce valid data. These will allow you to conduct an online survey easily, and you will be able to create a successful survey to gather the answers you are seeking.
You can look to Ambivista’s experts to design a perfect survey. We have all the online survey tools needed to help you create a useful and impactful survey. The Ambivista team uses state-of-the-art methodologies to create a customized questionnaire that will yield the most valid and actionable findings.
