7 Golden Rules To Create Ideal Survey? A Guide To Create Surveys

Why do we create surveys? What’s the use of making of them? Do surveys in anyway benefit the business or organization? These are a few questions which we usually think before creating them. They are very useful, if they are created the right way. An unplanned and thoughtlessly created survey is a total waste. No one likes to fill or respond to a survey that is badly created. Take yourself as an example, will you be willing to respond to any questionnaire that is not designed properly and is filled with questions which don’t make sense at all; probably not.

There are 7 golden rules to create ideal surveys. An ideal survey is one which receives multiple responses and engages its respondents. Those 7 golden rules are described under which will let you understand what work better in your survey.

1. Conversational Tone

People tend to reply more when they are asked things informally. The tone of your question should always be conversational, it helps in receiving more and detailed answers from respondents. Just imagine yourself having a dialogue with your respondent on one to one basis. The lesser the formality, the greater will be the chances to get accurate and relevant feedback. Here, you need to incorporate the art of communication.

2. Keep Your Respondent Comfortable

Refrain from bombarding questions without making sense. Ask questions, but don’t make them feel like a burden on your respondents. It is beneficial to provide the background and then ask the question. Keeping a comfortable environment is essential to received increased number of feedback and opinion against your surveys and questionnaires. Never overdo the “questioning element”, people start to feel fatigued for some reason if they don’t feel comfortable in replying the answers.

3. Work On The Flow:

Sequential questions are always significant. People tend to reply more easily and quickly if they are asked questions in a proper flow. Asking one question from segment A and then asking another from segment D mostly results in confusing the audience. This is important to list queries which are linked and associated with previous questions.

4. Easy Structuring

It is seen that people mostly don’t get results as per their requirement because of the complications they create themselves in asking things. If you are unable to make others understand what you are intending to ask, how can you expect to receive a genuine and relevant reply? This is also applicable in creating questionnaire. You need to keep the structure of your queries easy to understand a free from ambiguities. This will help you in receiving more responses along with better understanding from respondents’ end. This, itself, will improve the quality of answers received.

5. Ask Goal Oriented Questions

The art of getting all questions answered and with relevance lies in asking goal oriented questions. Try to add questions which are targeted towards your main objective and goal. This will help you in getting the answers with the help of which you will be able to present a report or justification against your proposed idea. In order to create a goal oriented question you should have a well-defined logic behind. This can only be achieved by working aggressively on creating surveys which have only relevant questions. There shouldn’t be any room for the fillers.

6. Strategically Incorporate Rating Scale

Recently I have reviewed many and filled many surveys which include rating scale from 1 to 5 i.e. from strongly disagree to strongly agree (vice versa). What most people do is that they later on add scales of different rating i.e. 1 – 3 along with that use most important and least important. Such kinds of changes usually confuse the individuals. It is recommended to use proper and same rating scale throughout, if using some other sort of scale rating then try to list them separately by providing details related to them.

7. Ask definite questions (Either A “Yes” or “No”)

The best way to ask questions is ask in a “yes” or “no”. This trick never fails. Either one select the option or not, nothing in between. Plus, respondents find it easy to answer by simply marking any one of the choices given to them.

By following above discussed 7 points, you will definitely be able to create ideal surveys which will help you in receiving more responses and accurate results.