How to create a survey using Survey Galaxy
Writing surveys is considered easy; but is it? The reality is that writing surveys is easy but writing effective surveys is more difficult. The following tips will help you write more effective surveys.
1. What is the survey’s purpose?
Questionnaires are conducted for many reasons. By phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in a multitude of ways and for a variety of reasons. When compiling a survey don’t lose sight of the survey’s purpose.
2. Give the survey a good title
The survey title is a golden opportunity to instantly summarise a survey’s objective and encourage respondents to participate. Respondents need to invest time in completing the survey so make them feel that their investment is worthwhile.
3. Avoid making the survey any longer than it needs to be
Every question that is asked should be asked for a reason. Minimize asking questions that will provide you with ‘nice to know’ information and concentrate instead on ‘need to know’ questions.
4. Use plain English, maintain consistency and avoid terminology, acronyms and asking questions that could result in ambiguous answers
Be careful when wording the question. If a question can be interpreted in more ways than one then there is a real risk that any analysis of the survey data will be meaningless or at the very least misleading.
5. Don’t have long questions
Where practical use concise sentences. Long questions can cause a respondent discomfort and lead to them abandoning the survey.
6. Ask only one question at a time
Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like ‘Do you like football and golf?’
7. Avoid influencing the answer
It is important to avoid loading the question. ‘Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell alcohol to minors be prosecuted?’ is likely to have no value.
8. Ensure that the chosen answer format allows the respondent to answer the question being asked
Allow the respondent to answer how they really feel or they may be less inclined to complete the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a “No comment”, “Don’t know” or similar response option.
9. While you are compiling your survey consider how the survey results are going to be analysed when the survey is complete
When asking questions that allow for a free text open ended response appreciate that such information is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider how answers can be grouped. For example “How long have you worked here?” – ‘less than 2 year’, ‘between 2 and 4 years’ and ‘more than 4′.
10. Try and ensure that the questionnaire flows
When asking questions group the questions into clear categories as this makes the task of completing the survey easier for the participants.
11. Target your respondents
You may want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you can’t control who responds to your survey consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents who don’t match your target profile.
12. Allow respondents to expand on their answers and/or make comments
Allowing respondents to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Keep in mind though that for a large sample collection it may be difficult to analyse free text open ended responses.
13. If you are conducting a confidential survey ensure that your pledge for confidentiality is upheld
If you have guaranteed the respondents that the survey is confidential ensure that the individual data is not to be shared with anyone and not used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained at all times and any contact information destroyed after the survey is complete.
14. Weigh up the benefits of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable
If your respondents are to be anonymous then you will be unable to follow up specific complaints or match “pre” or “post” surveys. Allowing people to remain anonymous will however allow people to respond without possible peer pressure.
15. Consideration carefully the best response format
Being consistent with the format used for responses is good practice. Keep in mind that when analysing the data radio buttons are easier to analyse than check boxes that offer the respondent multiple responses. If a radio response format can be used do not use a check box format.
16. Give the respondent an estimate as to how much time the survey will take to complete
Respondent drop out can occur if the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so that the participants can determine the best time to complete the survey.
17. Advise the respondents of the survey end date
Encourage respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advise respondents as to the survey’s end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.
18. Trial the survey
Before publishing a live survey publish a small pilot survey to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.
19. Before publishing the survey proof read the survey several times
Check more than once that the survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If possible get someone else to proof read the survey before you publish, if no one else is available then take a break before checking again.
20. Thank the respondents
Respondents devote their time when completing surveys and should therefore be thanked at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider an incentive such as a reward or entry into a prize draw.
For more information please visit Survey Galaxy













