Creating an online survey presents a variety of challenges, and there are specific survey design best practices that are imperative to catching the attention and interest of the respondent. When creating demographic survey questions that successfully screen the respondents, it is important to recognize that most will not read the entire survey, but rather skim. That is why highlighting key phrases can help your respondents gain the meaning of a question without having to read word for word, and give the best possible answer. Correct answers mean you are able to distinguish which respondents to include, especially if it is a survey developed for focus group recruiting.
Surveys given over the phone have much different needs, and include the added dimension of person-to-person interaction. A good script can help immensely in creating a natural-sounding flow from question to question. The key to a well-written script is to use clear, simple phrasing with no redundancy.
High Quality Survey Design Rewards You With Accuracy
Garnering the attention of a respondent online is very important, and having an easy to comprehend survey with functional and spotlighted screener questions means that you will know exactly who is responding, whether their answers can be successfully utilized, and that their responses were as accurate as possible. An clean and easy way to identify necessary phrases is by bolding or underlining the text.
Phone surveys, which require more human interaction and training, need a different kind of writing style. It is always good to keep your audience in mind, and write in such a way that they will be able to easily and quickly respond. It is also a good idea to keep the questions of a similar tone together, and to have more personal questions toward the end of the survey. Our free survey template is a good jumping-off point to writing concise, easy to understand, and fluid survey scripts.
