For example, your objective might be to determine how many people in your class will attend the school dance. This could be a relatively quick yes/no survey unless you want to add additional layers about motivation, dress, or other factors. Ensure that each question on the survey helps you complete your objective. You may need to rewrite your objective as you design the survey.
People may answer more honestly if the survey is anonymous, but then you won’t be able to follow up with the participants. With the instructions you may ask them to complete the survey in a certain time frame or perhaps only using pencil. There are many options here. You may also want to craft a brief statement as to your intentions or goals with the study. This is particularly important if the survey is not face-to-face. You can make people more likely to trust you and respond if you let them know, for example, that this is part of a college project.
If you are trying to get an indication of a person’s feelings, then an open-ended narrative response will be more helpful. However, if you need to quantify emotions then you may need to go with a ranking question. For example, “How angry are you about X? Choose from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the angriest). ”
An open-ended question could be, “Tell me about your childhood. ” A closed question would be, “Was your childhood happy? Answer yes or no. ” The design of your survey can also limit the space allowed to answer open questions, limiting the length. [4] X Research source
You might ask respondents about their income, marital status, sex, ethnicity, age, or race. Many of these questions will be formatted as lists in which the respondent will choose the appropriate option. For example, “Please circle your marital status: Single or Married. ”
You should generally place your demographic questions either at the very beginning or the very end of your survey. The danger of placing them at the end is that many respondents, if not asked in person, will skip this section.
For example, if you are working with a team of researchers it is important to know who conducted each interview, on what day, and other details. Keep documentation as to which questions were removed from the initial list and why. [7] X Trustworthy Source Pew Research Center Nonpartisan thinktank conducting research and providing information on public opinion, demographic trends, and social trends Go to source
You can also use this as an opportunity to see if the kind of data and responses that you are receiving are the ones that you want. Do these responses answer your central problem or question?
If you are in a class setting and need to conduct a quick survey, walk around with a sheet of paper. Ask your respondents to simply place a “tally mark” by their choice within a table. [10] X Research source Be aware that face-to-face interviews are often seen as more personal and they can sometimes be a bit awkward when dealing with sensitive information. Your respondents may shield or edit their answers more as well. [11] X Research source
Many of these sites let you create a basic survey for free. They may charge for repeated or more detailed surveys involving larger participant numbers, but, it’s still a low-cost survey method. The sites may also help you to analyze your data as well.
For example, Pew Research limits their international interviews to 1,000 persons per country. This may seem like a small number but it allows them to cover more countries. [13] X Trustworthy Source Pew Research Center Nonpartisan thinktank conducting research and providing information on public opinion, demographic trends, and social trends Go to source Be realistic about how many people you can feasibly interview or survey in your given time period and with your available resources. Good data does not necessarily mean more surveys.
Review all of the policies of the company that you hire to make sure that they have privacy practices in place. You also may want a confidentiality agreement in order to protect the process and final results. [21] X Research source
Be aware that some survey researchers may need additional training in counseling if they are going to ask personal questions that my elicit a strong emotional response. [23] X Trustworthy Source World Health Organization Health information and news provided by the World Health Organization Go to source
For example, some laws prevent researchers from using auto dial to make phone calls. [24] X Research source
