Understanding Survey Questions

What is a good survey question?

• A good survey question should contain simple and clear language.
• It should elicit responses that are accurate and help you learn more about your target audience and their experiences.
• It should also fit in with the overall design of your survey project and connect with your research objective.

Types of survey questions

Open-ended

• These questions can’t be answered with a simple yes or no.
• They require the respondent to use more descriptive language to share their thoughts and answer the question.
• These types of questions result in qualitative data.

Closed-ended

• A closed-ended question is the opposite of an open-ended question.
• Here the respondent’s answers are normally restricted to a yes or no, true or false, or multiple-choice answer.
• This results in quantitative data.

Dichotomous

• This is a type of closed-ended question.
• The defining characteristic of these questions is that they have two opposing fields.
• For example, a question that can only be answered with a yes/no answer is a dichotomous question.

Multiple choice

• These are another type of closed-ended question.
• Here you give the respondent several possible ways, or options, in which they can respond.
• It’s also common to have an “other” section with a text box where the respondent can provide an unlisted answer.

Rating scale

• This is again another type of close-ended question.
• Here you would normally present two extremes and the respondent has to choose between these extremes or an option placed along the scale.

Likert scale

• A Likert scale is a form of a rating scale.
• These are generally used to measure attitudes towards something by asking the respondent to agree or disagree with a statement.
• They are commonly used to measure satisfaction.

Ranking scale

• Here the respondents are given a few options and they need to order these different options in terms of importance, relevance, or according to the instructions.

Demographic questions

• These are often personal questions that allow you to better understand your respondents and their backgrounds.
• They normally cover questions related to age, race, marital status, education level, etc.

Writing Effective Survey Questions

Use clear, simple language

• Your survey questions must be easy to understand.
• When they’re straight to the point, it’s more likely that your respondent will understand what you are asking of them and be able to respond accurately.

Keep your questions (and answers) concise

• When sentences or questions are convoluted or confusing, respondents might misunderstand the question.
• If your questions are too long, they may also get bored by the questions.

Avoid bias and leading words

• You should avoid leading your respondent in any particular direction with your questions.
• An example of a question that could lead the respondent in a particular direction would be: How happy are you to live in this amazing area?

Ask one question at a time

• Asking multiple things in one question is confusing and will lead to inaccuracies in the answer.
• When you write your question, you should know exactly what you want to achieve.

Account for all possible answer choices

• You should give your respondent the ability to answer a question accurately.
• For instance, if you are asking a demographic question, you’ll need to provide options that accurately reflect their experience.

Plan the question flow and choose your questions carefully

• Question writing goes hand-in-hand with questionnaire design.
• So, when writing survey questions, you should consider the survey as a whole.

Best Practices for Survey Questions

Ask closed-ended questions

• Closed-ended questions generate quantitative data that can be used to measure variables.
• The answers to closed-ended questions are always objective and conclusive.
• Use closed-ended questions to get easy-to-capture and analyze data.

Ensure your survey questions are neutral

• Avoid asking leading questions that can influence respondents’ answers.
• Use objective language to ensure your survey questions are neutral.
• Learn more about how to prevent bias from impacting your surveys.

Keep a balanced set of answer choices

• Respondents need a way to provide honest and thoughtful feedback.
• Use an objective tone and a balanced set of answer options to ensure respondents can provide accurate answers.

Don’t ask for two things at once

• Avoid asking double-barreled questions that can confuse respondents.
• Separate topics into their own closed-ended questions to get clear and relevant answers.

Keep your questions different from each other

• Vary the types of questions you ask to avoid straightlining.
• Use expert-written survey templates to present a variety of questions posed in different ways.

Let most of your questions be optional to answer

• Make some questions optional to allow respondents to skip questions they don’t know or feel uncomfortable answering.
• Lean on making questions optional to avoid forcing respondents to answer.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Failing to avoid leading words/questions

• Subtle wording differences can produce great differences in results, and it’s essential to avoid leading words and questions that can bias the results.
• Example: Instead of asking “The government should force you to pay higher taxes,” ask “The government should increase taxes.”

Failing to give mutually exclusive choices

• Multiple choice response options should be mutually exclusive so that respondents can make clear choices.
• Example: Instead of asking “What is your age group?” with options 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40, and 40+, ask “What is your age group?” with options 0–19, 20–39, and 40+.

Not asking direct questions

• Questions that are vague and do not communicate your intent can limit the usefulness of your results.
• Example: Instead of asking “What suggestions do you have for improving Tom’s Tomato Juice?”, ask “What do you like or dislike about Tom’s Tomato Juice?”

Forgetting to add a “prefer not to answer” option

• Sometimes respondents may not want you to collect certain types of information or may not want to provide you with the types of information requested.
• Example: Instead of asking “What is your income?”, ask “What is your income?” with an option to “Prefer not to answer”.

Not using unbalanced scales carefully

• Unbalanced scales may be appropriate for some situations and promote bias in others.
• Example: Instead of asking “What is your opinion of Crazy Justin’s auto-repair?” with options “Pretty good”, “Great”, “Fantastic”, “Incredible”, and “The Best Ever”, ask “What is your opinion of Crazy Justin’s auto-repair?” with options “Very dissatisfied”, “Dissatisfied”, “Neutral”, “Satisfied”, and “Very satisfied”.

Survey Question Examples

Multiple choice

• Here’s an example of a single-answer multiple choice question: Image Source
• Here’s an example of a multiple-answer multiple choice question: Image Source

Rating scale

• Here’s an example of a rating scale survey question in a frequently-used format: NPS. Image Source

Likert scale

• Here’s an example of a five-point Likert scale: Image Source
• Here’s an example of a seven-point Likert scale: Image Source

Ranking

• Here’s an example of a ranking survey question:

Semantic differential

• Here are examples of semantic differential survey questions: Image Source

Dichotomous

• Here’s an example of a dichotomous survey question:

Close-ended

• Here’s an example of a close-ended, multiple-choice survey question: Image Source

Open-ended

• Here’s an example of an open-ended question you might include in a survey:

Survey Design and Testing

Use the Funnel Technique

• Structure your questionnaire using the “funnel” technique, starting with broad, general interest questions that are easy for the respondent to answer.

Use “Ringer” questions

• In social settings, are you more introverted or more extroverted? That was a ringer question and its purpose was to recapture your attention if you happened to lose focus earlier in this article.

Keep your questionnaire short

• Questionnaires should be kept short and to the point, with most long surveys not being completed and those that are completed being often answered hastily.

Watch your writing style

• The best survey questions are always easy to read and understand, and the level of sophistication in your survey writing should be at the 9th to 11th grade level.

Use randomization

• Randomization corrects this bias by randomly rotating the order of the multiple choice matrix questions for each respondent.

Test your survey

• Release early versions of your survey to test its effectiveness with your customer base.
• Use feedback to identify areas for improvement and correct user roadblocks.
• This approach helps to ensure that your survey is perfect before it’s sent to all stakeholders.
• It also allows you to measure the effectiveness of your survey and make data-driven decisions.

Get feedback from others

• Share your survey in advance with colleagues, friends, and others to spot mistakes and prevent bias.
• Prevent the situation from happening to you by sharing your survey in advance.

Make adjustments as needed

• Use the feedback you receive to make adjustments to your survey questions and design.
• This will help ensure that your survey is effective and provides the data you need.

Additional Resources

Survey templates

• Use free templates to speed up your survey creation process.
• Search our gallery of 150+ expert-written surveys for any project.

Survey metrics (NPS, CES, CSAT)

• There are a few handy ways you can measure customer satisfaction.
• The most common are NPS, CES, and CSAT surveys.
• NPS surveys measure loyalty and are only effective when sent to long-term customers or users.

Survey software and tools

• Use collaboration tools to access surveys asynchronously for reviewing, sending, or analyzing.
• The HubSpot Customer Platform is an all-in-one platform that includes marketing, sales, customer service, CMS, operations, and commerce software.