What To Do Before Handing Out Survey Forms

Do you know how to properly create a survey form? A survey is a measurement instrument used to solicit opinions and data from various people. What do you think will happen if your survey form is too long, and the questions are poorly worded? What should you do before sending out your forms so they are faultless, easy-to-understand paperwork that gets the results you need?

We’ve wrapped up some of our top tips for creating surveys in this post!

Asking questions in the survey form:  The questions should be clear and simply worded. They should also be relevant, specific, and designed to get answers that you can actually analyze. If you ask too many questions, you can overwhelm your respondents, and they may end up skipping questions so that they can finish the survey quicker. Survey length:   The length of your survey should be kept to a single printed page, ideally. As a rule of thumb, you should keep your survey between five and nine questions long. If you have more than nine questions in total, then split your form into separate sections. This is because most people tend to abandon lengthy surveys after a few pages (around 3-5 pages). Also, it is less confusing for them if the next section begins on a new page.  Layout:  Layout is important when it comes to how easy it is for respondents to read the text on the form. As a rule of thumb, your survey form should be printed on white A4-sized paper. This avoids accidentally reading any question on the back of the paper, and also makes it much easier for the person to answer your questions. Keeping the font size large enough for your respondents to read, and placing a space between each question is also important. On that note:  Read and re-read your survey form before sending it out. Spend some time and think about how you might make it easier for people to answer your questions. Here are a few more tips from Surly:  Make sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors in your survey/questionnaires . This is an immediate turn-off for your respondents.  Stay positive. Try to keep your survey forms positive in tone, and avoid questions that can seem confrontational.  Try to avoid asking open-ended questions, as they leave too much room for interpretation . For example, if you ask "How do you feel about so and so?", then your respondent has complete freedom in their answer and can easily misinterpret the question.

Use a checklist as a tool to make sure your form meets all the requirements for an effective survey form: Here’s a checklist that you can use right now to make sure that you have done all of these things before distributing your surveys: 1. Survey length:  Can be up to one and a half pages, depending on the number of questions you have. This is important because the longer the survey, the less likely it will get read. Keep it at around five pages max for surveys. 2. Layout:  Keep everything on a single page, and make sure that there are no formatting mistakes/errors as well as no white space on the page (between each question). 3. Font size:  Always keep your font size large enough for your respondents to easily read through all of your questions. The best font size would be between 18-22 point font size (although this might change depending on the type of paper you use). 4. Question order:  Always have the questions in a certain order so that it is easy for your respondents to read them. 5. Number of questions:  As per the number of pages you have on your form, keep the number of questions you ask to between five and nine max (or maybe less if you have a very long survey). 6. Anti-skimming:  Always try to put multiple blank lines between each question in your survey form, so that people can't skip to questions easily. Also, avoid asking people to rate things such as "your happiness with an online service" or "your preference for a new game". 7. Avoid confusion:  Keep to an easy-to-read font, and make sure that there are no spelling or grammatical errors in your survey form. An incorrect format or misspelled words will immediately turn off your respondents from taking your survey seriously. 8. Avoid loaded questions:  Asking questions that are too open ended is a good way for you to get answers that don’t give you any valuable data, such as “How do you feel about ______?” 9. Address concerns before they happen:  Always try to address any concerns that people might have before they actually finish the survey form. This will help them to feel more comfortable and not take the survey seriously. 10. Treat your respondents with respect:  Treat your respondents well, and they will always respond to you in the same manner.

11. Respondent length:  As a rule of thumb, you should try to ensure that each question on your form has a minimum of ten characters (this is because the longer people can read through your questions, the more likely they are to respond). This is also known as "respondent length". 12. Reaction time:  Ensure that there are no empty space lines between each question in your survey form so that people don’t skip parts of questions when reading through it. 13. Keep the form short:  Never ask for more than four pages (or maybe less if you have a very long survey) for each respondent. In general, always try to keep your survey between five and nine questions long. If you do this properly, people will usually finish your survey form in no time! Also, take note of the fact that most people give up on lengthy surveys soon after around three to five pages in total. 14. Answer every question:  In order to make sure that your survey form is really effective and useful, it is important to always try your hardest to answer each and every one of the questions. You could even try to put a bit of work into finding out how you can answer the questions in the most interesting way possible. Make sure that there are no blanks left unmarked on your form. If people feel like they aren't answering any questions, then they are more likely to close your form altogether! 15. Start off positively:  Always start off positively when addressing the concerns of your respondents at the beginning of your survey forms (even if you will be asking them for negative data later on).

Conclusion:  There are some things that you should never, ever do if you want to create an effective survey form and to ensure that your respondents will be happy to help you out in any way they can: As already mentioned at the very beginning of the article, never start off your survey form with a question like "How unhappy are you with ______?" or "How much do you dislike ______?". You shouldn't be pointing out problems or negative information. Try to make your questions open ended instead, so that they can respond with their own answers. Also, try not to focus on any one problem too much during a survey. Keep it simple and ask for opinions on multiple topics (instead of focusing on just one problem).