At any stage of your work, do you design surveys? The ones with endless questions and options? Then we’re the same type. Or almost the same type.
Working in the non-profit sector, we need to conduct surveys. The word need is both significant and deadly here. Many times when we think we need to conduct a survey, what we need is to get on a call with a handful of our beneficiaries or customers. And other times, we are plainly bored.
But, when you are in real need of creating a survey and bombarding people with questions, this article may help in choosing what to ask. I love to read surveys. Yes, you read it right. I’m not saying I love to answer surveys. We’re in the same boat about that. What intrigues me is the way questions are worded and ordered. If you have ever created a survey, you would know it is challenging to narrow down on which questions to include. Or is it the other way around? On a closer look, you will realize it is not the question of growing but trimming. We struggle with trimming the questions. With a free survey tool such as Google Forms or similar tools, we’re not penalized for including useless questions. It is all free. In effect, the free tools are providing us free passes not to think. A survey with 10 questions or 100 questions costs us the same amount of money: ZERO.
Imagine a world where the entry-level survey tool costs 10 bucks per question and 5 bucks per multiple-choice option. The world would be a different place. We would pay more attention, think twice before rolling out surveys or increasing the number of questions.
In any case, we’re blessed with a world full of so many free survey tools. Do you know what is interesting? With so many varieties of survey tools, they share the same quality — they’re dull. Think about it. When was the last time you submitted a survey with a cheerful mind “wow, that was fun”. (If you did, please share it with me ASAP.)
An average survey is a combination of some typical elements. Too many questions, generic questions, personal questions, out-of-context questions, or unorganized flow. Whatever the combination might be, the result is always the same: a bad survey. There is a filter to bypass mediocrity. A simple filter test: will the respondents answer the questions if you were going to ask them in person? That’s it. No fancy framework. Tweak the filter with different variations and you’re good to go.
I’m not saying it is an easy task, it is a simple task that requires thinking.
My favorite kind of bad survey is when the surveyor asks for personal information which I wouldn’t have otherwise answered in person. It is not only an example of a bad design but also a lack of thinking.
For a long time, surveys have been effective tools to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Due to the advent of technology, what earlier seemed like a year’s work is being accomplished in a matter of weeks. This fact alone increases our responsibility to use surveys more effectively. A few years back, if you received an email with some reward points from your bank, you would have opened it and read it. But now? It has reached its saturation. It’s not even plateau. It’s a decline. The tool of email marketing doesn’t work anymore.
In fact, there is a word for it: Spam.
Let’s filter our surveys and make the world a brighter place.