Survey Design Tips

Tuesday June 26, 2012

Elite Research explains how to create a successful survey. Elite Research is a global provider of research design and statistical consulting. They support academic, corporate, medical/health, and non-profit researchers in designing, collecting, analysing, and reporting efficient and accurate results.

Collecting data is a vital part to any research project. Surveys are a useful tool when it comes to the data collection process. Creating a good survey may produce useful data. Use the following tips and tricks to create a successful survey.

The first step in administering a survey is informing the participant. Explain what the survey is for and assure them that their information is completely confidential and, more importantly. This will make them more comfortable with answering the questions correctly. Also to ensure their comfort, don’t ask for any unnecessary information. This includes sensitive personal information.

It is important to keep all instructions and questions clear and concise; typically a third grade reading level is preferred. Lengthy instructions and questions can cause confusion for the participant and inaccurate results. Design your survey to eliminate all opportunity for confusion, lack of direction, or unanswered questions. Make sure that you are only asking the participant one question at a time. A question with two parts or subjects is likely to have to different answers. Separate the questions for more accurate results. Remove all bias when asking questions making sure that your personal opinion is not reflected in the question for this could skew the results.

Organizing your survey is very important. Group questions by their subject and put them in a logical order. This will keep the participant focused on the right subject and minimize scattered answers. Presentation is very important. Make sure that your survey is in a clean and clutter free format to diminish distraction and encourage accurate answers.

After your survey design is complete, it is very important to pilot test it before conducting it on a full scale. Depending on the length of your survey, you will need to recruit a small sample of participants in order to test the reliability and validity of your instrumentation. You may also way to have the instrument reviewed by colleagues and experts related to the topic being studied, specifically asking for input related to clarity and accuracy of items asked.

Contact Elite Research today to get reliable help with all of your statistical, survey design, or editorial needs!
www.eliteresearch.com or (800) 806 – 5661.

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