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Whether you’re conducting market research, gathering customer feedback, or running an academic study, the quality of your questionnaire can make or break your results. Unfortunately, many people start the process with questionnaire misconceptions that lead to poorly designed surveys and sabotage their efforts before they even begin.
Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or a first-time questionnaire writer, understanding these pitfalls will help you design more effective, engaging, and accurate questionnaires. Let’s debunk the myths, avoid the mistakes, and get on the path to creating surveys that deliver meaningful insights.
Misconception #1: Anyone can write a questionnaire.
Despite how easy it looks, writing a high-quality questionnaire that generates valid and reliable data requires exceptional skill and experience. People are biased, fallible, and take shortcuts. Language is ambiguous, cultural, and plastic. Accommodating for people and language while translating a research objective into a set of questions that will be interpreted in a consistent way by most participants is a complex task. If you’re at the beginning of your questionnaire writing journey, partner with an experienced researcher who can guide and advise you along the way. The truth is, once you’ve gained sufficient expertise and mentorship, anyone can write a questionnaire.
Misconception #2: One size fits all.
Based on their personal experience and education, every researcher has a unique writing style that gets reflected their questionnaires. However, as much as you like your style, it’s not suited for every questionnaire. Younger people might prefer a more gamified survey. People who read English as a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th language might not understand the slang, expressions, idioms, and jargon that are second nature for you. Questionnaires that focus on sensitive issues need empathetic and gentle language. Before writing any questionnaire, researchers must think about their target audience and adjust their writing style to be appropriate for that audience.
Misconception #3: Any question will do.
In many cases, there are unnumerable ways to ask any single question and not one of them is perfect. Single-selects, multi-selects, rankings, ratings, open ends – all these question types could be suitable to ask any consumer, customer, and social behaviors and opinions. However, with experience, you’ll learn that each question type engenders different types of error and interpretations. By choosing a question type, you are also choosing which type of error you are willing to accept. Once you’ve decided what kind of data you need and which errors you can work with, the best questions are clear and concise.
Misconception #4: There is a perfect set of answers.
Just as there are no perfect questions, there are also no perfect answer sets. It’s impossible to say that 5 or 7 or 10 options is the correct number of options. And, it’s impossible to say which set of numbers, brands, or concepts should be included in the set. At some point, you must exclude answers that some people would want to choose in order to create a better experience for the majority of participants. Make sure you’ve got an effective opt-out in place (e.g., Other, Not applicable, None of the above) and then move on.
Misconception #5: People are perfect.
As much as we want participants to read and answer every question perfectly, it’s not going to happen. Researchers rely on sample companies to remove large scale fraud so when we see evidence of that, it’s important to report it back to the company. On the other hand, when we can identify people who are bored, tired, distracted, and not reading carefully, we need to remember that this is normal, human behavior. It’s the researcher’s responsibility to design questionnaires that identify and set aside participants who aren’t having a good day today.
Misconception #6: Questionnaires are boring.
I’m glad to say that questionnaires USED to be boring. Now, we have an abundance of question formats to choose from, including imagery, audio, videos, and gamification. When combined with engaging, fun, and interesting wording, questionnaires never have to be boring again.
Summary
Designing questionnaires is a perfect example of how tasks that appear simple are ultimately revealed to be complex once you dive in. As such, even the best questionnaire designers constantly seek to improve their work. They may seek advice from other experienced researchers, read new questionnaire design books, or take a course to sharpen their skills. Many survey platforms also offer pre-tested, templated questions that have been pre-tested to reduce bias and ensure high-quality results. If you’re seeking some expert guidance, please reach out to one of our survey experts today!
