Surveys: Guidance on question wording

This resource offers some general advice on how to ask survey questions for self-completion questionnaires (e.g. web forms or paper questionnaires). This is not meant as a comprehensive guide to question design, instead it aims to provide brief guidance on asking a range of survey questions and how to avoid some common errors. Alongside the information given here, you should also consider the nature of your target audience when writing survey questions; a question aimed at children will be worded very differently to one designed for, say, company chief executives.

When writing survey questions, you should ask yourself what you are attempting to measure or gauge and then come up with an appropriate way of asking (or framing) the question and, where closed questions are used, an appropriate set of response categories. The list below details some of the more common opinions and occurrences you might wish to measure via a survey question, click on the appropriate link to see guidance on asking the question:

• Agreement
• Amount / quantity
• Degree / extent
• Frequency / length of time
• Satisfaction
• Effectiveness
• Expectations / comparisons
• Open-ended questions

Agreement

A commonly used question format is to provide a list of statements and ask the respondent to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with each statement.

Notes:

- Depending on the nature of the statements, it may be necessary to have an 'opt out' such as 'not applicable' / 'don't know' / 'not experienced' etc.

- You may wish to consider whether to use the 'middle option' of 'neither agree nor disagree' - but bear in mind that excluding such an option may force respondents to express an opinion which they do not actually hold.

- Think carefully about how you express the statements respondents are being asked to consider, for example, try not to make them double-barrelled as the respondent may agree with the first part but not the second part of the statement, for example:
The University should encourage participation in sports by offering free sports membership and by improving the facilities available on each campus
Respondents may agree with one part of this statement but not necessarily with the other. In instances such as this it would be better to offer two or more separate statements so that respondents can indicate exactly which element they agree or disagree with.

Amount / quantity

You might wish to gauge respondents' perceptions of the amount or quantity of something they have been offered or received - for example, the amount of information provided, opportunities to do something, the amount of contact with a course tutor etc.

Notes:

- Remember that you can include a follow-up open-ended question, asking respondents to elaborate if they indicate there was too much or not enough of something (see separate notes on asking open-ended questions).

- Consider whether to include a 'don't know', 'unsure' or 'unable to comment' category alongside each of the above.

Degree / extent

Questions which aim to establish the degree or extent of something cover a broad range of topics, for example, how far respondents feel a certain way (e.g. enthusiasm, anxiety, agreement), or the extent to which they have made use of something, or the extent to which x has caused or contributed to y and so on. The following offers some general suggestions for constructing questions of this nature:

Notes:

- Consider whether to include opt out categories such as 'don't know', 'no experience', 'not sure' etc.

Frequency / length of time

You may wish to ask respondents how often they do something or for how long they have done something. The following suggestions should assist with such questions:

Notes:

- Consider whether to include opt out categories such as 'don't know', 'not sure', 'can't say' etc.

- If using a specific category to describe length of time (e.g. number of years, percentage of time etc), ensure your categories do not overlap, e.g:
0-1 year, 1-3 years, 3 years or more - anyone wishing to select 1 year or 3 years has two possible categories to tick, instead use:
Less than 1 year, 1-3 years, More than 3 years

Satisfaction

Survey questions commonly seek to establish how satisfied a respondent is with something, such as a service, an event, the performance of an organisation etc.

Notes:

- Consider whether to include opt out categories such as 'don't know', 'no experience', 'not sure' etc.

Effectiveness

The suggestions below may assist in wording a question to evaluate the effectiveness of, say, a service or new initiative, or how well something is going:

Notes:

- Consider whether to include opt out categories such as 'don't know', 'no experience', 'not sure' etc.

- Some of the response categories listed under 'satisfaction' may also fit with effectiveness questions.

Expectations / comparisons

You may wish to ask respondents how an event / service etc. lived up to their expectations, or you may wish to gauge respondents' opinions of a new service or system in comparison with the old service or system. The following suggestions should provide some ideas as to how to ask these questions:

Notes:

- Consider whether to include opt out categories such as 'don't know', 'no experience', 'not sure' etc.

Open-ended questions

You may wish to ask respondents open-ended questions which require them to answer in their own words. Often these will ask for elaboration on answers given to a previous closed question, or for further comments on a specific issue . The following list provides suggested ways of asking these questions:

- Use open-ended questions sparingly (particularly if you have a large number of potential respondents) as responses to these questions take longer to process and analyse than closed responses.

- Keep your open-ended questions specific and focused to ensure that answers relate to topics you are interested in; a broad open-ended question will elicit a broad range of responses, some of which may not be relevant to the subject of your research.

Contact details

Survey Unit
University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham NG7 2RD

Email: survey-unit@nottingham.ac.uk

Tel: +44 115 84 66091
Fax: +44 115 84 66090