Tips of the day: Planning your survey

Questionnaire design

Determine your survey’s length. The ideal length depends upon the topic and the
type of population you need to study. In general, limit the length of your questionnaire to encourageprospective respondents to participate.

General guidelines:

■ A survey targeting children should take no longer than 5 to 7 minutes to complete
■ For most populations, self-administered surveys should be no longer than four pages
■ Phone interviews should run no longer than 10 minutes
■ Face-to-face interviews can continue for an hour or longer

Balance length and information

With a shorter questionnaire, you should get a higher response rate and reduce the chance of
error and missing data. However, you will also get less information from your respondents and
may have a less comprehensive study. The key to a successful survey is to ensure that your
questions are concise and easy to understand and gives you valid, reliable information.

Keep questions short

Make each question easy to understand and, if possible, less than 25 words in length.
Avoid using “double negatives,” as this type of phrasing often confuses respondents.
For Example Which of the following questions do you
find clearer?
“I agree that alcohol should be available in
UWI vending machines.”
“I don’t agree that alcohol should not be
available in UWI vending machines.”

Choose appropriate question formats

Some questions can be easily answered with a single answer, but others may require multiple
choices—a scale or a grid. And some may best be answered through an open-ended
text response. Choosing an appropriate format will make it easier for respondents to answer
questions clearly.