Millennium Marketing Research®

Tom Schori DBA Millennium Marketing Research®, 808 Ironwood, Normal IL 61761, 309-532-8466

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The importance of good survey questionnaire design.

By Thomas R. Schori, Ph.D., and Michael L. Garee, Principals,  Millennium Marketing Research, 808 E. Ironwood, Normal, IL 61761-5239. Tel. 309-532-8466 -

Virtually every research professional clearly understands the necessity of ensuring that any research project be carefully designed. As concerns a print survey that will be mailed, however, one "design" area that is often overlooked, or at least not given all that much emphasis, is the actual survey instrument itself, i.e., the survey questionnaire.

Oftentimes, how a survey questionnaire "looks" is given little, if any, serious thought and consideration. After all, it’s the design of the actual questions used in the survey that is the most important consideration, right? If the survey looks "OK," or has been apparently used successfully in the past, then it usually passes muster. This can prove to be a BIG and COSTLY mistake!

Employ the KISS method of design

As in most of life’s endeavors, keeping it simple (or, as some call it, the KISS method, i.e., "Keep It Short and Simple") usually proves to be the best general approach to take when designing an effective print survey questionnaire. It’s been our experience¾and the experience of many other research professionals as well¾that with each incremental notch up the design complexity scale, one can expect to see a correspondent decline in both the number of completed responses and the quality of those responses.

How does one ensure that a survey design is simple? Simple. Instead of depending upon strictly a narrative approach to explain the action(s) survey respondents are to take in order to complete the survey the way you want them to, make ample use of basic graphic elements such as arrows, pointers, etc. Use boxes with bold face borders to highlight certain key elements. In other words, wherever possible show respondents how you want them to complete the survey, don’t just tell them how.

Keeping a survey questionnaire as short as possible is also just as important as keeping it simple. Certainly we understand and appreciate the fact that sometimes keeping a survey short, say, to just one or two pages in length, isn’t always possible. But there are techniques that can be employed which will result in a shorter survey. For instance, the way questions are asked can result in a shorter survey without forfeiting effectiveness. Let’s look at two ways of asking the same type of questions about the performance of a salesperson:

The "long" way

1. The salesperson presented a professional attitude in his/her dealings with me.

2. The salesperson was helpful to me.

3. The salesperson was able to answer any questions I had about my purchased.

A "shorter," "simpler" way

The salesperson. . .

1. Presented a professional attitude in his/her dealings with me.

2. Was helpful to me.

3. Was able to answer any questions I had about my purchase.

Obviously, the second method will result in a shortening of the entire survey questionnaire, while still effectively obtaining the feedback sought from the respondent. Over a lengthy survey the space savings can end up being significant, of course.

Other design considerations

Since a mail survey questionnaire is a type of print medium, the general and specific rules that apply to the design of any good print piece will also apply to the questionnaire. For example, the overall "look and feel" of the questionnaire should be "inviting," that is, open, friendly, and not cluttered up with unnecessary or distracting text or graphic elements. How is this accomplished? Making liberal use of "white space" is one method. Selecting a type face that is very easy to read, which in most cases means using a serif type face, such as Times Roman. And, make sure the type size is large enough for most people, particularly older people, to read. Normally, the type size should be no smaller than 10-point, but 11- or 12-point is better. If possible, including "coding" numbers on the survey that are designed merely to aid in data entry, and serve no purpose whatsoever for survey respondents, should also be avoided.

If possible, use a graphic designer

In most cases, the average research professional can be expected to be very good at writing survey questions, but probably somewhat deficient when it comes to creating a good survey design. It is therefore a very good idea to utilize the services of a professional graphic artist to design survey questionnaires. Since graphic artists are visually oriented they will be far better at adhering to good design principles than the average research professional.

Remember, while it’s certainly important that the entire research project be carefully designed, and that the survey questions be well written, it’s equally important that the questionnaire itself be well designed, too. Adhering to this principle will result in more and better responses for all your print surveys, which, in turn, can make your life as a professional marketer or researcher a whole lot more enjoyable!