Top 7 Tips for Survey Development

Rayven Smart

Top 7 Tips for Survey Development

What is a survey? How can we ensure that we are asking questions that are not biased and at the same time questions that capture the right data? I am going to share my best tips for GEAR UP or TRIO program staff to consider while developing a survey.

A survey can be defined as a set of questions to collect specific data from a particular group of people. People can take surveys on phones, through email, on printed paper, and in several other ways. To ensure you’re heading in the right direction when creating a survey, remember two important things: Define your survey goal and take time to be mindful when you develop the survey questions.

1. Define the goal of your survey

This is where we start to look at why we are creating this survey or why there is a need for this specific information? When creating your survey goal, you want to:

  • Determine your purpose (why is this information needed)
  • Develop your goal (What you want to know)
  • Develop a timeline of what your process will look like, from developing the survey to distributing the survey and analyzing the results.

2. Researching existing surveys  

This is a great start to forming your questions. You can utilize search engines such as Google to search for things like “College Visit Surveys” From there you can borrow items found during your search or create your own items.

3. Keep the survey questions short

It is important to keep the survey questions short and easy to understand, after considering the length of the questions you may also want to consider the length of the survey.

4. Know your audience

By knowing your audience you can use words that can be easily interpreted. If the goal is to gather data for a specific purpose, you want to ensure that your respondents have a clear understanding of what’s being asked of them. There is no need to utilize overly complex words, especially if your program serves middle schoolers.

5. Understanding different types of questions

It is crucial to pay attention to which question type works best with what you’re asking. Two of the most commonly used types of questions are:

  • Multiple-choice – respondents pick one answer option out of many predefined options. These are often displayed as a list of options. Dropdown lists can be used for multiple-choice questions too.
  • Likert – these are rating scale questions that gauge the respondent’s level of agreement or disagreement with a statement. Typically, these take the form of 5-point or 7-point scales that range from ‘Strongly Disagree’ to ‘Strongly Agree’.

6. Eliminate any chance of biased questions

  • Leading questions may cause a respondent to answer in a biased way.
    • “Many students think that virtual learning isn’t working, do you agree?”
  • Loaded questions take the stance of an assumption, automatic quilt no matter what answer is provided by the respondent.
    • An example of this would be “Have you stopped mistreating your teacher” this question assumes that the teacher was being mistreated.
  • Double-barreled questions are where a respondent is asked two questions at the same time but only able to answer one question (trick question).
    • “Is this class interesting and useful?” is an example that some people may answer yes/no interesting and no to useful.

7. Pick a platform

After creating the content for your survey next choose how you will get the questions in front of the people taking the survey. There are several platforms to choose from:

  • Qualtrics
  • Survey Monkey
  • Medallia

After you have determined your purpose and mindfully created questions you are one step closer to having a survey that provides you with the data you are interested in. It takes time to master the art of survey development, in the midst of you creating your survey remember to give yourself grace and to seek support as needed.

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Contributed By Rayven Smart

Rayven Smart is a Graduate Research Assistant for the Research, Evaluation & Dissemination Department at the Center for Educational Opportunity Programs (CEOP). She currently assists with the data collection process and data input of several of CEOP’s federally funded college access programs, including GEAR UP and Talent ​Search.