The document provides examples of good and bad survey questions. Bad examples include questions that are double-barreled, use negative language that is difficult to parse, ask for sensitive information like income or socio-economic status directly, or have potential to bias responses. Good examples ask one simple question at a time, minimize judgmental language, and approximate sensitive information indirectly.

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3. Although this question scores high in terms of comprehensiveness, it’s not clear how many
people can answer it concretely and confidently without feeling a little lost
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4. The double‐negative example on the left can be very difficult for people to parse and then
answer correctly – too much cognitive burden on the participant!
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5. Bad example on left
Good example on right
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6. The one on the right is better than the one on the left
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7. Bad example on left – it’s a double‐barreled question
Good example on right
Ask one simple question at a time
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8. The example on the left has the potential to bias people toward the “agree” side of the
scale
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9. Bad example on left
Good example on right
Minimize “judgmental” language
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10. Income is a sensitive topic and asking for a precise amount can offend people
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11. Asking for socio‐economic status (SES) directly can be very offending!
Instead, we can approximate SES indirectly with zip code.
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