This is based from different resources I gathered from the different opinions of the experts. Disclaimer.

1. HOW TO MAKE A GOOD
SURVEY QUESTIONS?
Quantitative Research

2. WHEN CRAFTING YOUR SURVEY
QUESTIONS, CONSIDER THESE TEN
DOS AND DON’TS.

3. DO’S
• Stick to your goal
Only ask questions that pertain to your goal or an objective that will help you
achieve your goal. No matter how nice it might be to know, don’t ask if it does
not help you achieve your goal. Set a clear goal on what you want to achieve
and don’t stray from it.

4. • Use the right question type
To get clean data, you need to use the right question type.
Quantitative questions are closed- ended. These are far less fatiguing and
easy to measure. These offer easy answer options for answering how, what and
when. They often appear as:
o Radio buttons
o Check boxes
o Drop down menus
o Rating scales (i.e. Likert scale or star rating)
o Ranking scales (drag and drop or matrix table)
A mix of both qualitative and quantitative questions is often a good way to go. Follow
up quantitative questions comment box to learn more about why the respondent
answered the way they did. Or use and essay question type at the end of your
quantitative survey.

5. • Offer mutually exclusive answer options
When using a range, whether it be a date, age, income, etc.) make sure
your ranges are exclusive and that there is no overlap.
For example:
Q: How long have you been a club member?
1-10 yrs
10-20 yrs
20- 30 yrs
30+ yrs
Instead, your answer range should be exclusive like this:
Q: How long have you been a club member?
1-10 yrs
11-20 yrs
21- 30 yrs
31+ yrs
Nonexclusive answer options not only confuse respondents, but result in bad data.

6. • Be specific and direct
General questions will not give you good results. You need to clearly
specify what it is you want answered.
For example:
Q:Do you read the paper?
Instead, ask:
Q:Do you read the Boston Globe on Sundays?
Use short and concise terms. Wordiness adds to confusion. Unclear questions lead to
unclear results.

7. •Use balanced scales
When asking survey questions using a scale, each point should hold the same
amount of weight with the same number of options on either side of the middle point
so as not to skew the data.

8. DON’TS
• fatiguing
Questions that are ambiguous, lengthy, or tax the respondent’s memory are fatiguing.
Limit the number of qualitative questions to 2 since they require more time and effort
to answer.

9. •Ask sensitive questions
Personal questions can be uncomfortable to answer. Give respondents the option to
opt out of these. If you make these questions required, they are likely to abandon the
survey. Consider providing a Prefer Not to Answer (PNA) option to decrease survey
abandonment while not forcing an answer that might skew your data.

10. •Beg the question
Leading questions create biased results that lead to poor data quality. Subtle wording
differences can significantly impact results. “Could,” “should,” and “might” all sound
about the same, but may produce different results.
For example:
Q: Folgers is a popular coffee brand. What brand of coffee do you drink?
This question might imply that if they do not drink Folgers they might not be popular.
Avoid any wording that introduces bias or impacts the results.
Instead, ask:
Q: What brand of coffee do you drink?

11. •Use double-barreled questions
Combining two questions into one confuses respondents and impacts data quality.
For example:
Q: How satisfied are you with our buffet food and drink selection?
The respondent might love the food selection but are dissatisfied with the drink
selection. Splitting the question into two separate ones, will give you better results
that let you know what you need to improve.
Instead, ask:
Q1: How satisfied are you with our buffet food selection?
Q2: How satisfied are you with the drink selection?

12. •Force the answer
Requiring answers will give you results but not necessarily the best results. If you
are going to require an answer make sure that you provide a comprehensive
answer list.
For example:
Q: What is your gender?
Male
Female
Instead, ask:
Q: What is your gender?
Male
Female
Transgender