The types of questions you include on your survey will play a key role in determining its success (or failure). You want to encourage participation and sincerity from those who respond. That's why professional survey designers spend a lot of time formulating the manner in which they ask for responses. The construction of their questions, the language they choose, and even their grammar has an impact on respondents' perception and interpretation of what is being asked. And that has a direct effect on their participation.

In this article, I'll describe various types of questions you should avoid asking. I'll also explain why the wrong type of queries can mislead your participants, serve as obstacles to their sincerity, and ultimately, reduce your response rate and skew your data.

Leaders

A lot of people who lack experience in designing questionnaires use words and phrases that can unintentionally "lead" respondents. For example, consider the following 2 sentences and note how their meanings subtly change based upon replacing only 1 word.

"The federal government must lower corporate taxes."

"The federal government should lower corporate taxes."

The first query employs an action-oriented "must." The second uses "should," which is less confrontational. Believe it or not, that minor change in the phrasing of both sentences can impact respondents' interpretation and answers. Don't use words that elicit a certain response. That is, don't lead your participants.

Commingled Queries

Remember, your goal in surveying your audience is to collect reliable data that you can use. If you combine multiple topics into a single query, your data will become skewed because respondents won't have the flexibility to address each topic individually. For example, consider the following "yes/no" question asked by a wireless carrier of its customers.

"Are you satisfied with the level of customer service we provide and the reception you enjoy on your phone?"

Note that the wireless carrier is asking respondents to provide a single answer to 2 disparate topics (their satisfaction with regards to service and reception). If a customer is happy with the wireless carrier's service representatives, but has difficulty getting a clear signal on their phone, their answer becomes unreliable. Commingling the topics confuses the response. As a result, your data will be practically useless.

Imprecise Questions

Designing your surveys simply carries distinct advantages, such as reducing distractions, encouraging responses, and motivating participants to complete them. However, take care not to oversimplify your questions. Many novice designers make the mistake of constructing their surveys with queries that lack precision. As a result, the usefulness of their data is diluted to the point of being unusable.

For example, consider the manufacturer of a candy bar asking its customers the following: "Do you enjoy our candy bar?" Initially, the question seems easy to answer. In truth, it's nearly impossible to answer with any level of value. After all, a participant won't know whether their response should address the candy bar's texture, flavor, or size. As a result, their answer has limited usefulness, if any. Be precise.

Careful Query Design

Creating a survey is a deceptively complicated task. The manner in which you ask your sample population to respond has an enormous effect on its success. A simple word can alter the meaning of a sentence and impact your respondents' interpretation of it. Phrasing can lead participants to offer answers that aren't entirely accurate, diluting the value of the information they're providing. Commingling topics into single queries can limit the accuracy of your population's answers, thereby skewing the data.

We've only covered a few types of questions that you should avoid asking on your surveys and questionnaires. In a future column, we'll explore this area in more detail. In the meantime, use the advice I've provided above to increase your response rate and preserve the accuracy of the information you collect.