10 tips how to create better surveys for user research.

1. UX Tips for
Surveys
Hienadź Drahun

2. What Are Surveys Good For?
•When you need a large and not super
specialized sample size;
•Work best when you’re interested in
gauging attitudes, not past/ current
behaviors or future intentions.

3. Survey Tip 1
Have clear purpose
Use survey and particular questions to
validate a hypothesis. Surveys are less
effective for exploratory study, open-ended
questions.

4. Survey Tip 2
Think shorter
Ask only what is essential for your
purpose.
Better keep the survey succinct and run
another in a month or two.
Remove the questions you do not need.
Know what are going to do with the
results.

5. Survey Tip 3
One introduction is enough
Think Twitter-style (140 characters).

6. Survey Tip 4
Logical order of questions
Group related questions and order them
in a logical manner. Start with easy
general questions to warm-up the user.

7. Survey Tip 5
Use the right question types
•Close-ended (radio-button/
checkbox)
Easy to categorize. Difficult to write.
•Open-ended
Both valuable and vague answers. Difficult to
answer

8. Survey Tip 5 (2)
Use the right question types
•Rating scales
Order the choices from low to high, or left
to right.
Use an equal number of positive and
negative options.
 Not balanced Balanced

9. Survey Tip 6
Use simple, concise
questions
Keep wording friendly and
conversational. Don’t make the
users struggle.

10. Survey Tip 7
Ask one question at a time
All questions should relate to one concept.
If required, add an extra question to
explore the other concept.
 2 questions at a time Corrected

11. Survey Tip 8
Avoid leading questions
There should never be a right and wrong
answer, suggested socially desirable or
emotionally charged answer.
Or reference to an authority, other people.

12. Survey Tip 9
Avoid double negatives
Double negatives can make answering
questions difficult.
 Double negative

13. Survey Tip 10
Check and Test your survey
1.Verify you’ve included the right questions
to fulfill objectives
2.Check for and eliminate question
redundancy
3.Always run a spell check
4.Read the questions aloud when proofing
5.Check logic for the appropriate actions
6.If possible, ask someone who has not been
involved in preparing the survey to take the
survey

14. Further reading
1. http://usability.com/2012/02/fundamental-best-practices-of-2. http://uxmastery.com/better-user-research-through-surveys/
3. http://www.slideshare.net/cjforms/10-tips-for-a-better-ux-survey
4. http://www.measuringusability.com/blog/survey-tips.php
5. http://usability.com/2014/03/the-logic-behind-an-online-survey/
6. http://survey.cvent.com/blog/cvent-web-surveys-blog/5-
best-practices-for-designing-mobile-surveys
7. http://survey.cvent.com/blog/cvent-web-surveys-blog/
online-survey-pitfalls-double-barreled-survey-questions
(includes links to the other parts)