Write an introduction
Include a short, plain English introduction that explains:
- what the survey is about
- why you’re doing it
- what will happen with the results – be specific about how the results and insight will affect change, e.g. changes in designing a new or an existing service or contribute to a local strategy
- how long it will take to complete
- the closing date.
- Links to other documents that are relevant to your survey, e.g. new service details or local strategy
Add any other information that respondents will need to give an informed response to your questions. This includes web pages, reports or other documents they may need to read first.
Technical issues and alternative formats
Some people may need your survey in a particular format before they can respond.
Include information about how to access or request the survey in different formats, such as Easy Read or a different language.
If your survey is online, include information about how a respondent can tell you if they have a technical issue preventing them from completing the survey.
Privacy statement
Remember to include a privacy statement, with information about how the respondent’s personal data is protected.
Speak to your Information Governance lead for support with privacy and data protection.
Structure
Short is best
Surveys should be easy to complete so that they encourage participation, but have enough questions that you get the information you need for your project.
Aim for your survey to take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Fewer people will complete a long survey unless there is a strong incentive to do so – such as a financial reward.
Use a mix of questions to keep your participants engaged, but try to use quantitative questions when you can, which are easier to analyse.
Try not to use too many qualitative questions – they take much longer for participants to complete and take longer to analyse.
How to write good survey questions
More about qualitative and quantitative questions
Create different sections
Consider if you need to break up your survey into different sections, to make it easier to follow/complete. You may also want to encourage respondents to skip anything that may not be relevant to them.
Some online survey platforms allow respondents to skip whole sections or questions based on their previous answers.
More about online survey platforms
Order
Think about the flow of your questions and what order you put them in.
You might want to start by understanding the person’s familiarity with the topic of the survey first – for example, how often they have used a particular service – before you ask about their experience or view of it.
Demographic monitoring
Include questions (usually at the beginning or the end) that tell you about who is completing the survey. It’s important that you understand who is completing your survey and how their responses may be affected by their background and protected characteristics, such as:
- age
- gender
- whether gender is the same as assigned at birth
- religion
- sexual orientation
- disability
- ethnicity
More about protected characteristics
Example demographic monitoring form
Finishing your survey
Finish your survey by thanking people for participating.
Explain how respondents can get more involved in the project or invite them to sign up for feedback. This will help support you in future phases of engagement and to continue the conversation.
Sensitive subjects
Are you taking on a potentially sensitive subject? Some people may be less inclined to respond to questions they find distressing or uncomfortable.
If the subject is sensitive, consider:
- inviting anonymous responses
- including warnings about potentially sensitive questions
- referring respondents to organisations that offer emotional support
Being clear about where their feedback will be shared and how it will be used may help to encourage more people to respond.
Also, consider testing and developing your survey questions with the type of people you are hoping to hear from. This may help you to understand whether your questions will be interpreted as you intend and give you a chance to make changes before you publish your survey.
Top tips for working with highly emotive or distressing subjects