Fatal flaw in online survey design: Ambiguity
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Posted by: Todd Hollander in Questionnaire Design
Ambiguous questions (those that could be understood in more than one way) are one of the more common mistakes in questionnaire design.
Take this question for example:
How often do you visit our website?
O Very Often
O Often
O Sometimes
O Rarely
O Never
With the exception of “Never,” these response options may mean different things to different people. If some respondents consider once a week as “often” and others consider once a week as “rarely,” the data won’t mean much. Therefore, whenever possible, it is prudent to quantify the choices, such as:
O More than once a day
O Every day
O 2-6 Times a week
O Once a Week
O Less than once a week
O Never
The goal is to eliminate any chance that a question will mean different things to different people. Failing to do this runs the risk that respondents essentially will be answering different questions.
To this end, it is best to use the following guidelines:
- Phrase your questions empirically
- Avoid the use of adjectives
- Avoid colloquial or ethnic expressions
- Avoid technical terms that assume preexisting knowledge or experience
The bottom line: To avoid ambiguity, make sure that every question is clear, succinct, and has only one possible meaning.
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