As Yogi Berra once said, “if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.” If you’re a respondent filling out a survey and you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll likely be looking for the nearest off-ramp before you’ve completed the questionnaire.

One of the key considerations in the development of a questionnaire is the proper wording of your questions. As you develop your questionnaire, continually ask yourself, “will the respondent understand this question? Is the language appropriate?” Always remember to keep it simple and avoid complicated language. As well, avoid ambiguous and vague words.

I’ll admit it…I haven’t always been a fan of online surveys. My introduction was not a happy one. I had just contacted a client to ask about our ongoing annual research study. I was told that my services were no longer required as they were now using Survey Monkey. What the heck was a Survey Monkey? My worst fears had come true…I’ve been replaced by a monkey. Why couldn’t they call it Survey Einstein? I’d be okaywith that. Maybe Mom was right. I should have been an accountant.

In my previous blog I gave you some examples of words and questions to avoid in the construction of your next survey questionnaire. Here’s the second installment.

Here’s a short list of words and questions that you will want to avoid in the construction of your next questionnaire.

Step number one in any research process is to ask, “why are we conducting this survey”? Everything will flow from the answer to this question including the method and the questions you ask. All too often, even before determining our objectives, we have decided that we need to do an online survey. In my mind, this is putting the cart before the horse. If we put our goals and objectives first we may realize that focus groups or face-to-face interviews are a far better alternative.