Paula Harmer, Director of Institutional
Research, Office of Academic Affairs
November, 2012

• Review “Why use surveys”?
• Outline of survey preparation steps
• Overview of question and response types
• Guidelines for writing survey questions and selecting response sets
• Practicum: identify survey issues and revise questions & responses
Fink, Arlene. How to Ask Survey Questions volume 2, Sage
Publications, 2003.

• Obtain feedback with a fast turnaround
• Self-administered ones are resource efficient compared to phone/in person interviews
• Anonymity/confidentiality allows respondents various levels of protection for candid responses
• Accepted research methodology for applied and academic research
• Can gather holistic feedback of total population versus a select few

• Step 1: Develop a purpose and specific objectives for your survey. Examples:
How satisfied are recent alumni with their educational experiences and learning support at Regis University? Does student engagement impact course learning outcomes?
• Step 2: Define the human population(s) being surveyed. Sample/whole population?
• Step 3: Select survey type. Self administered? Paper? Online? Phone? In person interviews or focus group?
• Step 4: Plan number of questions that measure objectives, and how much time respondent will have to complete survey.
• Step 5: Timing of the survey – Once? Twice? At a time point in student’s life cycle? 6 months after graduation? Pre-test/Post-test?
• Step 6: Determine security level: if survey is identifiable, anonymous, confidential

• Step 7: Permissions – Does the respondent population require authorization for recruitment? Eg. Regis IRB? What level of risk do respondents have for participation, and how can you minimize that risk?
• Step 8: Survey data collection – online or paper-based surveys?
Automated or manual data entry? Paper scanning?
• Step 9: Write your survey questions geared to answer the research question purpose and objectives, following writing guidelines. You
MUST formulate questions so respondents may answer easily and accurately.
• Step 10: Review and test survey questions with potential respondents and content experts.

• For self-administered surveys, you must be sure that the questions can be understood by respondents without assistance from survey team
• Using pretested & proven questions is best
• Enhances validity (are you measuring what you think you are measuring) and reliability (if the respondent took the same survey again, would they respond the same way?)

One concept per question
If you include more than one concept, respondents will be torn between responding to differing concepts, giving poor quality data.
Poor: How satisfied were you with the availability of faculty outside of class and opportunities to engage in research?
Better: How satisfied were you with availability of faculty outside of class?

• Logically related to survey objectives
• Asks precise and unambiguous questions
Eg. Use specific time periods rather than ‘typical’
Vague: How would you describe your emotional well being?
Better: How would you describe your emotional well being in the past three months?
• More detail will increase reliability of answers
• Respondent recall guideline: Major life events (more than 1 year is
OK) versus unimportant events (less than 1 month is best)

• Use complete sentences
• Do not confuse respondents by using disciplinary jargon or acronyms/abbreviations. This measures comprehension, not perceptions or self-reported behavior. This is not a test!
Q: The faculty member utilized a variety of pedagogical approaches in this course.
Q: The faculty member utilized a variety of teaching and learning approaches in this course.
Q: Indicate the types of learning approaches utilized in the course:
Lecture
Group Discussion
Games
Lab
Seminar
Case studies
Other

• Avoid negative questions if possible
• Avoid loaded questions if possible
• Avoid biased words or phrases that trigger emotional response

• Closed questions have pre-specified responses, are more reliable and efficient, good for ranking and rating, allows statistical analysis
• Open questions allow responses in own words, require qualitative analysis. Good for exploration or quotes
Note: requires more effort to code and analyze, and fewer respondents will make the effort to respond, so don’t make the questions required to complete the survey
• Good practice to have majority closed Qs with a few open
Qs

• Categorical: responses are categories, no numerical or preferential values, they are true or false.
Eg. Male & Female; Alumni/Student/Faculty/Staff;
• Categories should be mutually exclusive; should include all possible answers (inclusive); should exhaust possible categories (exhaustive)
• Ordinal: scale highest to lowest, rate or order items Eg age categories, high-low scales, etc
• Numeric: asks for number Eg age in years

• Categorical response sets should be inclusive of all possible answers
Eg. Select the reasons you chose to enroll in your program: academic reputation/geographical location/faculty/ tuition / scholarship opportunities / other
• Categorical: It is good practice to use a ‘I don’t know/not applicable’ or ‘other’ when it makes sense to, in case a question has little or no relevance to a respondent – helps prevent survey abandonment by respondents
• On the other hand, it can encourage ‘lazy’ responses
• Ordinal: Good for analysis, balances between negative and positive responses

5-point scales
URL (as of Nov 28, 2012): http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ctl/assessment/iar/teaching/plan/method/survey/writing.php

• Use a meaningful scale
• Use a balanced scale – 4 or 5 point is the ‘norm’
• Provide a neutral category such a ‘Don’t Know’ only if it makes sense
1
Endorsement Definitely true
Frequency Always
2
True
3 4
Don’t Know False
Intensity None
Influence Big problem
Comparison Much more than others
Very Often Sometimes Almost
Never
Very Mild Mild Moderate
Moderate problem
Somewhat more than others
Small problem
About the same as others
Very small problem
Somewhat less than others
5
Definitely
False
Never
Severe
No problem
Much less than others

• Put the socially undesirable/negative response first
• Tell respondent how and where to mark the responses
• When possible, group similar questions & response scales together
• Rank order scales – best not to exceed three choices in surveys

• Responses are a number Eg. height, weight, age in years, number of books, etc.
• Numeric scales/measures are when respondents select a number along a scale, such as a pain scale from 0 (No Pain) to 10 (Worst Possible Pain).

• Attitudes are complex and challenging to define and measure
• Psychometricians use methods to examine statistical properties of attitudes
• Knowledge and behavior is different
Eg What a person feels about gun control, knows about gun control, and does about can be very different
• Finding and developing attitudinal questions and scales is hard work!

• Measures what respondents actually do
• Involve time, duration and frequency
• Guideline: Major life events can be recalled longer than one year
Poor: In the past year, which of the following items did you purchase?
Better: In the past 3 months, which of the following items did you purchase?

• A correct answer is available
• Used to assess respondents’ knowledge of a topic
• For example, if knowledge of a group is slim, an educational campaign may be warranted

• Asking a respondent facts about age, income, race/ethnicity, education, gender, etc.
• If known, compare respondent sample with total population to gauge ‘representativeness’
• Allows comparisons Eg adult versus traditionally-aged students
• Sensitive information (Eg income) should be asked at end of survey and should be optional

Each of the following survey questions & responses have a problem(s).
Identify the problem and fix!
Q1. In the past year, how many times did you buy groceries?
0-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41 or more
Q2. How frequently do you attend church services and meet with your pastor?
Never
Almost Never
Sometimes
Very Often
Always

Q3. What are the reasons you selected Regis University?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Q4. Please select the top 5 reasons why you withdrew from Regis?
Cost of tuition
Location of main campus
Better offer at another institution
Personal reasons
Financial constraints
Availability of online courses or programs
Academic challenge
Curriculum
Etc

Q5. Rate your agreement with the following statement(s).
The professor was readily available outside of class.
Strongly Agree
Partly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Q6. Based upon your positive experiences at Regis, how likely are you to recommend Regis to other prospective students?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Somewhat unlikely
Very unlikely

Q7. Do you think the program should enhance faculty qualifications and revise the curriculum?
Yes
No
Maybe
I don’t know
Q8. What is your current annual household income?
0-25,000
25,000-50,000
50,000-75,000
75,000-100,000
100,000 or over

Q9: As a recent alumni, do you think the university should seek NCATE accreditation?
• Yes
• No
Q10. Select the factors you used when choosing your insurance plan.
• Cost
• Deductibles
• Insurers’ reputation
• Availability of providers in my area
• Coverage
• Others: _____________________

To assist your survey development, I will offer to review your survey questions and responses.
Paula Harmer pharmer@regis.edu
303-964-5199

• Develop a survey research question
• Develop 4 research objectives for your survey
• Review the 10 steps and write your steps