Writing good questions

The checklist in the builder reads your draft and suggests changes. Each one comes from how people actually answer surveys: long surveys lose people, leading questions bend answers, and questions that ask two things can't be answered honestly. The checklist only advises. It never stops you from publishing, and you know your audience better than it does.

Suggestions marked Worth fixing are the ones most likely to hurt your results. Worth a look are tips. Choose Show me to jump to the question or setting.

Length and time

• How long it takes. The estimate adds up the time to read and answer each question, by type: a rating takes a few seconds, a comment about a minute. Over 5 minutes is a tip, because people start to drop off. Over 10 minutes is a warning. Say how long it takes in the introduction, and cut questions you won't act on.
• Too many questions. More than 25 questions feels long even when each one is quick. For every question, ask what you'll do differently because of the answer. If nothing, remove it.
• A very long question. Titles over 120 characters get skimmed, especially on phones. Keep the question short and move the context into its description.
• Several required comment questions. Three or more required comment questions make people quit or type “n/a”. Make most of them optional and keep one or two that matter.

Wording

• Two things in one question. “How satisfied are you with the price and quality?” can't be answered by someone who likes one and not the other. Split it into two questions. Fixed pairs such as “health and safety” and ranges such as “between 1 and 5” aren't flagged. This one is a tip, because a list such as “tools, access and information” can be fine.
• Leading or loaded wording. “How great was our support?” or “Don't you agree that…” hints at the answer you hope for. Ask neutrally: “How would you rate our support?”
• Absolutes. Words such as always, never, everyone and nothing push people to the extremes or to disagree on a technicality. Try “usually” or “often”, or ask how often.

Scales you can compare

• Agreement questions on different scales. If one statement uses 5 points and another 7, averages and percentages don't compare fairly. Pick one. 5 points is the usual choice.
• Star ratings with different numbers of stars. Use the same number everywhere so averages line up.

Results treat the top two answers on a scale as favourable, so keeping the scale the same also keeps trends and heatmaps meaningful when you run the survey again.

Honesty and anonymity

If a named survey asks about someone's manager, pay, health or harassment, the checklist suggests making it anonymous in Settings. People are more open when their name isn't attached. Anonymous results still split by department or team for groups of 5 or more. This can only be changed before the first response. See Anonymous surveys.

Introduction and thank-you

• No introduction. Say why you're asking, how long it takes and who sees the answers. People who know why answer more, and more carefully.
• No thank-you message. Thank people and say what happens next, such as when you'll share the results.

Languages and people

• A language isn't finished. A language that is turned on needs every text translated before you can publish. A language that is still in progress is a tip: finish it and turn it on, or leave it off for now. See Offer a survey in several languages.
• No one is invited yet. For a survey limited to invited people this is a warning, because nobody can answer without a personal link. For a public link it's a tip: after publishing, share the link, or invite people to see who has answered.