Survey Errors: Top 6 Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Survey Errors Top 6 Common Mistakes

Survey Errors: Top 6 Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

The survey data collection industry is huge and plays a vital role in organizations’ hiring candidates or offering services to their target audience. There is no denying that data is valuable. It provides profound insights into previous occurrences as well as future projections. Both these aspects make the survey a valuable resource for social and economic knowledge. However, data can only be beneficial if it is accurate and dependable.

Surveys are widely used in research to collect information from a pre-defined set of respondents, particularly in the social sciences. This procedure serves a variety of goals and is carried out by the methodology chosen. A survey comprises data collection using questionnaires, QR codes, or other social networks. However, there are cases where survey errors happen, which can bring information gathering to a halt. A lack of tools and ideas can result in survey errors.

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What do survey errors mean?

Survey errors might occur while developing, deploying, configuring the parameters, or targeting the audience. Different errors take place, and each is different. It might be anything from a typo, adding incorrect answer options to a question, or incorrectly evaluating the findings.

If you’re wondering how grave an error can be, consider this: A small mistake in targeting, ordering, or selecting questions, or even in how you construct questions, can irreparably harm the quality of your feedback data and, as a result, your analysis.

This article presents some survey errors and how you can get away with them to ensure you get the correct data.

1. Asking Too Many Questions

Including too many questions in your surveys will create a frustrating situation for respondents, regardless of your real and sincere desire to collect as much data as possible. There can be a situation where the respondent avoids answering the question. The best way to avoid this error is to finalize a sequence of questions that will provide detailed insights.

However, somewhere along the way, you lose sight of what to ask and add a slew of questions that make sense at the time.

However, they are only baggage for your overall survey, and you can get accurate feedback even if you do not include such questions. The best is to use skip-logic to guarantee that you only ask the appropriate queries to the appropriate clients.

If you believe all the survey questions are necessary and cannot be deleted, try breaking them into short surveys, making the respondent feel comfortable. You can include them at various times along the client journey.

2. Creating Single-Choice and Multiple-Choice Questions

When developing surveys, it is typical to create confusion between single-choice and multiple-choice questions (MCQs). There are several answer alternatives for single-choice questions, but only one correct answer. Multiple-choice questions, however, allow you to select more than one alternative. For instance, if you are running a hotel chain and want to introduce pet grooming services. So, you will need to create a survey asking customers different questions in single- and multiple-choice formats.

The best is to provide a multiple-choice question, having checked answers here so that customers with numerous pets can answer appropriately. Still, instead, you include a single-choice answer option with a radio button. Consider the responses you might receive once you have learned how to ask for specific input. It is easy to pick which type of answer is best for your survey question when you correctly anticipate the responses you may receive.

3. Using Complex Language

One of the companies’ major survey errors is using complex languages. Regardless of who is taking your survey, avoid using jargon or technical phrases that may confuse your respondents, and instead, use simple and uncomplicated English.

If you want to use complicated phrases, give clear descriptions and examples to help readers grasp them. It would be best if you spoke in a language your target audience would comprehend. For instance, consider the following questions. Increase the reply-to-ratio; the second question provides additional clarity for anyone who is slightly unclear about what the first question means.

4. Going Overboard

It’s already challenging to attract more customers to conduct surveys and adding more than the needed open-ended questions only adds to the difficulty.

Example: Customers must provide extensive responses to open-ended inquiries. Assume you want to know what your customers think of your website and the overall experience of their navigation.

You would need a full description of each feature to understand how you treat your customers, but your customers need something else. More open-ended questions require more work and time to answer, which are signs of good surveys with a high completion rate.

The best you can do is collect in-context feedback by asking many close-ended questions followed by a follow-up question. You can also add a skip option so that clients aren’t forced to answer questions they don’t want to.

5. Including Survey Introduction

Try to avoid it, even if it’s as simple as leaving out the introduction to your survey. There are several causes for this. First, a good opening gives a taste of what and why this survey is the best way to get your audience’s attention.

Secondly, if you avoid introducing your survey, your respondents may feel uneasy or even suspicious about the purpose of your survey and opt out entirely. A clear and simple explanation of the purpose of your survey, in the beginning, will help get people interested and get them to read on.

6. Rushing out to get the survey done

It would help if you stayed calm when getting survey incentives. After you’ve spent time picking your questions, the last thing that happens is rushing to distribute your survey and running the risk of not getting the results you intended because the overall process needs to be corrected.

Even if you are an expert in the subject of your questions, it will be difficult to predict how recipients will respond to them without further investigation. However, you can take the right steps to get some results.

Rephrase your questions and suggest having a few co-workers verify them and tell you how they would respond. The best thing to do is to evaluate the survey questions created with your close friends. It could be anything from figuring out how your questions fit together and how long it takes people on average to answer each one to determine how your questions are put together and if anyone got them wrong.

Some other points to consider for avoiding Survey Errors

Making the best use of Survey Methods

After going through all the above points, we hope you see how critical it is to get your terminology and questions correct, add an intriguing survey beginning, and avoid finishing your survey project.

Finally, if you have given yourself enough time to develop and evaluate your survey, you can identify anything essential to raising the effectiveness of the survey. MIMOIQ is helping companies gain access to audience mindsets towards products or services through our survey and data collection services.

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Different Types of Survey Methods and Popular Survey Templates

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Different Types of Survey Methods and Popular Survey Templates

A survey is a means of obtaining and collating information from a group of individuals, more commonly referred to as the sample, in order for organizations, corporations, or institutions to gain knowledge. This data or viewpoint gathered from the sample is frequently a generalization of what a large community believes. 

Different types of surveys aid in the collection of significant or critical data, which is then used by businesses or organizations to make educated and smart decisions. Only when the administered questionnaire is carefully structured to promote response rates and includes both open-ended and closed-ended questions and answer possibilities does the collected data provide useful insights. When it comes to surveys, there is a lot of diversity, and we may categorize them based on how often they are administered or how they are deployed. 

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Types of Surveys:

Let’s look at the different types of surveys now that we know what they are and why we need to conduct them. As previously said, they can be classed in a variety of ways depending on the frequency of administration or deployment as well as how the distribution/deployment takes place.

Survey Types based on Deployment Methods :

Online Surveys

An online survey is one of the most popular types. Online surveys are getting increasingly popular as technology advances by leaps and bounds. This type of survey contains questions that may be conveniently distributed to respondents by email or by allowing them to access the survey if they have access to the internet. These surveys are simple to create and deploy. Respondents are given enough time and space to complete these questionnaires, ensuring that researchers receive unbiased results. Data can be obtained and evaluated fast, and they are less expensive.

Paper Surveys

As the name implies, this survey is conducted using paper and pencil. Many people believe that paper surveys are no longer used. They are, nonetheless, extremely useful for field research and data collection. Computers, laptops, and other handheld devices cannot go where these surveys can. 

 

There is also a negative side to it. The most expensive technique of data collection is through this type of survey. It entails devoting a significant amount of human resources, as well as time and money. 

Telephonic Surveys

These are conducted over the phone by researchers. Respondents must answer the researcher’s questions about the research topic. These surveys take time and aren’t always conclusive. The effectiveness of these initiatives is contingent on the number of people who answer the phone and are willing to spend time answering queries over the phone.

One-on-one Interviews

A one-on-one interview allows researchers to collect information or data from a respondent directly. It’s a qualitative research method that relies on a researcher’s knowledge and experience to formulate and ask pertinent questions one after the other in order to gather significant insights from the interview. These meetings can take anywhere from 30 minutes to many hours. 

 

Random sample surveys (to understand public opinion or attitude) and self-selected studies are two other forms of surveys.

Survey Types based on Deployment Frequency :

Cross-Sectional Studies

These surveys are given to a small sample of a larger population in a short amount of time. This kind provides a researcher with a short summary of what respondents are thinking right now. These surveys are quick and easy to complete, and they can be used to gauge public opinion in a specific situation. 

Longitudinal Surveys

Longitudinal surveys assist researchers in making observations and collecting data over a long period of time. Trend surveys, panel surveys, and cohort surveys are the three basic forms of longitudinal investigations. 

 

Researchers use trend surveys to determine how respondents’ thought processes have changed over time. They utilize these polls to see how people’s attitudes evolve over time.

Retrospective Survey

A retrospective survey is a sort of research in which participants answer questions about events that occurred in the past. Researchers can collect data based on people’s past experiences and beliefs by using this type of survey. Unlike a longitudinal survey, they can save money and time by doing it this way.

Survey Templates

To make educated decisions, a researcher needs a suitable medium to conduct research and collect relevant data. Additionally, a platform for creating and deploying these various sorts of market research surveys is required.

Types of Survey Templates:

Customer Survey Templates

They are critical to the success of any business or organization. It is critical for organizations or businesses to comprehend their clients’ wants and preferences.


Use the customer survey template to gain a deeper understanding of your consumers and to implement any suggestions they provide to help your company develop and thrive.

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Market Research and Marketing Survey Templates

To find out what customers think about products or services, use marketing survey templates. These can also be used by a company to determine whether its items are reasonably priced, collect feedback from customers, gauge their degree of awareness, and so on.

Community Survey Templates

Community survey templates can be distributed to members of associations or foundations in order to obtain input on the various activities carried out by the organization. This helps to understand the members’ experiences and collect comments on what kind of programmes add value, feedback on previous events, and more.

Industrial Survey Templates

Customized survey templates for various industries assist collect in-depth feedback or information from consumers in a variety of industries, including event management, hotel management, fast food, and transportation, to mention a few. The industry player can use these survey forms to figure out what they’re already doing well and what needs more attention from a consumer’s perspective.

Academic Survey Templates

Academic Survey (400 × 300 px)

Academic survey templates are one of the most effective ways to learn how students and their parents react to your educational institution’s efforts.

 

A questionnaire created by industry specialists aids in the examination of parent/student comments on course evaluations, curriculum planning, training sessions, and other topics.

 

Non-Profit Survey Templates

Domain specialists created these Non-profit survey templates to collect focused information and comments from non-profit funders, volunteers, stakeholders, and other participants. The surveys collect data from event participants, solicit donor feedback, or conduct an internal survey among volunteers, and address a variety of crucial touchpoints.

How can MIMOIQ help?

When it comes to conducting surveys, researchers have a variety of alternatives. Cost, reach, and the types of inquiries may all influence the strategy you use. 

 

MIMOIQ can help you get started with customized surveys to aid you in your research. Here are a few factors that make MIMO an excellent choice for various types of research surveys. 

 

When it comes to surveys, it’s essential to keep them short in order to hold respondents’ interest. As a result, MIMO obtains some information automatically, such as the participant’s location, decreasing the number of questions you must ask. MIMO provides beautifully drawn pre-designed surveys that will capture and hold your participants’ interest from start to finish. 

 

The majority of people nowadays conduct surveys using their mobile phones. Many desktop surveys do not transition well to mobile devices, resulting in a significant drop-off rate. MIMO’s designs are adaptive, meaning they can change to integrate with different kinds of devices. 

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