SURVEY QUESTIONS Bias vs Unbiased BIAS A MISREPRESENTATION

SURVEY QUESTIONS Bias vs Unbiased

BIAS A MISREPRESENTATION OF MEMBERS OF THE POPULATION • Writing unbiased survey questions is the first step in ensuring your findings are actionable, and insightful. • Writing a survey can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to designing the questions in a way so they don’t lead your responders. • Writing leading questions not only skews the data, but it also limits what findings can be determined.

GENERAL TIPS • Identify what you want to know • Remove “wouldn’t it be nice to know” questions • Know how you will use and present the information • Remove questions for which the respondent will not have immediate assess to the information • Remove questions that the respondent will not be willing to answer

SURVEY QUESTIONS CHECK LIST Likert Scale • The Likert scale is a tool used to determine how strongly a respondent agrees or disagrees with a statement (Strongly Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree). By using a Likert scale in your survey you avoid displaying your bias in the nature of the responses allowed.

SURVEY QUESTIONS CHECK LIST Assumptions • Never make assumptions in your questions. Questions should be formed around facts and statements rather than opinions. For example: The question “Do you agree that dog owners should be able to walk their dogs without leads in the park? ” is making the assumption that dog owners want to be able to walk their dogs without leads, and that more people will agree with the statement. By placing an opinion in the

SURVEY QUESTIONS CHECK LIST Clear and Concise • All questions should be clear in their delivery and be answerable by everyone that you’re asking

SURVEY QUESTIONS CHECK LIST Double Barreled Questions • Double Barreled questions are questions that ask people to consider more than one concept. For example: How do you feel about the new lays chips flavors, Southern Biscuits and Gravy and Greektown Gyro? • By asking responders how they feel about two separate concepts in one question data will be misleading, and

SURVEY QUESTIONS CHECK LIST Test the Survey • It’s usually difficult to detect our own bias in questions, so run your survey past friends and family and see if it yields surprising results. If you know the way someone feels and they respond differently take another look at the question and

BAD QUESTIONS? • How much did you enjoy the webinar? • How satisfied are you with the information you received? • A recent poll indicated that 88% of people were happy with our last webinar. How do you feel about the webinar presentation?

BAD QUESTIONS? • Please indicate how much you agree or disagree the following statement about Madison High School. I feel welcomed by the staff and students. • Fire drills are hard to have during class time. Do the fire drills help you feel prepared for a real fire? • Much More prepared • Slightly more Prepared • Somewhat Prepared • Not more prepared

BAD QUESTIONS? • Does it seem possible or does it seem impossible to you that advisory has gotten even more boring? • Very possible • Possible • Impossible • Very impossible • Would you be willing to attend an assembly once a month on resumes if it increased your lunch time?

WRITE AN APPROPRIATE QUESTION/S • You want to open a new food place here in Rexburg, Idaho. • You have a new car picked out, however, you have heard that some colors get pickup by the police more than others. • You want the school to create a new _____ class. • In a group of two or three, think of some data you want to collect from the students at Madison High School. Write a survey question/s. Once you have your question have another group read it to make sure it is unbiased.