Best practice tips for survey design using Ultimate Survey Enterprise Edition survey software.

Article ID	1051	Posted Date	3/1/2006
Product(s)	Ultimate Survey - Professional (formerly Advanced), Ultimate Survey - Enterprise .NET Edition with Dev Kit, Online Survey Hosting	Updated Date	3/1/2006

The following are some tips and best practices to optimize the experience of the survey respondent when sending out surveys using Ultimate Survey Enterprise Edition survey software:

Keep the number of questions per page to a minimum. Having 3-5 questions per page limits the need for the respondent to scroll. Also, the software processes data faster in small amounts, so the time that it takes to record the answers and load the next page will be minimalized.

Keep the number of categories in each "Matrix" question to a mimimum. While matrix questions can be great to keep groups of questions compact, you do not want to overdo it. Limit each matrix to approximately 10 categories when possible. Larger matrix questions can be intimidating to the respondent and result in less attention to detail when the respondent chooses his/her answers.

Never ask the respondent a question that does not apply to him/her. Use Ultimate Survey's powerful conditions and branching rules so that respondents do not see questions that are irrelevant.

Use a Style Template for every survey. Style templates allow you to control the fonts and colors of the various elements of the surveys. It is especially important that you make sure to have a bright (usually red) color for Error messages. This allows the respondent to clearly see what fields were not filled in correctly.

Use the proper question types. Each question type is useful in its own way. If you want the respondent to choose one and only one response from a large list, use a dropdown menu. If the list is smaller use radio buttons. If the respondent can choose more than one, use checkboxes. Never use checkboxes if you only want the respondent to choose one option.