By: Erika Ewer, Research Account Executive, Atomik Research

Atomik Researchers are experts at full-service PR Surveys. When it comes to survey writing, several factors contribute to realizing your goals for the survey and how you intend to use your data points. They include…

Establishing tone and audience:

  • Always decide who you are surveying before you start building the survey – otherwise you risk asking unrelated questions or collecting irrelevant data.

  • Do you want a playful message that gets media hits with fun stats, or are you conveying more serious messaging? Is the purpose of your survey to test new products, break into an established category or shed light on your industry/brand in a new and innovative way?

  • Sample size is significant when considering budget, feasibility, and timing, all of which can limit who you target. Ideally 2,000 respondents in a general population survey receive more media coverage and provide more statistically reliable findings, while a more specific target audiences can skew less, for example, very niche samples (i.e., business decision makers, technology leaders, C-Suites) typically consist of fewer participants.

  • Identify how you want your message to be presented, i.e., via media, influencer, branded report, etc.

Survey style/delivery:

  • Consider questionnaire length. How many questions do you want to be included in your questionnaire. To put survey length into perspective, it takes the average respondent roughly five minutes to complete a 20-question survey.

  • Most common types of questions used are:

    • Closed-ended questions elicit single or multiple responses, come in grids, scales or ranking and can yield different results or objectives.

    • Open-ended questions require respondents to write in their answer, helping to avoid influencing opinion while mitigating bots and increasing quality standards.

    • Conditional questions appear only to respondents who chose a particular response choice in an earlier question. The most common uses for these types of questions are for follow-ups or expanding on a previous answer. For example, if a respondent specified “yes”, asking them why they answered “yes” in a follow-up question may help you gain more insight.

For an example of survey goals and execution, check out this case study. When you bring on our team as an extension of your own, we work to find solutions to all your market research and survey writing needs to assure the best possible data, application, and results for you. Contact us today!