Public Opinion Survey

Before you begin:

• Choose a topic on which to base your survey questions
• Establish the goal of your survey
• Determine the survey sample – who will answer the survey

Designing your survey:

• Begin your survey with an introduction to explain the purpose of the survey. This will encourage respondents to complete the survey. Include an estimate how long the survey should take to complete and indicate that in your introduction.
• Familiarize yourself with the different types of survey questions:
• Multiple Choice
• Where do you live? 1) North 2) South 3) West 4) Other
• Numeric Open Ended
• How many times do you eat at McDonalds a week? ______
• Text Open Ended
• How can we improve the lunch room? _________________
• Rating Scale
• How would you rate this product? 1) Excellent 2) Fair, etc…
• Agreement Scale
• How much do you agree with the new law? 1) Strongly Agree 2) Agree 3) Disagree, etc…
• When designing your survey keep it simple and motivating. You want to keep your audience’s attention. Leave sensitive or open-ended questions near the end.

Other General Tips:

• For each question, allow a “Don’t Know”, “N/A”, or “Other” response. These options give your respondents an opportunity to answer truthfully and decrease frustration.
• Include a title on your survey.
• Do not put two questions in one.
• Make sure the wording of your questions do not favor one choice.
• Avoid emotional words or descriptive adjectives in your survey questions.
• Be sure your layout is clear. Provide even spacing.

Pretest Your Survey:

• Once your survey is complete, test it on a few respondents. This test run can reveal unanticipated problems with questions, wording, instructions, or answer choices.
• Revise your survey appropriately.

Final Product to be turned in:

· Goal statement

· Final, revised survey

· Pre-survey results