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Surveys have many uses and can include both quantitative and qualitative questions. They can be used for marketing purposes to understand how people feel about your product area of interest. For this course, we’ll be focusing strictly on how to use surveys to assess the design of a product. This can be the product you’re about to redesign (so that you know what has been working well and what hasn’t) as well as for the new product you already have designs for.
New terms
- Intercept surveys -- A survey that appears in a specific context and time, requesting that the user completes the questions immediately. Can be online or in-person. However, the current course will only refer to its use online.
Common types of research goals
- Deeper understanding of qualitative research findings
- Evaluate the launch of a new feature
- Prepare for a site redesign
Survey questions available
- Close-ended & Open-ended
- Demographic
- Likert Scale
- Stack ranking
Survey design best practices
- Lead with interesting questions
- Keep the text short
- Group by topic
- Don't ask about behavior
- Avoid questions with two concepts
- Use neutral questions
- Make the survey anonymous
Further Reading
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Online surveys are useful at many stages
during the product development cycle.
0:00
At the beginning, they can be used to
research the relevant product landscape.
0:06
After launching, surveys can be useful for
0:10
understanding how well the product
is doing, and what to improve.
0:12
For this course, we'll focus on
evaluating the design of a live product.
0:17
Like with all research,
0:23
before you start designing a study,
you need to have a clear goal in mind.
0:24
Keep that goal focused.
0:30
Surveys are most effective
when they're short.
0:33
Let's talk about common types of
research goals using a fictional
0:36
custom t-shirt design
service as an example.
0:41
Deeper understanding of
qualitative research findings.
0:45
Perhaps you ran a usability study and
noticed that a couple of the participants
0:50
were really frustrated that the t-shirt
designs were limited to just three colors.
0:54
How representative
are they of other users?
1:00
Evaluate the launch of a new feature.
1:03
You just launched the ability
to put in corporate orders.
1:06
What do people think?
1:09
Prepare for a site redesign.
1:11
The code has gotten old, or
the brand needs a refresh.
1:14
This is also an opportunity to evaluate
what has been working well, and
1:17
what users want to see improved.
1:22
Let's review the types of survey questions
available to us, closed ended and
1:25
open ended.
1:30
Closed ended questions can be single
choice, often used in radio buttons, or
1:31
multiple choice,
usually represented with checkboxes.
1:36
Closed ended questions form
the quantitative basis for a survey.
1:40
They're easy to count and analyze.
1:44
They're also fast for users to complete.
1:47
Open ended questions
are the probing whys and hows.
1:50
It's helpful to use them as
followup to closed ended questions.
1:54
If you're asking, rate how your t-shirt
looked as compared to your drawing,
1:58
you can follow up with,
please explain why you gave that rating.
2:03
Demographic, demographic
questions can be standard,
2:08
such as asking participants about
their gender, or more personal,
2:13
on topics such as education level or
household income.
2:16
Ask only the most essential demographic
questions to avoid people quitting your
2:21
survey only because they don't feel
comfortable with a demographic question.
2:25
Likert scale, these questions are a
reliable way to measure attitudes and
2:30
opinions.
2:34
There are usually 5 or
7 choices at a time.
2:36
The middle value is the neutral option,
2:39
while the end values range from
very positive to very negative.
2:41
The responses to a question like, how
satisfied were you with your final t-shirt
2:45
design, would be very satisfied,
somewhat satisfied, neither satisfied nor
2:51
dissatisfied, somewhat dissatisfied,
and very dissatisfied.
2:58
Alternatively, if you asked,
choose how much you agree or
3:04
disagree with the following statement,
3:08
the t-shirt design closely resembled
the design I had uploaded.
3:10
The options would be strongly agree,
agree,
3:15
neither agree nor disagree,
disagree, strongly disagree.
3:19
One more example, but
with a longer set of options,
3:25
would be, how likely are you to
recommend the service to others?
3:29
Extremely likely, very likely,
likely, don't know,
3:34
unlikely, very unlikely,
and extremely unlikely.
3:39
Stack ranking,
3:45
stack ranking questions require users
to place items in a particular order.
3:47
This can be especially useful for
learning what features people really want.
3:52
A simple wish list can quickly
spin out of control, but
3:57
if you ask people to order that list,
they will have to make choices.
4:01
At the end, the top and
4:05
bottom few items chosen are the ones
people feel strongest about.
4:07
Where should you put these questions?
4:12
Decide whether you want to run an email or
intercept survey.
4:15
A modern intercept survey is usually
presented as a widget that appears
4:20
in the corner of a website,
requesting to be completed immediately.
4:24
An email survey is much like it sounds,
4:29
sent out as an email to
a specific list of people.
4:31
Intercept surveys are tricky to implement.
4:36
Email surveys are easy to implement,
but require an email list.
4:39
Intercept surveys are taken at a specific
moment while using a specific feature.
4:44
Email surveys can be taken
whenever the recipient has time.
4:50
Intercept surveys must be short, since
the user is in the middle of another task.
4:54
Email surveys can be longer,
but should still be concise.
4:59
Ultimately, the big advantage
to intercept surveys
5:04
is that they have a higher
completion rate than email surveys.
5:07
Designing a survey is another exercise
in designing a user experience, and
5:11
with that come best practices.
5:17
Here are the most important ones.
5:19
Lead with interesting questions.
5:22
People naturally want to help,
but may lose steam along the way.
5:25
Start with the interesting
questions first.
5:29
That way,
you will engage your users early, but
5:31
if they do choose to leave, you still have
the most important questions answered.
5:34
Keep text short.
5:40
Directions and
questions should each be about one line.
5:42
People just don't like to read.
5:46
Group by topic.
5:49
Keep similar questions together so
5:51
that participants don't have to
switch context more than necessary.
5:53
Don't ask about behavior.
5:57
Avoid asking general questions
about how people use something.
6:00
Observing that behavior directly for
6:04
yourself is a much more
reliable way to do that.
6:06
Avoid questions with two concepts.
6:10
If you find yourself asking,
what do you think of this and that,
6:13
you're assuming that your participant
has the same opinion about both things.
6:18
Use neutral questions.
6:23
As always, avoid questions that include
assumptions or imply the right answer.
6:26
Make your survey anonymous.
6:32
Unless you need to get in
touch with followup questions,
6:34
leave your survey anonymous to
encourage truthful responses.
6:37
If you're offering compensation or
a raffle entry, make the personal contact
6:41
information optional for
those who want that incentive.
6:46
Once you've written your survey,
be sure to test it.
6:49
Have a few friends or coworkers take it,
then a couple of real users.
6:53
Get lots of feedback
before sending broadly.
6:57
You'll learn if any of your
questions are confusing, long, or
7:01
have other usability issues.
7:05
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