Surveys for UX

A few years back we provided an article on using surveys in user experience (UX) for the excellent UX Mastery. The piece covers what a survey is, how they can benefit the design process, what to consider before writing a survey, creating an effective survey (writing good questions etc.), and an introduction to some tools.

UX Mastery is a great site with some excellent content including a resources section with a nice overview of UX techniques and an extensive list of tools. They also created a fantastic video on what UX is, which is worth checking out.

Summary

• Start the survey with a clear understanding of why the research is being run (i.e. your research objectives) and what information you need to collect (i.e. research questions, which should not be confused with your survey questions). This is the thinking that's needed upfront to ensure that we do the best job possible. This stage may require some time and input from key stakeholders and those who have an interest in the feedback.

• It is important to get your survey questions right. Ask poor questions and you'll get poor feedback. Consider:

  • Grouping like questions together and in a logical order.

  • Ensuring the wording is easy to understand and makes sense to your audience.

  • Avoiding double negatives.

  • Ensuring questions only contain one concept.

  • Using balanced rating scales (i.e. an equal number of positive and negative items).

  • Using open-ended questions. 

  • Including don't know options where appropriate.

  • Initially launch to a subset of your sample to ensure there are no issues.

• Keep your participants in mind when writing 

I hope you like the piece on Surveys.

Let me know your thoughts on using surveys in UX or if I missed anything.

Related

• True intent surveys: understanding why users visit your site

• Strategic research within Agile environments, is it possible?

• Moderating usability tests