Survey Writing: The Questionnaire as a Story
By Matt Kerr, IFANR Research Director
An organization comes to the Institute for Association and Nonprofit Research (IFANR) with many questions, and it is then our task to write a questionnaire that successfully addresses all of those questions. Sounds simple enough, right?
The problem arises when the organization has a very specific yet disjointed list of questions covering many different areas of concern. It may have been years since the organization last conducted a survey, and this is their big chance to get their many questions answered. They don’t want you wasting valuable time asking questions they don’t care about or to which they already know the answers. Fair enough. However, the problem is that any resulting questionnaire would be so disjointed, a rhyme without a reason, so to speak. Respondents would get whiplash from taking the resulting survey.
Questionnaires need to be written so that the responses tell a coherent story. The questionnaire must tie together many different goals into a document that flows logically. This may mean asking questions that seem, on the surface, irrelevant. It may seem like the research company is just padding the survey to give you a bigger product, i.e., a nice and thick final report. However, a gently flowing questionnaire will keep the respondent engaged in the survey, bringing you the answers to your most important questions.
IFANR can help your organization write a questionnaire that will encourage respondents to provide the answers to your questions.


