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How to Write a Survey Report

Last Updated: February 16, 2024 Approved

This article was reviewed by Anne Schmidt . Anne Schmidt is a Chemistry Instructor in Wisconsin. Anne has been teaching high school chemistry for over 20 years and is passionate about providing accessible and educational chemistry content. She has over 9,000 subscribers to her educational chemistry YouTube channel. She has presented at the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AATC) and was an Adjunct General Chemistry Instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. Anne was published in the Journal of Chemical Education as a Co-Author, has an article in ChemEdX, and has presented twice and was published with the AACT. Anne has a BS in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and an MA in Secondary Education and Teaching from Viterbo University. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 403,874 times.

Once you have finished conducting a survey, all that is left to do is write the survey report. A survey report describes a survey, its results, and any patterns or trends found in the survey. Most survey reports follow a standard organization, broken up under certain headings. Each section has a specific purpose. Fill out each section correctly and proofread the paper to create a polished and professional report.

Writing the Summary and Background Info

Step 1 Break the report up into separate sections with headings.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Background and Objectives
Methodology
Conclusion and Recommendations

Methodology of the survey.
Key results of the survey.
Conclusions drawn from the results of the survey.
Recommendations based on the results of the survey.

Step 3 State the objectives of the survey in the background section.

Study or target population: Who is being studied? Do they belong to a certain age group, cultural group, religion, political belief, or other common practice?
Variables of the study: What is the survey trying to study? Is the study looking for the association or relationship between two things?
Purpose of the study: How will this information be used? What new information can this survey help us realize?

Step 4 Provide background information by explaining similar research and studies.

Look for surveys done by researchers in peer-viewed academic journals. In addition to these, consult reports produced by similar companies, organizations, newspapers, or think tanks.
Compare their results to yours. Do your results support or conflict with their claims? What new information does your report provide on the matter?
Provide a description of the issue backed with peer-reviewed evidence. Define what it is you're trying to learn and explain why other studies haven't found this information.

Explaining the Method and Results

Step 1 Explain how the study was conducted in the methodology section.

Who did you ask? How can you define the gender, age, and other characteristics of these groups?
Did you do the survey over email, telephone, website, or 1-on-1 interviews?
Were participants randomly chosen or selected for a certain reason?
How large was the sample size? In other words, how many people answered the results of the survey?
Were participants offered anything in exchange for filling out the survey?

Step 2 Describe what type of questions were asked in the methodology section.

For example, you might sum up the general theme of your questions by saying, "Participants were asked to answer questions about their daily routine and dietary practices."
Don't put all of the questions in this section. Instead, include your questionnaire in the first appendix (Appendix A).

Step 3 Report the results of the survey in a separate section.

If your survey interviewed people, choose a few relevant responses and type them up in this section. Refer the reader to the full questionnaire, which will be in the appendix.
If your survey was broken up into multiple sections, report the results of each section separately, with a subheading for each section.
Avoid making any claims about the results in this section. Just report the data, using statistics, sample answers, and quantitative data.
Include graphs, charts, and other visual representations of your data in this section.

Step 4 Point out any interesting trends in the results section.

For example, do people from a similar age group response to a certain question in a similar way?
Look at questions that received the highest number of similar responses. This means that most people answer the question in similar ways. What do you think that means?

Analyzing Your Results

Step 1 State the implications of your survey at the beginning of the conclusion.

Here you may break away from the objective tone of the rest of the paper. You might state if readers should be alarmed, concerned, or intrigued by something.
For example, you might highlight how current policy is failing or state how the survey demonstrates that current practices are succeeding.

Step 2 Make recommendations about what needs to be done about this issue.

More research needs to be done on this topic.
Current guidelines or policy need to be changed.
The company or institution needs to take action.

Step 3 Include graphs, charts, surveys, and testimonies in the appendices.

Appendices are typically labeled with letters, such as Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, and so on.
You may refer to appendices throughout your paper. For example, you can say, “Refer to Appendix A for the questionnaire” or “Participants were asked 20 questions (Appendix A)”.

Polishing Your Report

Step 1 Add a title page and table of contents to the first 2 pages.

The table of contents should list the page numbers for each section (or heading) of the report.

Step 2 Cite your research according to the style required for the survey report.

Typically, you will cite information using in-text parenthetical citations. Put the name of the author and other information, such as the page number or year of publication, in parentheses at the end of a sentence.
Some professional organizations may have their own separate guidelines. Consult these for more information.
If you don’t need a specific style, make sure that the formatting for the paper is consistent throughout. Use the same spacing, font, font size, and citations throughout the paper.

Step 3 Adopt a clear, objective voice throughout the paper.

Try not to editorialize the results as you report them. For example, don’t say, “The study shows an alarming trend of increasing drug use that must be stopped.” Instead, just say, “The results show an increase in drug use.”

Step 4 Write in concise, simple sentences.

If you have a choice between a simple word and a complex word, choose the simpler term. For example, instead of “1 out of 10 civilians testify to imbibing alcoholic drinks thrice daily,” just say “1 out of 10 people report drinking alcohol 3 times a day.”
Remove any unnecessary phrases or words. For example, instead of “In order to determine the frequency of the adoption of dogs,” just say “To determine the frequency of dog adoption.”

Step 5 Revise your paper thoroughly before submitting.

Make sure you have page numbers on the bottom of the page. Check that the table of contents contains the right page numbers.
Remember, spell check on word processors doesn’t always catch every mistake. Ask someone else to proofread for you to help you catch errors.

Survey Report Template

Community Q&A

Always represent the data accurately in your report. Do not lie or misrepresent information. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

↑ https://survey.umn.edu/best-practices/survey-analysis-reporting-your-findings
↑ https://www.poynter.org/news/beware-sloppiness-when-reporting-surveys
↑ https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/conduct-surveys/main

About This Article

To write a survey report, you’ll need to include an executive summary, your background and objectives, the methodology, results, and a conclusion with recommendations. In the executive summary, write out the main points of your report in a brief 1-2 page explanation. After the summary, state the objective of the summary, or why the survey was conducted. You should also include the hypothesis and goals of the survey. Once you’ve written this, provide some background information, such as similar studies that have been conducted, that add to your research. Then, explain how your study was conducted in the methodology section. Make sure to include the size of your sample and what your survey contained. Finally, include the results of your study and what implications they present. To learn how to polish your report with a title page and table of contents, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to make a survey report: A guide to analyzing and detailing insights

March 8, 2024

The survey report: Meaning and importance

Survey findings, analysis and interpretation, recommendations, use clear and accessible language, structure a report for clarity, provide context, include visual aids, cite sources, proofread and edit, introduction, create a survey with surveyplanet.

In today’s data-driven world, surveys are indispensable tools for gathering valuable intelligence and making informed decisions. Whether conducting market research, gauging customer satisfaction, or gathering employee feedback, the key to unlocking a survey’s true potential lies in the subsequent analysis and reporting of the collected data.

Whether you’re new to surveys or a seasoned researcher, mastering analysis and reporting is essential. To unlock the full potential of surveys one must learn how to make a survey report.

Before diving into the process, let’s clarify what a survey report is and why it’s crucial. It is a structured document that presents the findings, analysis, and conclusions derived from survey data. It serves as a means to communicate the insights obtained from the survey to stakeholders, enabling them to make informed decisions.

The importance of a survey report cannot be overstated. It provides a comprehensive overview of collected data, allowing stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Additionally, it serves as a reference point for future decision-making and strategy development, ensuring that actions are based on sound evidence rather than assumptions.

Key components of a survey report

Start a survey report with a brief overview of the purpose of the survey, its objectives, and the methodology used for data collection. This sets the context for the rest of the report and helps readers understand the scope of the survey.

The introduction serves as the roadmap that guides readers through the document and provides essential background information. It should answer questions such as why the survey was conducted, who the target audience was, and how the data was collected . By setting clear expectations upfront, the groundwork is laid for a coherent and compelling report.

Present the key findings of the survey in a clear and organized manner. Use charts, graphs, and tables to visualize the data effectively. Ensure that the findings are presented in a logical sequence, making it easy for readers to follow the narrative.

The survey findings section is the heart of the report, where the raw data collected during the survey is presented. It’s essential to organize the findings in a way that is easy to understand and digest. Visual aids such as charts, graphs, and tables can help illustrate trends and patterns in the data, making it easier for readers to grasp the key insights.

Dive deeper into the survey data by analyzing trends, patterns, and correlations. Provide insights into what the data means and why certain trends may be occurring. The findings must be interpreted in the context of the survey’s objectives and any relevant background information.

Analysis and interpretation are where the real value of the survey report lies. This is where surface-level findings are moved beyond to uncover the underlying meaning behind the data. By digging deeper to provide meaningful insights, stakeholders gain a deeper understanding of the issues at hand and identify potential opportunities for action.

Based on the analysis, offer actionable recommendations or suggestions that address the issues identified in the survey. These recommendations should be practical, feasible, and tied directly to the survey findings.

The recommendations section is where insights are translated into action. It’s not enough to simply present the findings—clear guidance on what steps should be taken next must be provided. Recommendations should be specific, actionable, and backed by evidence from the survey data. Such practical guidance empowers stakeholders to make informed decisions that drive positive change.

Don’t forget to summarize the key findings, insights, and recommendations presented in the report. Reinforce the importance of the survey results and emphasize how they can be used to drive decision-making.

The conclusion serves as a final wrap-up, summarizing the key takeaways and reinforcing the importance of the findings. It’s an opportunity to remind stakeholders of the survey’s value and how the results can be used to inform decision-making and drive positive change. By ending on a strong note, readers have a clear understanding of the significance of the survey and the actions that need to be taken moving forward.

Best practices for survey report writing

In addition to understanding the key components of a survey report, it’s essential to follow best practices when writing and presenting findings. Here are some tips to ensure that a survey report is clear, concise, and impactful.

Avoid technical jargon or overly complex language that may confuse readers. Instead, use clear and straightforward wording that is easily understood by the target audience.

Organize a survey report into clearly defined sections:

Conclusion.

This helps readers navigate the document and find needed information quickly.

Always provide the background of findings by explaining the significance of the survey objectives and how the data relates to the broader goals of the organization or project.

Charts, graphs, and tables can help illustrate key findings and trends in the data. Use them sparingly and ensure they are properly labeled and explained in the text.

When referencing external sources or previous research, be sure to cite them properly. This adds credibility to the findings and allows readers to explore the topic further if they wish.

Before finalizing a survey report, take the time to proofread and edit it for grammar, spelling, and formatting errors. A polished and professional-looking report reflects positively on your work and enhances its credibility.

By following these best practices, it is ensured that a survey report effectively communicates findings and insights to stakeholders, empowering them to make informed decisions based on the data collected.

Short survey report example

To illustrate the process, let’s consider a hypothetical short survey report example:

The purpose of this survey was to gather feedback from customers regarding their satisfaction with our products and services. The survey was conducted online and received responses from 300 participants over a two-week period.

85% of respondents reported being satisfied with the quality of our products.
70% indicated that they found our customer service to be responsive and helpful.
The majority of respondents cited price as the primary factor influencing their purchasing decisions.

The high satisfaction ratings suggest that our products meet the expectations of our customers. However, the feedback regarding pricing indicates a potential area for improvement. By analyzing the data further, we can identify opportunities to adjust pricing strategies or offer discounts to better meet customer needs.

Based on the survey findings, we recommend conducting further market research to better understand pricing dynamics and competitive positioning. Additionally, we propose exploring initiatives to enhance the overall value proposition for our products and services.

The survey results provide valuable insights into customer perceptions and preferences. By acting on these findings, we can strengthen our competitive position and drive greater customer satisfaction and loyalty .

Creating a survey report involves more than just presenting data; it requires careful analysis, interpretation, and meaningful recommendations. By following the steps outlined in this guide and utilizing the survey report example like the one provided, you can effectively communicate survey findings and empower decision-makers to take action based on valuable insights.

Ready to turn survey insights into actionable results? Try SurveyPlanet, our powerful survey tool designed to streamline survey creation, data collection, and analysis. Sign up now for a free trial and experience the ease and efficiency of gathering valuable feedback with SurveyPlanet. Your journey to informed decision-making starts here!

Photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash

How to Write a Summary of Survey Results

How to Create a Survey Results Report (+7 Examples to Steal)

Do you need to write a survey results report?

A great report will increase the impact of your survey results and encourage more readers to engage with the content.

Create Your Survey Now

In This Article

1. Use Data Visualization

2. write the key facts first, 3. write a short survey summary, 4. explain the motivation for your survey, 5. put survey statistics in context, 6. tell the reader what the outcome should be, 7. export your survey results in other formats, bonus tip: export data for survey analysis, faqs on writing survey summaries, how to write a survey results report.

Let’s walk through some tricks and techniques with real examples.

The most important thing about a survey report is that it allows readers to make sense of data. Visualizations are a key component of any survey summary.

Examples of Survey Visualizations

Pie charts are perfect when you want to bring statistics to life. Here’s a great example from a wedding survey:

Example of a pie chart in a survey summary introduction

Pie charts can be simple and still get the message across. A well-designed chart will also add impact and reinforce the story you want to tell.

Here’s another great example from a homebuyer survey introduction:

Summary of survey results in a pie chart

If your survey is made up of open-ended questions, it might be more challenging to produce charts. If that’s the case, you can write up your findings instead. We’ll look at that next.

When you’re thinking about how to write a summary of survey results, remember that the introduction needs to get the reader’s attention.

Focusing on key facts helps you to do that right at the start.

This is why it’s usually best to write the survey introduction at the end once the rest of the survey report has been compiled. That way, you know what the big takeaways are.

This is an easy and powerful way to write a survey introduction that encourages the reader to investigate.

Examples of Survey Summaries With Key Facts

Here’s an awesome example of a survey summary that immediately draws the eye.

The key finding is presented first, and then we see a fact about half the group immediately after:

Using this order lets us see the impactful survey responses right up top.

If you need help deciding which questions to ask in your survey, check out this article on the best survey questions to include.

Your survey summary should give the reader a complete overview of the content. But you don’t want to take up too much space.

Survey summaries are sometimes called executive summaries because they’re designed to be quickly digested by decision-makers.

You’ll want to filter out the less important findings and focus on what matters. A 1-page summary is enough to get this information across. You might want to leave space for a table of contents on this page too.

Examples of Short Survey Introductions

One way to keep a survey summary short is to use a teaser at the start.

Here’s an example introduction that doesn’t state all of its findings but gives us the incentive to keep reading:

And here’s a great survey introduction that summarizes the findings in just one sentence:

Survey introduction with summary of findings

In WPForms, you can reduce the size of your survey report by excluding questions you don’t need. We decided to remove this question from the report PDF because it has no answers. Just click the arrow at the top, and it won’t appear in the final printout:

Exclude question from survey introduction report

This is a great way to quickly build a PDF summary of your survey that only includes the most important questions. You can also briefly explain your methodology.

When you create a survey in WordPress, you probably have a good idea of your reasons for doing so.

Make your purpose clear in the intro. For example, if you’re running a demographic survey , you might want to clarify that you’ll use this information to target your audience more effectively.

The reader must know exactly what you want to find out. Ideally, you should also explain why you wanted to create the survey in the first place. This can help you to reach the correct target audience for your survey.

Examples of Intros that Explain Motivation

This vehicle survey was carried out to help with future planning, so the introduction makes the purpose clear to the reader:

Explaining the motivation for a survey in survey results

Having focused questions can help to give your survey a clear purpose. We have some questionnaire examples and templates that can help with that.

Explaining why you ran the survey helps to give context, which we’ll talk about more next.

Including numbers in a survey summary is important. But your survey summary should tell a story too.

Adding numbers to your introduction will help draw the eye, but you’ll also want to explain what the numbers tell you.

Otherwise, you’ll have a list of statistics that don’t mean much to the reader.

Examples of Survey Statistics in Context

Here’s a great example of a survey introduction that uses the results from the survey to tell a story.

Survey summary introduction with context

Another way to put numbers in context is to present the results visually.

Here, WPForms has automatically created a table from our Likert Scale question that makes it easy to see a positive trend in the survey data:

WPForms survey summary results in a table

If you’d like to use a Likert scale to produce a chart like this, check out this article on the best Likert scale questions for survey forms .

Now that your survey report is done, you’ll likely want action to be taken based on your findings.

That’s why it’s a good idea to make a recommendation.

If you already explained your reasons for creating the survey, you can naturally add a few sentences on the outcomes you want to see.

Examples of Survey Introductions with Recommendations

Here’s a nice example of a survey introduction that clearly states the outcomes that the organization would like to happen now that the survey is published:

Survey introduction with recommendations

This helps to focus the reader on the content and helps them to understand why the survey is important. Respondents are more likely to give honest answers if they believe that a positive outcome will come from the survey.

You can also cite related research here to give your reasoning more weight.

You can easily create pie charts in the WPForms Surveys and Polls addon. It allows you to change the way your charts look without being overwhelmed by design options.

This handy feature will save tons of time when you’re composing your survey results.

Once you have your charts, exporting them allows you to use them in other ways. You may want to embed them in marketing materials like:

Presentation slides
Infographics
Press releases

WPForms makes it easy to export any graphic from your survey results so you can use it on your website or in slides.

Just use the dropdown to export your survey pie chart as a JPG or PDF:

And that’s it! You now know how to create an impactful summary of survey results and add these to your marketing material or reports.

WPForms is the best form builder plugin for WordPress. As well as having the best survey tools, it also has the best data export options.

Often, you’ll want to export form entries to analyze them in other tools. You can do exactly the same thing with your survey data.

For example, you can:

Export your form entries or survey data to Excel
Automatically send survey responses to a Google Sheet

We really like the Google Sheets addon in WPForms because it sends your entries to a Google Sheet as soon as they’re submitted. And you can connect any form or survey to a Sheet without writing any code.

The Google Sheets integration is powerful enough to send all of your metrics. You can add columns to your Sheet and map the data points right from your WordPress form.

This is an ideal solution if you want to give someone else access to your survey data so they can crunch the numbers in spreadsheet format.

We’ll finish up with a few questions we’ve been asked about survey reporting.

What Is a Survey Report and What Should It Include?

A survey report compiles all data collected during a survey and presents it objectively. The report often summarizes pages of data from all responses received and makes it easier for the audience to process and digest.

How Do You Present Survey Results in an Impactful Way?

The best way to present survey results is to use visualizations. Charts, graphs, and infographics will make your survey outcomes easier to interpret.

For online surveys, WPForms has an awesome Surveys and Polls addon that makes it easy to publish many types of surveys and collect data using special survey fields:

Likert Scale (sometimes called a matrix question )
Net Promoter Score (sometimes called an NPS Survey)
Star Rating
Single Line Text
Multiple Choice (sometimes called radio buttons )

You can turn on survey reporting at any time, even if the form expiry date has passed.

To present your results, create a beautiful PDF by clicking Print Survey Report right from the WordPress dashboard:

Next Step: Make Your Survey Form

To create a great survey summary, you’ll want to start out with a great survey form. Check out this article on how to create a survey form online to learn how to create and customize your surveys in WordPress.

You can also:

Learn how to create a popup WordPress survey
Read some rating scale question examples
Get started easily with a customer survey template from the WPForms template library.

Ready to build your survey? Get started today with the easiest WordPress form builder plugin. WPForms Pro includes free survey form templates and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.

If this article helped you out, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more free WordPress tutorials and guides.

Using WordPress and want to get WPForms for free?

Enter the URL to your WordPress website to install.

This is really good

Hi Jocasta! Glad to hear that you enjoyed our article! Please check back often as we’re always adding new content as well as updating old ones!

Hi, I need to write an opinion poll report would you help with a sample I could use

Hi Thuku, I’m sorry but we don’t have any such examples available as it’s a bit outside our purview. A quick Google search does show some sites with information and examples regarding this though. I hope that helps!

With the Likert Scale what visualisation options are available? For example if there were 30 questions… I would like to be able to total up for all questions how many said never, or often… etc… and for each ‘x’ option for example if it was chocolate bars down the side and never through to often across the top… for each question… I would like to total for all questions for each chocolate bar… the totals of never through to often…? can you help?

Hey Nigel- to achieve what you’ve mentioned, I’d recommend you to make use of the Survey and Poll addon that has the ability to display the number of polls count. Here is a complete guide on this addon

If you’ve any questions, please get in touch with the support team and we’d be happy to assist you further!

Thanks, and have a good one 🙂

I am looking for someone to roll-up survey responses and prepare presentations/graphs. I have 58 responses. Does this company offer this as an option? If so, what are the cost?

Hi Ivory! I apologize for any misunderstanding, but we do not provide such services.

Hi! Can you make survey report.

Hi Umay! I apologize as I’m not entirely certain about your question, or what you’re looking to do. In case it helps though, our Survey and Polls addon does have some features to generate survey reports. You can find out more about that in this article .

I hope this helps to clarify 🙂 If you have any further questions about this, please contact us if you have an active subscription. If you do not, don’t hesitate to drop us some questions in our support forums .

Super helpful..

Hi Shaz! We’re glad to hear that you found this article helpful. Please check back often as we’re always adding new content and making updates to old ones 🙂

Hi , can you help meon how to present the questionnaire answer on my report writing

Hi Elida – Yes, we will be happy to help!

If you have a WPForms license, you have access to our email support, so please submit a support ticket . Otherwise, we provide limited complimentary support in the WPForms Lite WordPress.org support forum .

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How to Create a Survey

How to write a survey report

Tips for an effective survey report.

Start with an introduction
Use visualizations
Focus on key facts first
Categorize results
Summarize your findings
Integrate company branding

Conducting a survey is a great way to gather insights from your target demographic. But you’ll limit the effectiveness of the results if you don’t have the right strategy to analyze and report the information.

Once you’ve published and collected data from an online survey, it’s time to analyze the information and format it in a presentable way. Let’s dive into the ins and outs of how to write a survey report.

Survey report basics

You conduct research because you want to answer a question. Do your customers like your product? Why or why not? Did your customers get good service from the support team? If not, how could you improve? One way to find out is to conduct a survey.

The survey report presents the results of the survey objectively, summarizing the responses. Most survey reports show the results in visually appealing ways by including graphs and charts.

It’s important to make the report easy to follow — for example, creating different sections for various survey question categories and using headings and subheadings to call out those categories. Your survey report should be interesting, but always focus on summarizing the information accurately.

Create and share customizable surveys with Jotform.

Survey administration and data collection

Before drafting a survey, consider what you want to achieve, then shape the questions to gather the kind of information that will help you reach those goals. You’ll likely want to include two types of questions :

Quantitative. These are questions that yield a numerical response. Some of the most common quantitative questions ask respondents how satisfied they are with a product or service or how likely they would be to recommend a service to someone else. Respondents then have a scale of numbers to choose from. This numerical data can measure variables, and the results fit easily into graphs and charts.
Qualitative. These questions gather more details from respondents about their experiences and opinions. As an example, if you were an online retailer, you might ask respondents to describe how you could improve their shopping experience.

Quantitative results are a little easier to present in a report because the numbers can quickly translate into easy-to-understand graphics. When you include qualitative questions, you’ll need to analyze and interpret the responses in text to share the results effectively with others.

Here are a few best practices for creating a quality survey report:

Start with an introduction. Set the tone by explaining the purpose of the survey. Provide context for the information you’re presenting.
Use visualizations. Images and graphs are an effective way to tell a story. Keep it interesting with different visuals, such as pie charts, bar graphs, and other formats. But make sure to use the type of visual that best demonstrates the results.
Focus on key facts first. What are the most critical data points you want to share? Include those at the beginning of the survey report.
Categorize results. Group similar data together to show relationships. Consider using headings and subheadings to break up the information.
Summarize your findings. At the end of the survey report, give the reader an overview of the information. Include takeaways that you can use to make improvements.
Integrate company branding. Look for ways to infuse your brand in the survey report — at minimum, make sure you include your logo at the top of the document and a footer with your company’s information. And don’t forget to select presentation colors that align with your branding guidelines.

The aesthetics of your report matter. Even the smallest details can communicate volumes about your organization. So make sure the survey report is professional and concise while sharing accurate information.

Sharable survey reports

Now that you’ve created your survey report, how will you share it with others ? Here are a few options to consider:

Send a URL to a cloud-based report
Embed the report on a website
Download the report to distribute as a PDF
Print a copy of the report for in-person meetings

You may also want to use multiple report-sharing features to accommodate the varying needs of your audience.

Built-in reporting features

If you don’t want to write a survey report from scratch, don’t worry! The simplest solution is to use a survey tool with built-in reporting features. You can pair a Jotform survey template with the Jotform Report Builder to visualize and present data in just a few clicks.

Jotform Report Builder makes it easy to convert collected survey data into beautiful visuals and charts. You can use auto-generated reports , but you also have the ability to customize the report layout to match the unique needs of your organization. You can share these survey reports in seconds, and they are updated automatically whenever new responses are submitted.

Student Survey Example Report

Additionally, the Report Builder allows you to filter the data in many ways, which is a huge help when it comes to analyzing the information you’ve collected. You can use these powerful insights to improve your business and meet the needs of your customers more effectively.

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forms.app’s statistics page

You can generate an effective survey report through online survey tools. forms.app is one of the best survey maker tool . You can get the survey reports you created on forms.app easily from the statistics page. Here is how to create the graphics for your survey report on forms.app.

1 - Sign in or create a forms.app account: You can get the report graph of your survey that you created with just a few clicks, without writing code on forms.app. First, you can log into your existing account. If you do not have an account, you can create an account in seconds and become a free member.

2 - Choose ready-to-use templates or begin to form from scratch: You can choose templates for many topics on forms.app. You can easily design your survey by selecting ready-to-use survey templates . Additionally, you have the option of starting from scratch with your survey.

Choose ready-to-use templates or begin to form from scratch

3 - Edit the questions and customize the survey design: You can edit the pre-made questions according to your needs. The questions can be changed, added, or removed. In addition, forms.app gives its customers access to hundreds of colorful themes. You can select one of the ready-made themes for your survey.

Edit the questions and customize the survey design

4 - Adjust the settings and share your survey: After you finish your survey settings, you can save and share it with respondents. You can send a link to participants or embed your survey on your website.

Adjust the settings and share your survey

5 - Get a survey report graphic: After sharing your easily prepared survey on forms.app with the participants, you can quickly see the answers. After the survey process is over, click on the "results" button above. You can see the statistics and respondents in the “results” section. Thus, you can reach the report graph of the survey you prepared on forms.app.

Get a survey report graphic

MS Excel or Google Sheets

You can easily create a graph of your survey report on MS Excel or Google Sheets. Here we shared the steps you need to follow.

1 - Open Excel or Google Sheets and create a new spreadsheet. Or simply download your survey data from forms.app.

Open your data on a spreadsheet

2 - Make sure your questions and answers are in different columns.

Have your questions and answers in separate columns

3 - Move your mouse over the cells that hold the answer data and choose them.

Choose related data

4 - Select the "Column Chart" or "Bar Chart" option from the list of chart types under the "Insert" menu.

Insert a chart

5 - Customize the chart according to your needs.

Customize your chart

6 - Save the chart and use it in your report.

Use it in your survey report

Custom data visualization tools

Data visualization displays data visually, such as graphs and charts. This makes it easier for individuals to draw conclusions from data and make data-driven decisions. You can create your survey report graph using custom data visualization tools like Tableau, Klipfolio , and Qlik Sense .

The list of data visualization tools

A survey report example

The essential data should be presented in your survey report clearly and understandably so you can reach conclusions fast. Let’s imagine the survey research conducted by a perfume company was conducted from March 7 to March 16 via an online survey, which consisted of 16 questions.

A total of 150 customers participated in the survey. The survey aimed to measure product quality, customer service, and overall customer satisfaction level . Of the 150 customers surveyed, 55% rated the overall survey score as excellent, 36% as good, and only 9% as average or below. You can review the following item created on forms.app.

Completion rate: The completion rate is calculated by dividing the total number of questions in your survey by the number of questions that were answered. If your survey has 16 questions and respondents answered only 8, the completion rate is 50%.
Total number of responses: The total number of responses is the total number of respondents you selected to participate in the survey. In our example, the total number of responses is 150.
Survey views: The total number of views versus the number of different people who viewed the survey, as some people may have viewed the survey more than once.
The date range of responses: You must provide the date range of the responses in your survey report. In the above example, the response date range is between March 7 and 16.
Distribution of survey respondents' responses: Survey respondents have different opinions about your products and services. In our example, 55% rated the overall survey score as excellent, 36% as good, and 9% as average or below.
Closed-ended question analysis: Closed-ended questions are analyzed more quickly in the survey report. The analysis process is complex in open-ended questions as the participants express their opinions directly. You can easily illustrate closed-ended questions with pie charts or bar charts.
The thoughts and interpretations of the researcher/survey owner: The researcher's thoughts and comments should be included in the survey report. This reflects the survey owner’s insights.
Key points to take away

In conclusion, a survey report aims to impartially convey the data acquired during the survey. It does it in an easy-to-understand and aesthetically pleasing way by survey summary of all the replies gathered.

The report has a typical structure, with sections, headers, subheadings, and more. Usually, it is produced at the conclusion of a survey. To create an effective survey report, you should:

Have a clean structure
Use simple language
And focus on the key results

Ensure the survey report is accurate and professional, giving only pertinent information. This article has explained the definition of the survey report, the statistical significance of the survey analysis report, and how to create excellent graphics for your survey report.

Sena is a content writer at forms.app. She likes to read and write articles on different topics. Sena also likes to learn about different cultures and travel. She likes to study and learn different languages. Her specialty is linguistics, surveys, survey questions, and sampling methods.

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How to Create a Survey Report in 5 Steps

Surveys are usually created as part of a research process, which is aimed at attaining a conclusion. Hence,r to conclude your surveys, you need to create a survey report at the end of your survey.

This describes a survey, its results, and any pattern or trends found in the survey, all to help you conclude your research.

Creating a survey report is usually the next step after you finish conducting your survey. For proper analysis, it usually follows a set-out pattern — including headings, subheadings, etc.

What is a Survey Report?

A survey report is a document whose task is to present the information gathered during the survey in an objective manner. It presents a summary of all the responses that were collected in a simple and visually appealing manner.

The report follows a standard organization, with different sections, headings, subheadings, etc. It is usually created at the end of a survey (i.e. after constructing and gathering responses).

Survey reports are an integral part of the research, and it is very important that you always represent accurate data in your report.

5 Steps to Creating a Survey Report

It is one thing to create a survey report, but another to create a good survey report. Therefore, we have prepared a guide to assist you in writing your next report.

Here are the 5 main steps you need to follow to create a good survey report.

Create a Questionnaire

Every survey report requires a survey Hence, the first thing you need to do is to create a survey or questionnaire that will be used to carry out your survey.

The responses received from the questionnaire will determine the final outlook of the survey report . However, there are a few important things you need to consider before creating a questionnaire for your survey report.

Factors to Consider Before Creating a Questionnaire For a Survey Report

Define your objectives

The first step to creating a good questionnaire for your survey report is defining the objectives of your research. After which you will create your questionnaire which aligns with your research objectives.

In simple terms, your research objective will guide you in choosing the kind of questionnaire that should be created. For example, if your objective is to sell your products online, then you should create an online order form.

Who are your audience?

After defining your objectives, the next step is to identify your target audience. Your target audience will determine the kind of questions that would be asked in the questionnaire.

When creating a questionnaire to evaluate job seekers, for instance, the questions that will be asked in the questionnaire will be different from when creating a questionnaire for those seeking a life partner.

Survey Report Method (Quantitative/Qualitative)

Now that you know the research objective and target audience, the next step is to determine the method that will be used in carrying out this survey. Is it going to be quantitative or qualitative? Or both?

The interesting thing about choosing a method of carrying out your research is that this method is determined by the first two factors. For an online matchmaking questionnaire, a qualitative method will be used.

An online order form , on the other hand, will require both, but mostly quantitative methods.

Best Types of Questions for Surveys

Another important aspect of creating a questionnaire is determining the types of questions that will be most perfect for the survey. Is it dichotomous, close-ended questions , or rating and ranking questions ?

The type of survey questions should be carefully chosen by the questionnaire in order to collect the right data and not affect the response rate on the survey . For example, when requesting the phone number of your respondents, the question shouldn’t be closed-ended.

Collect Data

After determining how to create a questionnaire for your survey, the next thing to do is create the questionnaire and start collecting data . There are points to note in data collection and some of them have been highlighted below:

Location of your Audience

to create a more detailed survey report, you need to identify your audience’s location when collecting data. Respondents may be reluctant to provide their location in the questionnaire,

Therefore, you need to create a questionnaire that automatically identifies the respondent’s location once they start filling the questionnaire. This can be done using the Formplus Geolocation feature .

Avoid Survey Bias

One of the best practices of collecting clean data for your questionnaire is by avoiding survey bias . There are different kinds of biases that we can face during data collection, and they all fall under response and non-response biases .

There are a lot of things you need to consider when creating your questionnaire to avoid these biases. These fall under the 4 factors we have highlighted above for you to consider when creating a questionnaire.

Ways to Create a Questionnaire (Paper or Online Form)

Another thing to consider when choosing a data collection method is the type of questionnaire to use. Is it better to use an online or paper form?

There are a lot of factors that should be considered when making this decision. Some of these include; your target audience, cost of implementation, efficiency, and data security.

The traditional way of data collection is through the paper questionnaire. However, if you consider the factors that were highlighted above, you will realize that it is better to use an online questionnaire .

An online questionnaire is easier to implement, more efficient, cost-effective, helps to reach a larger audience, and even offers more data security. However, if most of your target audience are in remote areas without an internet connection, or are not familiar with how to use a technological device, it is better to use paper forms or both.

Analyze Data

Before writing a report from the data collected during your survey, you need to simplify it for better understanding. This will make it easy to write a survey report for the data collected and for other people to understand the data.

Export Data

After data collection, you need to export it for data analysis. This can be done using any of the available data analysis software.

Analyzing data on Excel or Google Sheets just became easier with Formplus . With the Formplus – Google Sheets integration, the responses collected from your questionnaire will be automatically added to your Google Sheets worksheet in real-time.

You can also export the data as CSV and work on it using Microsoft Excel, Power BI, or any other data analysis software.

Analyze and Interpret

After exporting the data, you analyze it. Data analysis involves breaking data down into simpler terms, identifying similarities, grouping and interpreting them.

There are different methods of data analysis that can be used in analyzing the data collected from your questionnaire before interpretation . However, each of these methods follows similar processes that have been highlighted below.

Data Cleaning

Due to some factors during the data collection process, you may have collected inaccurate or corrupt information – making the data “ dirty”. This may include duplicate records, white spaces, or outright errors.

Things like this make the collected data irrelevant to your aim of Analysis and should be cleaned. It is the next step after data collection, so that you may arrive at a conclusion that is closer to your expected outcome.

Data Analysis

Once the data is collected, cleaned, and processed, it is ready for analysis. At this point, you may realize that you have the exact data you need or still need to collect more data. To make analysis easier, you might use software that will ease understating, interpretation, and conclusion.

Data Interpretation

After a successful analysis, the next step is interpretation. There are different ways of interpreting the result of data analysis. It can be done using simple words (usually a summary of the result), tables, or charts.

Data Visualization

This is the most common process involved in data analysis and interpretation. It is the process of displaying data graphically so that it can be easier for everyone to understand and process it. It is often used to analyze relationships and discover trends by comparing t variables in a dataset.

Write Survey Report

After successfully analysing and interpreting your data, it is ready to feature in your survey report. At this stage, all you need to do is plug and play because everything you need has been prepared in the previous steps.

To further make your survey report writing process easier, it is advised that you follow a pre-designed template that is tailored to the type of survey under consideration.

Types of Survey Report

Before embarking on the report writing journey, you need to first identify the type of survey report you want to write. The type of survey report is determined by the nature of the survey that was carried out.

Some of the different kinds of surveys include employee satisfaction surveys, customer feedback surveys, market research surveys, etc.

Employee Satisfaction Survey

This method is used to gauge whether employees are satisfied with the work environment. Organizations usually do this to ensure that employees are motivated and to build a stronger team spirit.

Employees are asked to give feedback and particularly voice their frustrations with the company.

Customer Feedback Survey

This is undoubtedly one of the most common types of surveys. Businesses are always seen requesting feedback from customers after selling a product or rendering a service.

As an individual, you must have experienced this at a point in time. Whether after purchasing an item from a grocery store, placing an order online ordering at a restaurant, etc.

Market Research Survey

It is used to discover customer needs, competitive advantage, how and where products are purchased, etc. This type of survey can be applied when no data is available yet: For example, to measure how your target audience feels about a product you intend to lunch.

In some instances, it’s about building on past data in your market research database. When you are building on past research, you conduct a survey to measure, for example, what people think about the product, say, a year after its launch.

For each of the different types of surveys highlighted above, the structure of the survey report will be slightly different from the other.

Features of a Survey Report/Guidelines

Although the structure of the different types of survey reports may vary slightly, there are some must-have features common to all survey types. The features of a survey report include; a title page, table of contents, executive summary, background and objectives, methodology, results, conclusion and recommendations, and appendices.

The content of the above-listed sections may, however, vary across the different types of survey reports. Asides from following a set structure, there are also guidelines for writing a good survey report.

This includes writing the executive summary and table of contents last, writing in concise, simple sentences, and polishing the report before finalizing it.

Use Analyzed Data and Infer Conclusion

This is the point where you implement all the research and analysis that was done in previous steps. Note that it is not good practice to write survey reports from memory.

Rather, it should be carefully written using the facts and figures derived from analysis. This is what is used to drive a conclusion on your research, and also make recommendations.

You will notice that this follows consecutively in the survey report. That is results, the conclusion derived from results, and the recommendation after observing the conclusion.

How to Create an Online Survey with Formplus

Follow the following simple steps to create a ranking questionnaire using Formplus:

Step 1- Get Started for Free

Visit www.formpl.us on your device
Click on the Start Free Trial button to start creating surveys for free
Register using your email address or Google account in just 2 seconds.

Step 2- Start Creating Surveys

You can create a Formplus survey in one of the following ways:

Use an Existing Template

Get a head start by using a template designed by a team of market research experts. To do this, go to Templates and choose from any of the available templates.

Start From Scratch

To create a new survey from scratch on Formplus, go to your Dashboard, then click on the Create new form button.

Alternatively, go to the top menu, then click on the Create Form button.

Step 3 – Add Form Fields

The next step is to add questions so you can collect data from your survey. You can do this by going to the left sidebar in the form builder, then choose from any of the available 30+ form fields.

You can simply click or drag and drop the form field into the blank space to preview your progress as you create the survey. Each form field included in your form can be further edited by clicking on the Edit icon.

Once you have edited the form fields to your taste, you should click on the Save button in the top right corner of the form builder.

Step 4 – Beautify Your Survey

After adding the required form field to your survey, the next step is to make it attractive to respondents. Formplus has some built-in customization features that can be used to create a beautiful survey

This option allows you to add colours, fonts, images, backgrounds, etc. There is also a custom built-in CSS feature that gives you more design flexibility.

You even get to preview the survey in real-time as you make further customization.

Step 5 – Share and Start Collecting Responses

Formplus offers various sharing options to choose from. This includes sharing via email, customized links, social media, etc.

You can send personalized email invites to respondents with prefilled respondent details to avoid entry of incorrect data. With prefilled surveys, personal details like respondent’s name, email address, and phone number will be pre-populated.

Conclusion

Survey reports show the results of a research survey and make recommendations based on a careful analysis of these results. They summarize the result of your research in a manner that can be easily understood and interpreted by a layman or third party, who was not involved in the research process.

A good survey report follows a well thought out systematic arrangement that smoothly drives you from a wide summary down to your specific recommendations. How it is being written is what determines how it is seen or understood by other people.

The key to writing a good survey is by mastering the art of using simple words to summarize the results of your research. It should also be created using beautiful designs to encourage readers.

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How to Write a Survey Report: 10 Expert Tips

September 28, 2022
Guest Post , Survey Design

Surveys are how we learn what people think, they’re an essential tool for developing an understanding of public opinion and how to take action based on feedback. However, if you don’t fully understand how to analyze and contextualize your survey report your efforts may have been in vain.

In this article, we’ll show you how to make sense of your data by learning how to write a survey report. Being aware of their structure and recommended content is a sure-fire way for you to make sense of your data and present it in a comprehensible fashion.

What is a survey report?

A survey report is a write-up of the results of a survey. It describes the survey, the results obtained, and the patterns and trends that the data reveals.

Create a survey with Shout

How to write a survey report

Here are some tips for the best way to write a survey report. The following guidelines were gladly provided by academic essay experts from SmartWritingService.com ; a professional writing service for college and university students.

1. Use headings and subheadings to break up the report

Using headings and subheadings to break up the report will make it easier to follow and also help your audience to find the information they need quickly and efficiently.

While there is no set list of heading standards for a survey report, you will typically want to identify your executive summary, background, methodology, results, and conclusions. Audiences will expect to be able to find these easily.

Then package all these headings together with their page number to create a table of contents. Making it easy for stakeholders to navigate and reference.

2. Begin with an executive summary

Your report should start with an executive summary that summarizes the entire report in 1-2 pages. The executive summary is a brief breakdown of everything you will cover later in the report.

By the time your audience finishes reading the executive summary, they should be able to predict the content of the entire report. Be sure to include a discussion of your methodology, key findings, and conclusions.

Don’t hold important facts back for the full report just because you think it will entice the reader. Be upfront instead.

3. List your objectives in the background section

Be sure to let the reader know why you conducted the survey. Explain what you hoped to find, the hypotheses that you used to answer the question, and how you envision the results being used in the future.

The goal of this section is to explain the purpose, aims, and limitations of your survey.

Why is this important? Well, the context of a student survey, an employee feedback survey and a net promoter score survey are all entirely different. Each type of survey has different goals and purposes. This section prepares your readers for the context of your own research and helps manage their own expectations.

4. Compare your survey to others

Look for other surveys that have touched on similar areas. How are their results similar or different? What accounts for any differences?

What gaps did you find in prior surveys that your own survey fills? Explain to the audience how past work connects to your own work.

5. Explain how you conducted the survey

The methodology section should give a complete overview of how you conducted the survey.

You need to explain in detail how you:

Developed your questions
Selected a target audience
Distributed your survey questions
Encouraged responses (e.g. offered an incentive)
Plan to analyze data

The more specific you are about your methodology, the better. Ideally, the reader should be able to recreate your entire method just by reading what you’ve written.

There’s also an opportunity here to discuss any response bias your survey may have been exposed to, what measures you took to avoid it and what bias was unavoidable.

6. Don’t put the questions in the methodology

It can be tempting to simply list all of the questions in the methodology section, but that is not where they belong.

Instead, you should place the questions in an appendix as part of a copy of your survey instrument. Typically, this will be Appendix A of your survey report.

7. Separate the results and the analysis

The results of the survey should be reported in their own section. In that section, you will go through the questions, explain the results, and provide an overview of the data you obtained from the survey. It’s a good idea here to include pie charts (and other chart types ) so your readers can easily visualize your results.

While it is tempting to also use this section to tell the audience what the results mean, your data analysis should be placed in its own section so you can separate the factual information from the inferences and conclusions drawn.

8. Identify trends in the results section

The results section should indicate trends in the data, showing the reader what the survey question responses indicate.

For example, are there demographic trends in the data aligned to age, gender, race, or political affiliation? Did some questions receive more uniform answers than others? What might this mean?

When analyzing survey results with Shout, you’ll have access to advanced filter and comparison tools to help you identify patterns and trends in your data.

9. Include recommendations based on survey results

Be sure to explain to the reader what the survey results suggest should be the next step, whether that is a policy change, a change in marketing strategy, or a change in outreach efforts, etc.

Think about your audience and what they need to do based on what you’ve learned. What needs to change? Why should it change?

10. Consider professional writing services

Writing a survey results paper can be challenging, and having a professional help college students like you to write academic papers can make a major difference.

You can find survey report samples and writing examples on the internet. But help from paper writing services allows you to devote energy to developing and conducting your survey, knowing that you’ll be able to offload the report write-up to an expert custom writing service.

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How to Write a Survey Report

Learn how to write a survey report with these essential tips.

In this post

1 . Understanding Survey Reports: A Comprehensive Guide
2 . Analysing Survey Data: Tips and Tricks
3 . Conclusion

Running a survey is an excellent way to gather information about your target audience and gain insights into their needs, preferences, and behaviours. However, it's not enough to just conduct a survey; you must also know how to interpret and present the results effectively. In this article, we will take you through ten essential steps for writing a comprehensive survey report that provides valuable insights and helps you make informed business decisions. Let's dive in!

Understanding Survey Reports: A Comprehensive Guide

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of report writing, it's crucial to understand what survey reports are, why they're important, and what they should contain. A survey report is a comprehensive summary of the data and insights gathered from a survey. It provides an in-depth analysis of the survey results, including key metrics, trends, patterns, and recommendations for action.

Survey reports are essential for businesses and organizations that want to understand their audience's opinions, behaviours, and preferences. They can help identify areas for improvement, measure customer satisfaction, and inform decision-making. Without survey reports, businesses may miss out on critical insights that could impact their success.

Key Metrics to Look for in a Survey Report

When analyzing survey results, it's essential to identify the key metrics that reveal the most valuable insights. Some of the critical metrics to look for include:

Response rate: This metric indicates the percentage of people who responded to the survey. A high response rate is generally desirable, as it means that the results are more representative of the target audience.
Average time to complete the survey: This metric provides insight into how long it took respondents to complete the survey. A longer completion time may indicate that the survey was too long or confusing.
Distribution of responses by question and answer: This metric shows how respondents answered each question and can help identify patterns and trends.
Net promoter score (NPS): This metric measures how likely respondents are to recommend a product or service to others. A high NPS is generally desirable, as it indicates that respondents are satisfied and willing to promote the business.
Customer satisfaction score (CSAT): This metric measures how satisfied respondents are with a product or service. A high CSAT is generally desirable, as it indicates that respondents are happy with the business.
Conversion rate: This metric measures how many respondents took a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. A high conversion rate is generally desirable, as it indicates that respondents are engaged and interested in the business.

By focusing on these metrics, you can gain a better understanding of your audience's opinions, behaviors, and preferences, and how they relate to your business goals.

How to Interpret Survey Results

Interpreting survey results is where the fun begins! It allows you to draw insights and trends from the data and use them to make informed decisions. Here are a few tips for interpreting survey results:

Look for patterns and trends across multiple questions or groups. By examining the data in different ways, you can identify insights that may not be immediately apparent.
Compare the responses of different segments of respondents, such as age or gender groups. This can help identify differences in opinions or behaviors that may be relevant to your business.
Focus on the responses to open-ended questions, where respondents can provide more detailed feedback. This can provide valuable insights into the reasons behind respondents' opinions and behaviors.
Look for outliers or unexpected responses that may indicate an issue or opportunity. These responses can provide valuable insights into areas that may need further investigation or improvement.

By following these tips, you can turn raw survey data into insights that are actionable and meaningful for your business.

Best Practices for Presenting Survey Data

Now that you have analysed and interpreted your survey results, it's time to present them in a way that effectively communicates the insights to your audience. Here are some best practices for presenting survey data:

Use charts and graphs to visualise the data and make it easier to understand. This can help identify patterns and trends more easily than raw data.
Keep the design and layout clean and simple. A cluttered or confusing report can make it difficult for readers to understand the insights.
Include a summary of the key findings at the beginning of the report. This can help readers quickly understand the most important insights.
Make sure that the report is easy to navigate by using clear headings and subheadings. This can help readers find the information they need more easily.
Provide context by explaining the survey methodology, objectives, and limitations. This can help readers understand the survey's purpose and how the insights should be interpreted.

By following these best practices, you can ensure that your survey report is engaging and informative, and that the insights are communicated effectively.

Analysing Survey Data: Tips and Tricks

Once you have gathered the survey data, the next step is to analyze it in a way that provides meaningful insights. Here are some tips and tricks for analyzing survey data effectively:

Identifying Trends and Patterns in Survey Responses

When analyzing survey data, it's crucial to identify trends and patterns in the responses. This can help you understand how your audience thinks and behaves, and what factors influence their decisions. You can use tools like Excel or Google Sheets to create charts and graphs that visualise the data and make it easier to identify trends.

Using Survey Data to Make Informed Business Decisions

The ultimate goal of conducting a survey is to gather insights that can inform your business decisions. By analyzing the survey data and identifying trends and patterns, you can make informed decisions about product development, marketing strategies, and customer service initiatives, among other things.

Writing a comprehensive survey report is a vital step in gaining insights into your target audience and making informed business decisions. By following the ten steps outlined in this article, you can create a survey report that provides meaningful insights, communicates them effectively, and drives action. Use these tips and tricks to create a killer survey report and take your business to the next level!

How to code survey data: a step-by-step guide, how to analyse survey data: a step-by-step guide, create your own website surveys with tinysurvey.

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How To Create A Survey Report? Complete Guide (2024)

A survey report is a specialized form of research report, which contains information about a particular topic. In this case, that topic is usually the opinions of people on a particular situation or product.

It’s important to make a survey report after completing the survey process. It helps in understanding the results better and helps in analyzing further insight with data.

We’ll help you learn how to create an effective survey and then how to analyze your present results and write a proper report that provides value for your readers!

How to write a survey report? That’s what this guide is all about.

Table of contents (Top 10)

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What Is A Survey Report And How To Write It?

A survey report is the most important document of a survey process, as it summarizes the findings of a survey.

The report will be used to inform stakeholders about the survey results.

This document is created by a surveyor who analyzes data and writes it in a structured format. It gives readers an easy way to understand what was done, what was found out, and how they can use this information.

A good example of how these elements are explained in reports:

What was done? The research question was answered using (methods).
What did we find out? We found that X percent of respondents agreed with Y statement/question/finding.

Steps For Creating A Survey Report

Step 1. create a questionnaire.

A survey questionnaire is an instrument that you can use to collect data from your respondents and is considered a prominent sign of conducting a good survey report.

This step consists of a list of questions, which you ask your respondents to answer.

A survey report is made up of the results of this process, so it contains all the answers to the questions in your questionnaire.

In this procedure, we will be going over three things: how to create a questionnaire for your survey report; what types of questions are appropriate for questionnaires; and how to format those questions in order for them to appear correctly.

Step 2. Collect Data / Receive Responses

After you have an idea of what information you want to collect and how much time you have to collect it, it’s time to start the process of gathering data.

Depending on your research question, there are many different ways in which you can collect and present data. Being a researcher, it might be as simple as asking participants about their thoughts on a certain topic or something more complex like gathering sales data from each business in your area.

You should also consider how long it will take for people to respond back with their answers. Are they going to need something like a survey link sent out via email? Or would they rather fill out a questionnaire at home?

In most cases, it’s best not to rush through this step because having too many responses come back late can lead them to be useless (or worse).

Step 3. Analyze And Interpret Data

Analyze the data. When you understand the collected data, you can analyze it. The first step to analyzing your survey results is looking at them. Look at all of your numbers, charts, graphs, and tables.

Take a look at each one individually as well as in comparison with others like it (ex: If there are multiple graphs showing different demographic data points on one graph). This can also be done through an online survey .

Interpret the data. Now that you have analyzed all of your graphs, charts, and tables for yourself, interpret what they mean for you personally or for your organization. This might not be easy so don’t rush this step!

Step 4. Filter Data

Once you’ve filtered the data, you can use it to create charts and graphs to illustrate your findings.

Filter data based on your survey questions

The more specific your questions are, the better your results will be. The reason is, in your own survey report, you’re using completely analyzed data.

For example, if you ask people if they like chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream, then you identify only two options: yes or no.

But if you ask them what their favorite type of ice cream is and give them a list of choices (chocolate and vanilla), then their answers will be more detailed and useful for analysis purposes.

Filter data based on survey responses

Consider a situation where someone responds “no” to the question “Do you like chocolate?”. If the same person in the past indicated that they would never eat chocolate for whatever reason, then they should be excluded from all chocolate related surveys.

Obviously this example is very specific. Who doesn’t like chocolate after all! But hopefully it illustrates why it’s important to filter who we send surveys to based on past responses.

sample size, most respondents, pie chart

Tips For Creating An Effective Survey Report

1. start with an introduction.

Before you start writing your report, it’s important to think about how you want the audience to feel when they read it.

Is your goal to inform them? Or do you want them to be motivated by your results?

Depending on the type of survey, there are many different ways that you could write a conclusion section. If you’re writing a long paper or report (like this one), make sure that the reader is engaged throughout with clear headings and subheadings that make sense for each section and better understanding.

In particular, try not to leave any unanswered questions in their minds as they finish reading yours!

2. Use Visualizations

Effective visualization can help you make sense of demographic data.

It is a great way to show your target audience how they see the results and how they can interpret them.

Visualization helps you make decisions based on what you know about your target audience, their needs, and their preferences.

Visualization makes it easier for you to understand how people are responding, and what decisions they are making or not making based on their responses to questions in an effective survey or poll.

The benefits of using visualizations include:

Making better decisions;
Helping others who may be involved in decision-making processes understand data better; and
Providing a more accurate picture of what customers really think about products or services.

3. Focus On Key Facts First

A report can be a bit overwhelming if you have too much information to sift through. The best way to organize your data is by focusing on the key facts first.

This will make it easier for people who are not familiar with your business or industry to understand what you’re aiming for and how they can benefit from it.

Make sure that all-important findings are included in the report, but don’t include any unnecessary details or information that isn’t needed for understanding where you’re going. Additionally, start from a legit survey platform to generate a good survey report.

4. Categorize Results

To help you make data-driven decisions, it’s important to group the results into categories.

This will allow you to use the results and make recommendations, decisions, changes, and improvements based on the detailed information gathered through your survey.

For example: If you have a loyalty program for your customers to sign up for and receive discounts over time, after surveying them about what they like about your company and services/products, etc., you can categorize their responses into different categories such as “Products offered” or “Service quality” etc.

5. Summarize Your Findings

Once you’ve completed the previous steps, it’s time to summarize your findings.

Summarize the main points of your report in a few sentences and provide an executive summary of your results (i.e., how many people participated, what they had to say).

You can also use this section to provide a summary of any recommendations you made or conclusions you came to based on your data analysis.

6. Integrate Company Branding

Now that you have a well-designed report, it’s time to add some finishing touches.

You should use the company branding in your report. This includes using the logo, color scheme, fonts, and tagline in your report.
You can also add contact information for your company such as email address or phone number if you want to make it easy for people who have questions about your product to get in touch with you.
You should also consider adding social media handles for both business accounts and personal accounts (if any) so that people can connect with you on those platforms as well.

other researchers, standard organization, most respondents

Types Of Survey Report

A survey report is a written document that is prepared after conducting a survey. It is written to summarize the findings of the survey and inform readers about the results of the survey.

Reports can be categorized into three types:

1. Meeting Survey Report

The meeting report is a type of business report that is prepared to provide a summary of the meeting held by the organization.

It is prepared by the meeting organizers and is presented to the participants of the meeting. Its purpose is to show what was discussed in detail during meetings, as well as how decisions were made and approved.

This report can also be used to summarize data from surveys taken during meetings, so it gives readers a sense of what everyone’s opinion was on certain topics at hand, which may not have been expressed outwardly because they were too shy or afraid that their opinions would not be well received by others present at said event (such as work conferences).

The Meeting Reports should begin with an introduction paragraph explaining why such information needs to be reported upon more often than not when talking about this kind

2. Student Survey Report

A student survey report is used to assess the students’ behavior and attitude. It is also used to improve the quality of education, learning environment, teaching and learning process, and management of school/college. It is one of the widely used survey report examples.

Student survey reports can be made by sending a questionnaire to all students or some selected students based on their age group or class level or gender etc., This can also be taken as a good feedback report to further use for improvements.

The information collected from such questionnaires will give us an idea about their perception of different aspects related to their education such as –

How much do they like to study?
Are they happy with their teachers?
Do they feel comfortable in the classroom environment?

The respondents answers will help us in improving our educational system.

3. Global Survey Report

A global survey reporting is one of the long-form survey report examples that is conducted on a large scale to collect data from a large number of people from different regions and countries.

A global survey report is conducted by a market research company, which will ask you questions about your demographic profile, what type of products or services you use, and how much money you spend on these items.

The market research company will then compile all the information provided by participants into one report for companies who want this information.

This type of report can be very useful if you are trying to determine whether there is demand for your product in different countries around the world.

The results may also help show where additional resources should be allocated if there isn’t enough demand within certain regions or countries.

4. IT Leadership Survey Report

An IT leadership survey report is a survey report example that collects information from IT leaders about their organization.

It can be used to evaluate the performance of IT leaders, and measure the success of the IT leadership and improve it, improve IT leadership development.

This report is usually prepared either on a regular basis or whenever there has been a change in leadership or if something significant has happened within the department.

5. Academic Survey Report

Among the survey report examples, an academic survey report is a document that contains the results of a survey. It usually involves a few questions, which are answered by people who have taken part in the survey and it’s generally used to find out more about something.

So how do you create an academic survey report?

To create an academic survey report, you need to have some basic knowledge of how surveys work, who they’re directed at, and what they should contain.

You also need some writing skills so that you can put together all your findings into a coherent document.

If all this sounds good but is too much for you right now – we’ve got your back! Just keep reading this guide (and don’t forget about our free templates!)

What Are Some Good Topics For Survey Report?

There are many topics that you can cover in a survey report. You can give your suggestions, views, and opinions on certain situations or topics with the help of a survey. Here are some good topics for creating a survey report:

How do you feel about the new tax laws? (e.g. Do you think that the changes made by the government are good or bad?)
Do you think it is important to have extra funds saved for emergencies? Why or why not?
What would be your dream vacation spot? (e.g. Where would you like to go if there were no limitations?)

How To Run A Survey?

A survey is a formal way of collecting information from a group of people. It can be used for market research, market analysis, product development, customer satisfaction, or to analyze data.

Surveys can be used to ask questions about the products and services offered by your company or other companies in your industry to determine what customers like and dislike about them.

The data collected through professional surveys can also be used to determine the effectiveness of advertising campaigns or sales promotions.

When conducting surveys you should always keep in mind that the responses provided are based on the perception of each individual respondent at that particular time and place and not necessarily on facts or reality (i.e. correctness).

How Many Questions Are To Be Included In A Survey Report?

The number of questions to be included in a survey report depends on the purpose of the survey.

If you want to know about target population satisfaction, you need to ask more questions to get more data. This is considered a good practice to adopt in the professional work environment.

There are many factors that determine how many questions should be asked in a survey statement.

For example, if you want to get an accurate representation of your customers’ needs then you need to ask them several questions related to their preferences, requirements, and expectations of your service or product, using a logical survey platform.

Similarly, if you are going to run market research on any topic then it would be better if there were 10-20 open-ended questions along with some multiple-choice questionnaires which will help you in understanding various aspects of your business better by collecting data from different perspectives and angles as well

How To Analyze Survey Reports?

Once you have the results of your survey reports, it’s time to analyze them. This is a crucial step and will help you understand how your surveys are working and what changes need to be made.

Analyze the results to identify patterns and trends: You can analyze the data in several ways depending on what you’re looking for. If you want to identify any patterns or trends among your respondents, look at their answers to different questions on the same topic.
Compare the results with previous surveys: Compare this year’s survey results with last year’s so that you can see whether there are any changes over time in how people feel about certain topics or issues (such as customer satisfaction).

What things should I know before conducting a survey for reporting?

Knowing how to conduct a survey is essential if you want to report on survey findings. Here are some things you should know before conducting one:

Methods you use to collect data

You have a choice between online and offline modes of data collection, but an online survey tend to be more popular among researchers because the surveys can be completed quickly and easily. The process to store and export data becomes more convenient with online data collection. The downside is that they may not be as accurate as those collected offline.

Fatigue from surveying

Survey fatigue occurs when respondents are asked to complete too many surveys in a row. If this happens, they may become irritated or bored, leading them to give less-than-accurate answers or even abandon the survey altogether. This can lead to inaccuracies in your results.

Wording of Survey Questions

Before you write a survey report, make sure the questions are clear and easy for respondents to understand. This will increase the accuracy of their answers.

Doing surveys have become a necessity in the modern world. A survey is conducted to collect a particular research objective manner, thoughts, and responses from a certain group of people. They are used for many purposes such as market research, getting academic feedback, and even personal perspectives.

These survey reports will help you make a more accurate and informative report. Surveys provide a lot of information that can be used to make important decisions, therefore, it is important to create a well-written survey report suggested in this article.

If you are planning on creating a survey report, then the tips mentioned above will help you draft an effective one.

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Opinion Stage » survey » How to Make a Survey

How to Conduct a Survey in 5 Simple Steps

Online surveys are a great way for you to really get to know your audience and reach useful insights. They can also be a meaningful experience for respondents. After all, when someone sends you a survey, they’re essentially telling you that your opinion matters, that you matter.

This article will teach you how to make a survey that is both effective and enjoyable. It will also give you the survey maker , tools, and knowledge you need to do it easily.

These are the five steps we’re going to take together:

Step 1: Make a plan

Step 2: Build your survey

Step 3: Test and iterate

Step 4: Share your survey

Step 5: Present the results

But before we get to the how let’s take a quick look at the what and the why .

A Quick and Simple Definition of a Survey

So, a survey is a question-based research method used for collecting data from a predefined group of people. Sounds dry and academic, but it’s not! In fact, if built correctly, a survey can be a profound and enjoyable conversation with your target audience.

There are many different types of surveys , satisfaction surveys, feedback surveys, and market research surveys, just to name a few. But they all have the same building blocks: questions that are designed to retrieve unbiased data, so that you, the surveyor, can collect this data, analyze it, and learn from the results.

Surveys can be conducted as personal interviews, or they can be sent to participants to fill out independently. In this article, we will focus on online surveys – a world of endless possibilities and opportunities.

Try this survey

Collect valuable data.

Surveys give you access to direct and specific information from people who matter to you. As such, they can tell you a lot about what you are doing right, what you need to improve, and where you need to focus your attention.

Learn About Your Audience

Surveys teach you about your audience . They show you who they are, what makes them tick, and how they see the slice of the world that is relevant to you.

Create Unique Content

Surveys provide unique and valuable material for rich content. In fact, in many cases, the results can be as fascinating to your audience as they are to you.

Build Strong Relationships

Whether you aim to generate leads, raise awareness, or simply retrieve data, once the survey is done, you and your audience have gone through something together. After all, you’ve shown interest in them and they’ve gotten involved – you can build on that.

Building a good survey is a process. So, here’s a step-by-step guide that will help you do it right:

Step 1: Make a Plan

Set your goal.

Define your motivation. In other words, what inspired you to conduct a survey? And what do you want to know and why? The answers to these questions will influence what you ask, who you ask, and how you ask it.

Define Your Target Audience

Who are the people you want to hear from? And what do you already know about them? Find out everything you can: where they hang out online and when, what interests them, which causes are closest to their hearts, and what cultural references could be relevant to them. This will influence your tone of voice, design, sharing strategy, and incentive plan.

Figure Out Your Sample Size

The sample size is the number of people who need to answer your survey in order for the results to be meaningful. In other words, how many members of your target audience do you need to reach to be sure your survey results accurately represent your entire audience?

Population size – how many people belong to the group you want to learn about? For example, if your target audience is 40-44-year-olds in the US, your population size would be roughly 20 million.
Confidence level – how many times would you get the same answers if you conducted your survey multiple times? The most commonly used confidence level is 95%. It’s also the industry standard.
Margin of error – how different will the results you get be from the results you would get from your entire audience? Up to a certain point, your margin of error will shrink as your sample group grows. For instance, if you’re surveying around 50 people, your margin of error will be about 14%, but if you have 1000 respondents, your margin of error will be roughly 3%.

Here’s a calculator you can use to determine your ideal sample size.

Find the Right Time

When is the right time to launch your survey and for how long should it run? Well, once you know who your audience is, and how many of them you need to reach, you can determine the timing quite easily. You should also consider the context of your survey. For example, if it’s about Christmas gifts, your response rate will be higher during the holiday season.

Step 2: Build Your Survey

Now that you have a clear picture of your goals and audience you can start building your survey. There are many different types of survey questions one can ask: open-ended questions, multiple-choice questions, yes/no questions, rating scale questions, and more. Different questions suit different topics, needs, and audiences. Following are a few tips to keep in mind:

Short surveys have a greater chance of being completed. So, ask only what you really need to know.

Confusion leads to frustration, which leads to drop-offs. So, keep your questions short, simple, and clear. Additionally, build your survey gradually, starting with the easiest questions and building up to the more complex ones.

People will stay with you if they’re having fun. So, consider your audience’s convenience and be friendly. You can also make your survey beautiful by using cool and relevant images and color schemes. We’ve created dozens of survey templates that can help you get started.

Be Respectful

If built correctly, a survey can feel like a personal conversation. So, use skip logic to direct respondents through different question paths based on their answers. In addition, make sure you’re not asking any redundant questions, and that there are no gaps or overlaps in your structure. It’s worth the effort.

If it makes sense in the context of your survey, take your relationship with your audience to the next level by adding a lead generation form .

Build an online survey in minutes

Step 3: Test and Iterate

Once you’ve built your survey, you may want to test it on a small sample of your target audience. You can use our visual analytics dashboard to see what works and what doesn’t. This will give you an opportunity to make some improvements before launching.

You could, for example, check how many people opened it, where they dropped off, and how long the process took them. As a result, you may find there are questions that could be made clearer or shorter. Ask yourself whether there is anything you should leave out, if you should add some images, or rearrange the order.

Step 4: Share Your Survey

Now that your survey is ready, it’s time to share it. At this point, you should remind yourself who you’re dealing with. To do so, go back to your goals, sample size, and most importantly your target audience. Where would you have the greatest chances of getting their attention?

The options are endless. For example, you can make it a landing page survey , a Facebook survey , or a WhatsApp survey , share a link to it on social media, invite people to your personal survey page on our site, or embed the survey on your website.

The fact that you can receive live updates makes it easy to follow the response rate because you can see early on if your sharing strategy is working. If not, don’t panic, just try a new channel or a different time. You’ll figure it out eventually.

You may want to incentivize your audience to participate in the survey. In some cases, your mere interest in their opinion is enough of an incentive. But sometimes, offering a giveaway or the opportunity to participate in a prize-bearing competition can go a long way.

You could also promise to share the results and conclusions with your respondents before you make them public. Be creative, just make sure that the incentive doesn’t create bias. That would be counterproductive…

Step 5: Present the Results

You’ve done it! You know how to conduct a survey. Your questions are out there and people are responding. At this point, you’ve probably clicked the refresh button on your survey dashboard a hundred times, getting a rush of adrenalin whenever an answer comes in.

Once you reach your full sample group – and you will – it’s time to put on your investigator’s cap and look at the data you have collected:

Check Your Goals

Go back to your goals and motivations in order to recall why you decided to ask what you asked.

Examine the Data

Analyze your visual dashboard for different perspectives on the results. As you’ll see, there are loads of visualizations there to learn from.

Reach Insights

What have you learned from your survey? Do you have any new questions to ask or action items to implement? Formulate your conclusions based on the data, and apply or report them internally.

Get Creative

You can tell so many captivating stories with data. Use your insights and data visualizations to create rich, original, and useful content based on the results.

Every End Is Also a Beginning

Now that you have successfully concluded your survey you can start on an even more challenging and fascinating journey – implementing all the insights you have collected.

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How to create an effective survey in 15 simple tips

Updated August 15, 2023

You don’t have to be an expert to create a survey, but by following a few survey best practices you can make sure you’re collecting the best data possible.

Access 50+ expert-designed survey templates with a free Qualtrics Surveys account

From working out what you want to achieve to providing incentives for respondents, survey design can take time.

But when you don’t have hours to devote to becoming a survey-creation guru, a quick guide to the essentials is a great way to get started.

In this article, we’re going to reveal how to create a survey that’s easy to complete, encourages collecting feedback, hits the research questions you’re interested in, and produces data that’s easy to work with at the analysis stage .

15 Tips when creating surveys

1. define the purpose of the survey.

Before you even think about your survey questions , you need to define their purpose.

The survey’s purpose should be a clear, attainable, and relevant goal. For example, you might want to understand why customer engagement is dropping off during the middle of the sales process.

Your goal could then be something like: “I want to understand the key factors that cause engagement to dip at the middle of the sales process, including both internal and external elements.”

Or maybe you want to understand customer satisfaction post-sale. If so, the goal of your survey could be: “I want to understand how customer satisfaction is influenced by customer service and support post-sale, including through online and offline channels.”

The idea is to come up with a specific, measurable, and relevant goal for your survey. This way you ensure that your questions are tailored to what you want to achieve and that the data captured can be compared against your goal.

2. Make every question count

You’re building your survey questionnaire to obtain important insights, so every question should play a direct role in hitting that target.

Make sure each question adds value and drives survey responses that relate directly to your research goals. For example, if your participant’s precise age or home state is relevant to your results, go ahead and ask. If not, save yourself and your respondents some time and skip it.

It’s best to plan your survey by first identifying the data you need to collect and then writing your questions.

You can also incorporate multiple-choice questions to get a range of responses that provide more detail than a solid yes or no. It’s not always black and white.

For a deeper dive into the art and science of question-writing and survey best practices, check out Survey questions 101 .

3. Keep it short and simple

Although you may be deeply committed to your survey, the chances are that your respondents... aren’t.

As a survey designer, a big part of your job is keeping their attention and making sure they stay focused until the end of the survey.

Respondents are less likely to complete long surveys or surveys that bounce around haphazardly from topic to topic. Make sure your survey follows a logical order and takes a reasonable amount of time to complete.

Although they don’t need to know everything about your research project, it can help to let respondents know why you’re asking about a certain topic. Knowing the basics about who you are and what you’re researching means they’re more likely to keep their responses focused and in scope.

Access 50+ expert-designed survey templates now

4. Ask direct questions

Vaguely worded survey questions confuse respondents and make your resulting data less useful. Be as specific as possible, and strive for clear and precise language that will make your survey questions easy to answer.

It can be helpful to mention a specific situation or behavior rather than a general tendency. That way you focus the respondent on the facts of their life rather than asking them to consider abstract beliefs or ideas .

See an example:

Good survey design isn’t just about getting the information you need, but also encouraging respondents to think in different ways.

Get access to the top downloaded survey templates here

5. Ask one question at a time

Although it’s important to keep your survey as short and sweet as possible, that doesn’t mean doubling up on questions. Trying to pack too much into a single question can lead to confusion and inaccuracies in the responses.

Take a closer look at questions in your survey that contain the word “and” – it can be a red flag that your question has two parts. For example: “Which of these cell phone service providers has the best customer support and reliability?” This is problematic because a respondent may feel that one service is more reliable, but another has better customer support.

Also, if you want to go beyond surveys and develop a multi-faceted listening approach to drive meaningful change and glean actionable insights, make sure to download our guide .

6. Avoid leading and biased questions

Although you don’t intend them to, certain words and phrases can introduce bias into your questions or point the respondent in the direction of a particular answer.

As a rule of thumb, when you conduct a survey it’s best to provide only as much wording as a respondent needs to give an informed answer. Keep your question wording focused on the respondent and their opinions, rather than introducing anything that could be construed as a point of view of your own.

In particular, scrutinize adjectives and adverbs in your questions. If they’re not needed, take them out.

7. Speak your respondent's language

This tip goes hand in hand with many others in this guide – it’s about making language only as complex or as detailed as it needs to be when conducting great surveys.

Create surveys that use language and terminology that your respondents will understand. Keep the language as plain as possible, avoid technical jargon and keep sentences short. However, beware of oversimplifying a question to the point that its meaning changes.

8. Use response scales whenever possible

Response scales capture the direction and intensity of attitudes, providing rich data. In contrast, categorical or binary response options, such as true/false or yes/no response options, generally produce less informative data.

If you’re in the position of choosing between the two, the response scale is likely to be the better option.

Avoid using scales that ask your target audience to agree or disagree with statements, however. Some people are biased toward agreeing with statements , and this can result in invalid and unreliable data.

9. Avoid using grids or matrices for responses

Grids or matrices of answers demand a lot more thinking from your respondent than a scale or multiple choice question. They need to understand and weigh up multiple items at once, and oftentimes they don’t fill in grids accurately or according to their true feelings .

Another pitfall to be aware of is that grid question types aren’t mobile-friendly. It’s better to separate questions with grid responses into multiple questions in your survey with a different structure such as a response scale.

See an example using our survey tool:

10. Rephrase yes/no questions if possible in online survyes

As we’ve described, yes/no questions provide less detailed data than a response scale or multiple-choice, since they only yield one of two possible answers.

Many yes/no questions can be reworked by including phrases such as “How much,” “How often,” or “How likely.” Make this change whenever possible and include a response scale for richer data.

By rephrasing your questions in this way, your survey results will be far more comprehensive and representative of how your respondents feel.

Next? Find out how to write great questions .

11. Start with the straightforward stuff

Ease your respondent into the survey by asking easy questions at the start of your questionnaire, then moving on to more complex or thought-provoking elements once they’re engaged in the process.

This is especially valuable if you need to cover any potentially sensitive topics in your survey. Never put sensitive questions at the start of the questionnaire where they’re more likely to feel off-putting.

Your respondent will probably become more prone to fatigue and distraction towards the end of the survey, so keep your most complex or contentious questions in the middle of the survey flow rather than saving them until last.

12. Use unbalanced scales with care

Unbalanced response scales and poorly worded questions can mislead respondents.

For example, if you’ve asked them to rate a product or service and you provide a scale that includes “poor”, “satisfactory”, “good” and “excellent”, they could be swayed towards the “excellent” end of the scale because there are more positive options available.

Make sure your response scales have a definitive, neutral midpoint (aim for odd numbers of possible responses) and that they cover the whole range of possible reactions to the question .

13. Consider adding incentives

To increase the number of responses, incentives — discounts, offers, gift cards, or sweepstakes — can prove helpful.

Of course, while the benefits of offering incentives sound appealing (more respondents), there’s the possibility of attracting the opinions of the wrong audiences, such as those who are only in it for the incentive.

With this in mind, make sure you limit your surveys to your target population and carefully assess which incentives would be most valuable to them.

14. Take your survey for a test drive

Want to know how to make a survey a potential disaster? Send it out before you pre-test .

However short or straightforward your questionnaire is, it’s always a good idea to pre-test your survey before you roll it out fully so that you can catch any possible errors before they have a chance to mess up your survey results.

Share your survey with at least five people, so that they can test your survey to help you catch and correct problems before you distribute it.

15. Let us help you

Survey design doesn’t have to be difficult — even less so with the right expertise, digital solutions, and survey templates.

At Qualtrics, we provide survey software that’s used by more than 11,000 of the top brands and 99 of the top business schools worldwide.

Furthermore, we have a library of high-quality, ready-to-use, and easy-to-configure survey templates that can improve your surveys significantly.

You can check out our template marketplace here . As a free or existing customer, you have access to the complete collection and can filter by the core experiences you want to drive.

As for our survey software , it’s completely free to use and powers more than 1 billion surveys a year. Using it, you can get answers to your most important brand, market, customer, and product questions, build your own surveys, get insights from your audience wherever they are, and much, much more.

If you want to learn more about how to use our survey tool to create a survey, as well as what else it can do — check out our blog on how to create a free online survey using Qualtrics .

See instant results with our online free survey maker

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Methodology

Questionnaire Design | Methods, Question Types & Examples

Questionnaire Design | Methods, Question Types & Examples

Published on July 15, 2021 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on June 22, 2023.

A questionnaire is a list of questions or items used to gather data from respondents about their attitudes, experiences, or opinions. Questionnaires can be used to collect quantitative and/or qualitative information.

Questionnaires are commonly used in market research as well as in the social and health sciences. For example, a company may ask for feedback about a recent customer service experience, or psychology researchers may investigate health risk perceptions using questionnaires.

Questionnaires vs. surveys, questionnaire methods, open-ended vs. closed-ended questions, question wording, question order, step-by-step guide to design, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about questionnaire design.

A survey is a research method where you collect and analyze data from a group of people. A questionnaire is a specific tool or instrument for collecting the data.

Designing a questionnaire means creating valid and reliable questions that address your research objectives , placing them in a useful order, and selecting an appropriate method for administration.

But designing a questionnaire is only one component of survey research. Survey research also involves defining the population you’re interested in, choosing an appropriate sampling method , administering questionnaires, data cleansing and analysis, and interpretation.

Sampling is important in survey research because you’ll often aim to generalize your results to the population. Gather data from a sample that represents the range of views in the population for externally valid results. There will always be some differences between the population and the sample, but minimizing these will help you avoid several types of research bias , including sampling bias , ascertainment bias , and undercoverage bias .

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Questionnaires can be self-administered or researcher-administered . Self-administered questionnaires are more common because they are easy to implement and inexpensive, but researcher-administered questionnaires allow deeper insights.

Self-administered questionnaires

Self-administered questionnaires can be delivered online or in paper-and-pen formats, in person or through mail. All questions are standardized so that all respondents receive the same questions with identical wording.

Self-administered questionnaires can be:

cost-effective
easy to administer for small and large groups
anonymous and suitable for sensitive topics

But they may also be:

unsuitable for people with limited literacy or verbal skills
susceptible to a nonresponse bias (most people invited may not complete the questionnaire)
biased towards people who volunteer because impersonal survey requests often go ignored.

Researcher-administered questionnaires

Researcher-administered questionnaires are interviews that take place by phone, in-person, or online between researchers and respondents.

Researcher-administered questionnaires can:

help you ensure the respondents are representative of your target audience
allow clarifications of ambiguous or unclear questions and answers
have high response rates because it’s harder to refuse an interview when personal attention is given to respondents

But researcher-administered questionnaires can be limiting in terms of resources. They are:

costly and time-consuming to perform
more difficult to analyze if you have qualitative responses
likely to contain experimenter bias or demand characteristics
likely to encourage social desirability bias in responses because of a lack of anonymity

Your questionnaire can include open-ended or closed-ended questions or a combination of both.

Using closed-ended questions limits your responses, while open-ended questions enable a broad range of answers. You’ll need to balance these considerations with your available time and resources.

Closed-ended questions

Closed-ended, or restricted-choice, questions offer respondents a fixed set of choices to select from. Closed-ended questions are best for collecting data on categorical or quantitative variables.

Categorical variables can be nominal or ordinal. Quantitative variables can be interval or ratio. Understanding the type of variable and level of measurement means you can perform appropriate statistical analyses for generalizable results.

Examples of closed-ended questions for different variables

Nominal variables include categories that can’t be ranked, such as race or ethnicity. This includes binary or dichotomous categories.

It’s best to include categories that cover all possible answers and are mutually exclusive. There should be no overlap between response items.

In binary or dichotomous questions, you’ll give respondents only two options to choose from.

White Black or African American American Indian or Alaska Native Asian Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Ordinal variables include categories that can be ranked. Consider how wide or narrow a range you’ll include in your response items, and their relevance to your respondents.

Likert scale questions collect ordinal data using rating scales with 5 or 7 points.

When you have four or more Likert-type questions, you can treat the composite data as quantitative data on an interval scale . Intelligence tests, psychological scales, and personality inventories use multiple Likert-type questions to collect interval data.

With interval or ratio scales , you can apply strong statistical hypothesis tests to address your research aims.

Pros and cons of closed-ended questions

Well-designed closed-ended questions are easy to understand and can be answered quickly. However, you might still miss important answers that are relevant to respondents. An incomplete set of response items may force some respondents to pick the closest alternative to their true answer. These types of questions may also miss out on valuable detail.

To solve these problems, you can make questions partially closed-ended, and include an open-ended option where respondents can fill in their own answer.

Open-ended questions

Open-ended, or long-form, questions allow respondents to give answers in their own words. Because there are no restrictions on their choices, respondents can answer in ways that researchers may not have otherwise considered. For example, respondents may want to answer “multiracial” for the question on race rather than selecting from a restricted list.

How do you feel about open science?
How would you describe your personality?
In your opinion, what is the biggest obstacle for productivity in remote work?

Open-ended questions have a few downsides.

They require more time and effort from respondents, which may deter them from completing the questionnaire.

For researchers, understanding and summarizing responses to these questions can take a lot of time and resources. You’ll need to develop a systematic coding scheme to categorize answers, and you may also need to involve other researchers in data analysis for high reliability .

Question wording can influence your respondents’ answers, especially if the language is unclear, ambiguous, or biased. Good questions need to be understood by all respondents in the same way ( reliable ) and measure exactly what you’re interested in ( valid ).

Use clear language

You should design questions with your target audience in mind. Consider their familiarity with your questionnaire topics and language and tailor your questions to them.

For readability and clarity, avoid jargon or overly complex language. Don’t use double negatives because they can be harder to understand.

Use balanced framing

Respondents often answer in different ways depending on the question framing. Positive frames are interpreted as more neutral than negative frames and may encourage more socially desirable answers.

Positive frame	Negative frame
Should protests of pandemic-related restrictions be allowed?	Should protests of pandemic-related restrictions be forbidden?

Use a mix of both positive and negative frames to avoid research bias , and ensure that your question wording is balanced wherever possible.

Unbalanced questions focus on only one side of an argument. Respondents may be less likely to oppose the question if it is framed in a particular direction. It’s best practice to provide a counter argument within the question as well.

Unbalanced	Balanced
Do you favor…?	Do you favor or oppose…?
Do you agree that…?	Do you agree or disagree that…?

Avoid leading questions

Leading questions guide respondents towards answering in specific ways, even if that’s not how they truly feel, by explicitly or implicitly providing them with extra information.

It’s best to keep your questions short and specific to your topic of interest.

The average daily work commute in the US takes 54.2 minutes and costs $29 per day. Since 2020, working from home has saved many employees time and money. Do you favor flexible work-from-home policies even after it’s safe to return to offices?
Experts agree that a well-balanced diet provides sufficient vitamins and minerals, and multivitamins and supplements are not necessary or effective. Do you agree or disagree that multivitamins are helpful for balanced nutrition?

Keep your questions focused

Ask about only one idea at a time and avoid double-barreled questions. Double-barreled questions ask about more than one item at a time, which can confuse respondents.

This question could be difficult to answer for respondents who feel strongly about the right to clean drinking water but not high-speed internet. They might only answer about the topic they feel passionate about or provide a neutral answer instead – but neither of these options capture their true answers.

Instead, you should ask two separate questions to gauge respondents’ opinions.

Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

Do you agree or disagree that the government should be responsible for providing high-speed internet to everyone?

You can organize the questions logically, with a clear progression from simple to complex. Alternatively, you can randomize the question order between respondents.

Logical flow

Using a logical flow to your question order means starting with simple questions, such as behavioral or opinion questions, and ending with more complex, sensitive, or controversial questions.

The question order that you use can significantly affect the responses by priming them in specific directions. Question order effects, or context effects, occur when earlier questions influence the responses to later questions, reducing the validity of your questionnaire.

While demographic questions are usually unaffected by order effects, questions about opinions and attitudes are more susceptible to them.

How knowledgeable are you about Joe Biden’s executive orders in his first 100 days?
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Joe Biden is managing the economy?
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president?

It’s important to minimize order effects because they can be a source of systematic error or bias in your study.

Randomization

Randomization involves presenting individual respondents with the same questionnaire but with different question orders.

When you use randomization, order effects will be minimized in your dataset. But a randomized order may also make it harder for respondents to process your questionnaire. Some questions may need more cognitive effort, while others are easier to answer, so a random order could require more time or mental capacity for respondents to switch between questions.

Step 1: Define your goals and objectives

The first step of designing a questionnaire is determining your aims.

What topics or experiences are you studying?
What specifically do you want to find out?
Is a self-report questionnaire an appropriate tool for investigating this topic?

Once you’ve specified your research aims, you can operationalize your variables of interest into questionnaire items. Operationalizing concepts means turning them from abstract ideas into concrete measurements. Every question needs to address a defined need and have a clear purpose.

Step 2: Use questions that are suitable for your sample

Create appropriate questions by taking the perspective of your respondents. Consider their language proficiency and available time and energy when designing your questionnaire.

Are the respondents familiar with the language and terms used in your questions?
Would any of the questions insult, confuse, or embarrass them?
Do the response items for any closed-ended questions capture all possible answers?
Are the response items mutually exclusive?
Do the respondents have time to respond to open-ended questions?

Consider all possible options for responses to closed-ended questions. From a respondent’s perspective, a lack of response options reflecting their point of view or true answer may make them feel alienated or excluded. In turn, they’ll become disengaged or inattentive to the rest of the questionnaire.

Step 3: Decide on your questionnaire length and question order

Once you have your questions, make sure that the length and order of your questions are appropriate for your sample.

If respondents are not being incentivized or compensated, keep your questionnaire short and easy to answer. Otherwise, your sample may be biased with only highly motivated respondents completing the questionnaire.

Decide on your question order based on your aims and resources. Use a logical flow if your respondents have limited time or if you cannot randomize questions. Randomizing questions helps you avoid bias, but it can take more complex statistical analysis to interpret your data.

Step 4: Pretest your questionnaire

When you have a complete list of questions, you’ll need to pretest it to make sure what you’re asking is always clear and unambiguous. Pretesting helps you catch any errors or points of confusion before performing your study.

Ask friends, classmates, or members of your target audience to complete your questionnaire using the same method you’ll use for your research. Find out if any questions were particularly difficult to answer or if the directions were unclear or inconsistent, and make changes as necessary.

If you have the resources, running a pilot study will help you test the validity and reliability of your questionnaire. A pilot study is a practice run of the full study, and it includes sampling, data collection , and analysis. You can find out whether your procedures are unfeasible or susceptible to bias and make changes in time, but you can’t test a hypothesis with this type of study because it’s usually statistically underpowered .

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Student’s t -distribution
Normal distribution
Null and Alternative Hypotheses
Chi square tests
Confidence interval
Quartiles & Quantiles
Cluster sampling
Stratified sampling
Data cleansing
Reproducibility vs Replicability
Peer review
Prospective cohort study

Research bias

Implicit bias
Cognitive bias
Placebo effect
Hawthorne effect
Hindsight bias
Affect heuristic
Social desirability bias

A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analyzing data from people using questionnaires.

Closed-ended, or restricted-choice, questions offer respondents a fixed set of choices to select from. These questions are easier to answer quickly.

Open-ended or long-form questions allow respondents to answer in their own words. Because there are no restrictions on their choices, respondents can answer in ways that researchers may not have otherwise considered.

A Likert scale is a rating scale that quantitatively assesses opinions, attitudes, or behaviors. It is made up of 4 or more questions that measure a single attitude or trait when response scores are combined.

To use a Likert scale in a survey , you present participants with Likert-type questions or statements, and a continuum of items, usually with 5 or 7 possible responses, to capture their degree of agreement.

You can organize the questions logically, with a clear progression from simple to complex, or randomly between respondents. A logical flow helps respondents process the questionnaire easier and quicker, but it may lead to bias. Randomization can minimize the bias from order effects.

Questionnaires can be self-administered or researcher-administered.

Researcher-administered questionnaires are interviews that take place by phone, in-person, or online between researchers and respondents. You can gain deeper insights by clarifying questions for respondents or asking follow-up questions.

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How Brainly Powers Viral Marketing with Customer Feedback

You won’t know what your customers think unless you ask.

To make smart business decisions, you need customer feedback . But sometimes, staying in touch with your user base is easier said than done.

For companies with huge international audiences, the process of gathering, sharing, and analyzing feedback needs to be a well-oiled machine ready to operate on a massive scale. When you have millions of customers and opinions to account for, you need larger sample sizes.

At the same time, enterprise-level survey solutions are often a hassle to implement. And that doesn’t help small marketing teams that want to capture opinions about current events.

Those factors led Brainly , the global online learning platform, to turn to Survicate. Our tool lets them set up a multi-team surveying process. The customer data helps every department make more data-driven decisions and learn their audience’s current thoughts and insights.

We talked to Noah Berg, the Outreach Manager at Brainly, about how Survicate surveys help power his company’s marketing strategy. Noah told us:

Why Brainly chose Survicate
How Survicate helps Brainly create viral content (that doubled their blog traffic)
How recurring surveys help them stay on top of user needs

If you’re looking for inspiration on how surveys can power your marketing – read on!

Why Brainly turned to customer feedback surveys

Brainly is the largest online knowledge-sharing community of over 300 million students, parents, and experts. The company has users in over 35 countries, and with the funding of $150M, it’s an indisputable market leader.

Brainly’s staff knew that with a user base that large, they needed to capture feedback efficiently to keep up with their audiences’ needs. The sheer number of visitors going through their page every day made numerical user behavior data insufficient. Brainly needed to know the “why” behind the visitors’ actions to improve their platform, tailor the message to the users, and define their personas .

In the beginning, Brainly looked for a survey software that would let them ask focus groups about new product features . All product improvements at the company are heavily based on the users’ opinions, so collecting their feedback at scale was necessary to grow.

Survicate struck a perfect balance between ease of use and advanced features. The product team at Brainly appreciated the targeted website surveys that made it easier to segment the vast user base.

Soon, other departments realized that they could also use the power of customer feedback. And thanks to the unlimited seats and workspaces that let different teams share the same Survicate account, they quickly got on board.

Survicate: Unlimited users, speed, and reliability

Brainly has been with Survicate since 2015. They have run over 800 surveys and gathered almost two million responses – with an average of a total of 25 790 responses every month.

Currently, ten people at Brainly regularly set up their surveys (with more people being able to access the data). Here are their most common use cases:

The product team uses Survicate to learn more about the motivations behind user behavior, collect feedback on new changes and gather product ideas
The marketing team runs Net Promoter Score surveys to measure the loyalty of different customer segments and identify product issues
The communications team uses surveys to gather data for content used in their PR and marketing campaigns. They also run a recurring “Brainly value” survey to stay on top of their users' opinions and impressions.

But there are more reasons why Brainly has stuck with Survicate for so long than just unlimited users and flexibility.

For Noah’s team, speed is of the essence. They want to capture their audience’s opinion on current events to prepare viral case studies and reports. At the same time, they want to reach as many respondents as possible. And Survicate lets Noah’s team launch website surveys fast and exactly where they want them – without the help of software developers or a dedicated research team.

Other than that, Survicate proved to be reliable and trouble-free. As Noah said:

"Every time I've tried to contact support, it's been very quick. There are no issues nor missing features that I can think of.”

So now that we know why Brainly uses Survicate let’s drill down into the “how.” In this case study, we’ll focus on the two initiatives run by the outreach team: viral content creation and “the value of Brainly” survey.

Free-to-use NPS survey template

Doubling the blog traffic with feedback-fueled reports

Noah noticed the potential of using customer feedback in his content marketing efforts right as he joined Brainly. With the number of students visiting their site every day, missing their feedback would have been a waste:

“When I joined, we were using [Survicate] to take opportunities, like with current events (...), to get some data from students, who are our core user base. We could use it to write interesting research-based articles.”

Survey data has been a starting point for many in-depth reports and infographics on Brainly’s blog. That already guaranteed Brainly the status of industry thought leader and generated steady media buzz around their content.

But Noah quickly understood that their reports needed to become more high-level to go viral. And the more frequently they appear, the more value they bring. Therefore, the surveys needed to be easier to answer so that they could gather a maximum number of responses in a short amount of time.

Noah’s team has gone for concise, close-ended surveys. The feedback they provide lets them quickly report on the most pressing issues.

One of the best examples of such content is Brainly’s report on students’ anxiety about returning to school during the pandemic . In 2021, as schools started reopening in the USA, the topic was on everybody’s lips. The media was full of politicians’, experts’, and teachers’ opinions. Yet one crucial voice was largely missing: the students’. Noah told us:

“Parents and students were really nervous about [going back to school]. And we got very unique insights – the student angle on that (...). The student voice about current events is often tough to get, especially on a mass level. And we were able to get that feedback very quickly, which was really cool. I think that became a theme for that year. Fear was at a high, and education was a huge question mark(...). Journalists and our readers found that really interesting.”

Brainly presented their findings in a report. They decided to share all the survey questions and answers, which resulted in a quick-to-write yet knowledge-packed report.

The report resulted in a boom in blog traffic that surprised the team. According to Noah, they got 1.8x the blog traffic they had expected.

“We got plenty of reactions and conversations (...). That was certainly a big success that people remembered us talking about something important that matters to us.”

But how did Brainly manage to collect so many responses so quickly? It was all thanks to website surveys placed on the right pages.

Instead of limiting the respondents to users who were already signed up to Brainly, the outreach team launched website surveys on their most visited pages. The surveys fit naturally into the visitors' journeys and ensured a high response rate .

Feedback-based content helps Brainly create reports on current events relevant to their user base. This viral content fuels their PR and marketing efforts and creates media buzz around the brand. Survicate’s ease of use helps Noah’s team win the race with time.

Free-to-use content preferences survey template

Finding value proposition and gathering product feedback with “the value of Brainly” survey

Surveys are not just about catching the hottest topics for Brainly’s marketing teams. They also use them to gather feedback from their user base consistently.

As Noah told us, the online education landscape changes all the time. With lots of stakeholders and external factors influencing the niche, you have to keep the dialogue with your audience going to stay on top of their needs. It’s important to adjust buyer personas and value propositions constantly.

Recurring surveys help Brainly make sure their communication strategy is correct and give their audience exactly what they want.

Their biggest recurring survey, which Noah calls “the value of Brainly,” is run every six months and targets about 5.000 sample users (parents and students who are paying subscribers). It helps the marketing team see the subjective value of their products across several life stages of the customer base.

“The value of Brainly” survey starts with multiple-choice questions, such as:

What do you use Brainly for?
When do you use it?
What is Brainly best for?

For each question, there’s an “other” option available. The respondents can type their own answers.

These questions are followed by a series of statements that the respondents have to agree or disagree with (on a 5-point scale ranging from “completely agree” to “completely disagree”).

Here are the examples:

Thanks to Brainly, I’m better prepared for school.
Brainly helps me get higher grades.
Brainly helps me finish my homework faster.

The last question is the open-ended “What is missing from Brainly?”. It lets the respondents freely voice their opinions and ideas.

The survey runs on Brainly’s website, and Noah uses targeting options to make it appear only to the desired audience segment.

The outreach team keeps the questions more or less the same in every survey iteration. It lets them effectively compare results over time.

The survey lets the outreach team:

Understand how different user segments (e.g., parents and students, users on a higher-tier plan, and non-paying users) compare to one another – to improve communication and get ideas for targeted marketing campaigns
Spot the most popular themes among all users to adjust the messaging on their website

As Noah told us:

“Doing homework is the most popular answer for ‘What do you use Brainly for?’ question. And that tells us we have to have a lot of keywords around ‘Homework help.’ It's our headline on our site. There are other things that kids can use us for, but people are sticking to the main use case, which is a good sign that our take on advertising is right. Some other answers, like ‘preparing for tests,’ ‘checking answers to questions,’ ‘learning more about subjects I'm interested in’ (...) are also popular, but not as much as the one that we put the most effort into.”

The recurring surveys also helped Noah’s team collect data points that become value propositions, selling points, or social proof for ad campaigns.

One more benefit comes from “the value of Brainly” survey: ideas for product improvements and new features. According to Noah, the respondents often leave their suggestions in the open-ended question text field. Then, the outreach team passes the insights to the product team.

Overall, “the value of Brainly” survey helps the marketing team connect with their audience and ensure their users get what they need.

Building a data-driven company with Survicate

As Noah told us, Survicate is the marketing team’s main data source.

With Brainly’s huge scale, quantitative data is not enough. To get to know their audience, they needed to know the “why” behind their actions and let them speak in their own voice.

Survicate’s workspace organization and unlimited seats allowed them to overcome the challenge of running large-scale international surveys across different departments. At the same time, the ease of use still let them set up surveys quickly to gather insights about current events.

Brainly first used Survicate to look for product improvements. Still, it turned out the tool can fulfill all their customer feedback needs – measuring NPS, investigating the value of their product, and interviewing the audience for viral reports.

Survicate helped Brainly:

Stay in touch with their user base
Refine their value proposition, as well as the website and ad copy
Double their blog traffic and increase social media hits and mentions
Collect product improvement ideas

Now, it's all about you. Don't miss out on data-driven success - sign up for Survicate today!

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Acknowledgments
The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Americans’ attitudes about U.S. government, such as its size and role.

This report is based primarily on a survey of 8,709 adults, including 7,166 registered voters, from April 8 to 14, 2024. Some of the analysis in this report is based on a survey of 8,638 adults from May 13 to 19, 2024.

Everyone who took part in these surveys is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the questions used for the report and its methodology .

While the economy, immigration and abortion have emerged as major issues in the 2024 election, Joe Biden and Donald Trump also have dramatically different ideas about the size and role of government.

Chart shows Deep divides between Biden and Trump supporters on size, scope of government

These differences reflect decades-old divisions between Democrats and Republicans over the scope of government.

Among registered voters, large majorities of Biden supporters – roughly three-quarters or more – favor a bigger, more activist government.

74% say they would rather have a bigger government providing more services.
76% say government should do more to solve problems.
80% say government aid to the poor “does more good than harm.”

Trump supporters, by comparable margins, take the opposing view on all three questions.

The Pew Research Center survey of 8,709 adults – including 7,166 registered voters – conducted April 8-14, 2024, examines Americans’ views of the role and scope of government , the social safety net and long-term trends in trust in the federal government .

Democratic support for bigger government is little changed in the last five years but remains higher than it was a decade ago. Republicans’ views have shifted less over the last 10 years.

Among all adults, about three-quarters of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents favor a bigger government, up from about six-in-ten in 2014 and 2015. The share of Republicans and Republican leaners who prefer a bigger government has increased only modestly over the same period.

Democratic support for bigger government, while slightly lower than in 2021 (78%), remains at nearly its highest level in five decades. During Bill Clinton’s presidency in the 1990s, fewer than half of Democrats said they preferred a bigger government with more services.

Voters continue to express very different views about government’s role in specific areas than about the government generally.

Chart shows By wide margins, Biden and Trump supporters oppose reducing Social Security benefits

A large majority of voters (80%) – including 82% of Biden supporters and 78% of Trump supporters – say that in thinking about the long-term future of Social Security, benefits should not be reduced in any way.

However, Biden supporters are more likely than Trump supporters to say Social Security should cover more people with greater benefits.

46% of Biden supporters favor expanding Social Security coverage and benefits, compared with 28% of Trump supporters.

Most Americans (65%) continue to say the federal government has a responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage.

Democrats overwhelmingly (88%) say the federal government has this responsibility, compared with 40% of Republicans.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the federal government has a responsibility to ensure health coverage for all

The share of Republicans who say the government has a responsibility to provide health coverage has increased 8 percentage points since 2021, from 32% to 40%.

There are wide income differences among Republicans in opinions about the government’s role in health care:

56% of Republicans with lower family incomes say the government has a responsibility to provide health coverage for all, compared with 36% of those with middle incomes and 29% of higher-income Republicans.

When asked how the government should provide health coverage, 36% of Americans say it should be provided through a single national program, while 28% say it should be through a mix of government and private programs. These views have changed little in recent years.

Democrats continue to be more likely than Republicans to favor a “single payer” government health insurance program (53% vs. 18%).

Other key findings in this report

Americans’ trust in the federal government remains low but has modestly increased since last year. Today, 22% of American adults say they trust the government to do what is right always or most of the time, which is up from 16% in June 2023.
While the public overall is divided over the nation’s ability to solve important problems, young adults are notably pessimistic about the country’s ability to solve problems . About half of Americans (52%) say the U.S. can’t solve many of its important problems, while 47% say it can find a way to solve problems and get what it wants. Roughly six-in-ten adults under age 30 (62%) say the nation can’t solve major problems, the highest share in any age group and 16 points higher than two years ago.

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6 facts about presidential and vice presidential debates, biden, trump are least-liked pair of major party presidential candidates in at least 3 decades, cultural issues and the 2024 election, more than half of americans are following election news closely, and many are already worn out, most popular, report materials.

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If we’re all so busy, why isn’t anything getting done?

Have you ever asked why it’s so difficult to get things done in business today—despite seemingly endless meetings and emails? Why it takes so long to make decisions—and even then not necessarily the right ones? You’re not the first to think there must be a better way. Many organizations address these problems by redesigning boxes and lines: who does what and who reports to whom. This exercise tends to focus almost obsessively on vertical command relationships and rarely solves for what, in our experience, is the underlying disease: the poor design and execution of collaborative interactions.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Aaron De Smet , Caitlin Hewes, Mengwei Luo, J.R. Maxwell , and Patrick Simon , representing views from McKinsey’s People & Organizational Performance Practice.

In our efforts to connect across our organizations, we’re drowning in real-time virtual interaction technology, from Zoom to Slack to Teams, plus group texting, WeChat, WhatsApp, and everything in between. There’s seemingly no excuse to not collaborate. The problem? Interacting is easier than ever, but true, productive, value-creating collaboration is not. And what’s more, where engagement is occurring, its quality is deteriorating. This wastes valuable resources, because every minute spent on a low-value interaction eats into time that could be used for important, creative, and powerful activities.

It’s no wonder a recent McKinsey survey found 80 percent of executives were considering or already implementing changes in meeting structure and cadence in response to the evolution in how people work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, most executives say they frequently find themselves spending way too much time on pointless interactions that drain their energy and produce information overload.

Most executives say they frequently find themselves spending way too much time on pointless interactions.

Three critical collaborative interactions

What can be done? We’ve found it’s possible to quickly improve collaborative interactions by categorizing them by type and making a few shifts accordingly. We’ve observed three broad categories of collaborative interactions (exhibit):

Decision making, including complex or uncertain decisions (for example, investment decisions) and cross-cutting routine decisions (such as quarterly business reviews)
Creative solutions and coordination, including innovation sessions (for example, developing new products) and routine working sessions (such as daily check-ins)
Information sharing, including one-way communication (video, for instance) and two-way communication (such as town halls with Q&As)

Below we describe the key shifts required to improve each category of collaborative interaction, as well as tools you can use to pinpoint problems in the moment and take corrective action.

Decision making: Determining decision rights

When you’re told you’re “responsible” for a decision, does that mean you get to decide? What if you’re told you’re “accountable”? Do you cast the deciding vote, or does the person responsible? What about those who must be “consulted”? Sometimes they are told their input will be reflected in the final answer—can they veto a decision if they feel their input was not fully considered?

It’s no wonder one of the key factors for fast, high-quality decisions is to clarify exactly who makes them. Consider a success story at a renewable-energy company. To foster accountability and transparency, the company developed a 30-minute “role card” conversation for managers to have with their direct reports. As part of this conversation, managers explicitly laid out the decision rights and accountability metrics for each direct report. The result? Role clarity enabled easier navigation for employees, sped up decision making, and resulted in decisions that were much more customer focused.

How to define decision rights

We recommend a simple yet comprehensive approach for defining decision rights. We call it DARE, which stands for deciders, advisers, recommenders, and executors:

Deciders are the only ones with a vote (unlike the RACI model, which helps determine who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed). If the deciders get stuck, they should jointly agree on how to escalate the decision or figure out a way to move the process along, even if it means agreeing to “disagree and commit.”

Advisers have input and help shape the decision. They have an outsize voice in setting the context of the decision and have a big stake in its outcome—for example, it may affect their profit-and-loss statements—but they don’t get a vote.

Recommenders conduct the analyses, explore the alternatives, illuminate the pros and cons, and ultimately recommend a course of action to advisers and deciders. They see the day-to-day implications of the decision but also have no vote. Best-in-class recommenders offer multiple options and sometimes invite others to suggest more if doing so may lead to better outcomes. A common mistake of recommenders, though, is coming in with only one recommendation (often the status quo) and trying to convince everyone it’s the best path forward. In general, the more recommenders, the better the process—but not in the decision meeting itself.

Executers don’t give input but are deeply involved in implementing the decision. For speed, clarity, and alignment, executers need to be in the room when the decision is made so they can ask clarifying questions and spot flaws that might hinder implementation. Notably, the number of executers doesn’t necessarily depend on the importance of the decision. An M&A decision, for example, might have just two executors: the CFO and a business-unit head.

To make this shift, ensure everyone is crystal clear about who has a voice but no vote or veto. Our research indicates while it is often helpful to involve more people in decision making, not all of them should be deciders—in many cases, just one individual should be the decider (see sidebar “How to define decision rights”). Don’t underestimate the difficulty of implementing this. It often goes against our risk-averse instinct to ensure everyone is “happy” with a decision, particularly our superiors and major stakeholders. Executing and sustaining this change takes real courage and leadership.

Creative solutions and coordination: Open innovation

Routine working sessions are fairly straightforward. What many organizations struggle with is finding innovative ways to identify and drive toward solutions. How often do you tell your teams what to do versus empowering them to come up with solutions? While they may solve the immediate need to “get stuff done,” bureaucracies and micromanagement are a recipe for disaster. They slow down the organizational response to the market and customers, prevent leaders from focusing on strategic priorities, and harm employee engagement. Our research suggests key success factors in winning organizations are empowering employees and spending more time on high-quality coaching interactions.

How microenterprises empower employees to drive innovative solutions

Haier, a Chinese appliance maker, created more than 4,000 microenterprises (MEs) that share common approaches but operate independently. Haier has three types of microenterprises:

Market-facing MEs have roots in Haier’s legacy appliance business, reinvented for today’s customer-centric, web-enabled world. They are expected to grow revenue and profit ten times faster than the industry average.
Incubating MEs focus on emerging markets such as e-gaming or wrapping new business models around familiar products. They currently account for more than 10 percent of Haier’s market capitalization.
“Node” MEs sell market-facing ME products and services such as design, manufacturing, and human-resources support.

Take Haier. The Chinese appliance maker divided itself into more than 4,000 microenterprises with ten to 15 employees each, organized in an open ecosystem of users, inventors, and partners (see sidebar “How microenterprises empower employees to drive innovative solutions”). This shift turned employees into energetic entrepreneurs who were directly accountable for customers. Haier’s microenterprises are free to form and evolve with little central direction, but they share the same approach to target setting, internal contracting, and cross-unit coordination. Empowering employees to drive innovative solutions has taken the company from innovation-phobic to entrepreneurial at scale. Since 2015, revenue from Haier Smart Home, the company’s listed home-appliance business, has grown by more than 18 percent a year, topping 209 billion renminbi ($32 billion) in 2020. The company has also made a string of acquisitions, including the 2016 purchase of GE Appliances, with new ventures creating more than $2 billion in market value.

Empowering others doesn’t mean leaving them alone. Successful empowerment, counterintuitively, doesn’t mean leaving employees alone. Empowerment requires leaders to give employees both the tools and the right level of guidance and involvement. Leaders should play what we call the coach role: coaches don’t tell people what to do but instead provide guidance and guardrails and ensure accountability, while stepping back and allowing others to come up with solutions.

Haier was able to use a variety of tools—including objectives and key results (OKRs) and common problem statements—to foster an agile way of working across the enterprise that focuses innovative organizational energy on the most important topics. Not all companies can do this, and some will never be ready for enterprise agility. But every organization can take steps to improve the speed and quality of decisions made by empowered individuals.

Managers who are great coaches, for example, have typically benefited from years of investment by mentors, sponsors, and organizations. We think all organizations should do more to improve the coaching skills of managers and help them to create the space and time to coach teams, as opposed to filling out reports, presenting in meetings, and other activities that take time away from driving impact through the work of their teams.

But while great coaches take time to develop, something as simple as a daily stand-up or check-in can drive horizontal connectivity, creating the space for teams to understand what others are doing and where they need help to drive work forward without having to specifically task anyone in a hierarchical way. You may also consider how you are driving a focus on outcomes over activities on a near-term and long-term basis. Whether it’s OKRs or something else, how is your organization proactively communicating a focus on impact and results over tasks and activities? What do you measure? How is it tracked? How is the performance of your people and your teams managed against it? Over what time horizons?

The importance of psychological safety. As you start this journey, be sure to take a close look at psychological safety. If employees don’t feel psychologically safe, it will be nearly impossible for leaders and managers to break through disempowering behaviors like constant escalation, hiding problems or risks, and being afraid to ask questions—no matter how skilled they are as coaches.

Employers should be on the lookout for common problems indicating that significant challenges to psychological safety lurk underneath the surface. Consider asking yourself and your teams questions to test the degree of psychological safety you have cultivated: Do employees have space to bring up concerns or dissent? Do they feel that if they make a mistake it will be held against them? Do they feel they can take risks or ask for help? Do they feel others may undermine them? Do employees feel valued for their unique skills and talents? If the answer to any of these is not a clear-cut “yes,” the organization likely has room for improvement on psychological safety and relatedness as a foundation to high-quality interactions within and between teams.

Information sharing: Fit-for-purpose interactions

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? You spend a significant amount of time in meetings every day but feel like nothing has been accomplished. You jump from one meeting to another and don’t get to think on your own until 7 p.m. You wonder why you need to attend a series of meetings where the same materials are presented over and over again. You’re exhausted.

An increasing number of organizations have begun to realize the urgency of driving ruthless meeting efficiency and of questioning whether meetings are truly required at all to share information. Live interactions can be useful for information sharing, particularly when there is an interpretive lens required to understand the information, when that information is particularly sensitive, or when leaders want to ensure there’s ample time to process it and ask questions. That said, most of us would say that most meetings are not particularly useful and often don’t accomplish their intended objective.

We have observed that many companies are moving to shorter meetings (15 to 30 minutes) rather than the standard default of one-hour meetings in an effort to drive focus and productivity. For example, Netflix launched a redesign effort to drastically improve meeting efficiency, resulting in a tightly controlled meeting protocol. Meetings cannot go beyond 30 minutes. Meetings for one-way information sharing must be canceled in favor of other mechanisms such as a memo, podcast, or vlog. Two-way information sharing during meetings is limited by having attendees review materials in advance, replacing presentations with Q&As. Early data show Netflix has been able to reduce the number of meetings by more than 65 percent, and more than 85 percent of employees favor the approach.

Making meeting time a scarce resource is another strategy organizations are using to improve the quality of information sharing and other types of interactions occurring in a meeting setting. Some companies have implemented no-meeting days. In Japan, Microsoft’s “Work Life Choice Challenge” adopted a four-day workweek, reduced the time employees spend in meetings—and boosted productivity by 40 percent. 1 Bill Chappell, “4-day workweek boosted workers’ productivity by 40%, Microsoft Japan says,” NPR, November 4, 2019, npr.org. Similarly, Shopify uses “No Meeting Wednesdays” to enable employees to devote time to projects they are passionate about and to promote creative thinking. 2 Amy Elisa Jackson, “Feedback & meeting-free Wednesdays: How Shopify beats the competition,” Glassdoor, December 5, 2018, glassdoor.com. And Moveline’s product team dedicates every Tuesday to “Maker Day,” an opportunity to create and solve complex problems without the distraction of meetings. 3 Rebecca Greenfield, “Why your office needs a maker day,” Fast Company , April 17, 2014, fastcompany.com.

Finally, no meeting could be considered well scoped without considering who should participate, as there are real financial and transaction costs to meeting participation. Leaders should treat time spent in meetings as seriously as companies treat financial capital. Every leader in every organization should ask the following questions before attending any meeting: What’s this meeting for? What’s my role? Can I shorten this meeting by limiting live information sharing and focusing on discussion and decision making? We encourage you to excuse yourself from meetings if you don’t have a role in influencing the outcome and to instead get a quick update over email. If you are not essential, the meeting will still be successful (possibly more so!) without your presence. Try it and see what happens.

High-quality, focused interactions can improve productivity, speed, and innovation within any organization—and drive better business performance. We hope the above insights have inspired you to try some new techniques to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of collaboration within your organization.

Aaron De Smet is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New Jersey office; Caitlin Hewes is a consultant in the Atlanta office; Mengwei Luo is an associate partner in the New York office; J.R. Maxwell is a partner in the Washington, DC, office; and Patrick Simon is a partner in the Munich office.

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Trump trusted more than Biden on democracy among key swing-state voters

A poll shows that Americans rate threats to democracy as an important issue, but that the president has yet to convince them he is the one to defend it.

President Biden and his Democratic allies have cast his reelection campaign as a battle for the country’s survival, warning that a second Donald Trump presidency would present an existential threat to American democracy.

In speeches and campaign ads, Biden points to Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, his incitement of an angry mob that ransacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 , 2021, and the former president’s boasts that he will use the powers of his office to punish his political enemies.

But that message may not be resonating with the voters Biden needs in order to win another term in the White House.

In six swing states that Biden narrowly won in 2020, a little more than half of voters classified as likely to decide the presidential election say threats to democracy are extremely important to their vote for president, according to a poll by The Washington Post and the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University .

Yet, more of them trust Trump to handle those threats than Biden. And most believe that the guardrails in place to protect democracy would hold even if a dictator tried to take over the country.

The results offer troubling indicators for Biden, who needs voters who may be unenthusiastic about his candidacy to decide they must reject Trump to preserve America’s system of representative government.

“Many Americans don’t recognize Biden’s custodianship of our democracy, which is a bad sign for his campaign,” said Justin Gest, a professor of policy and government at George Mason University.

About ‘The Deciders’ poll and series

The poll surveyed the views of 3,513 registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in April and May. Of those surveyed, 2,255 were classified as “Deciders” — those who fit into one or more categories: They voted in only one of the past two presidential elections; are between ages 18 and 25; registered to vote since 2022; did not definitely plan to vote for either Biden or Trump this year; or switched their support between 2016 and 2020.

For many voters, democracy is an abstract idea, less tangible than issues like the economy, abortion or immigration. Still, most voters, regardless of party, report that the issue matters to them. Gest noted that “the vast majority don’t want to tip toward more authoritarian control,” with systems of representative or direct democracy polling far more favorably.

Among key-state voters who identify themselves as locked-in Biden supporters, 78 percent see threats to democracy as extremely important. Among Trump backers, that’s true of 71 percent. Threats to democracy are second only to the economy in the percentage of swing state voters overall who describe the issue as extremely important.

But definitions of what constitutes a threat to democracy vary depending on which candidate voters are supporting. On the campaign trail, Biden and Trump have described threats to democracy in sharply different terms.

Trump has tried to flip the democracy issue, claiming falsely that he and his allies are facing multiple criminal investigations because Biden is weaponizing the judicial system against him. The former president also continues to undermine the legitimacy of elections with baseless claims of widespread fraud.

Biden, meanwhile, has pointed to Trump’s own vow that he will direct the justice system to prosecute his enemies in a campaign of “retribution.” The president has also highlighted Trump’s boast that he will be “a dictator” on his first day in office and the former president’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election. While 64 percent of key-state voters and 69 percent of Deciders say Biden’s 2020 election win was “legitimate,” that falls to 19 percent of locked-in Trump voters.

Among the Deciders, more than 7 in 10 believe that Trump will not accept the results of the election if he loses, compared with one-third who say the same for Biden. Nearly half, 47 percent, say Trump would try to rule as a dictator if he is elected to another term as president, compared with 15 percent who say Biden would. The poll finds that just over half of Deciders think Trump is guilty of criminal charges of lying about voter fraud in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and more say he has been treated fairly rather than unfairly by the criminal justice system.

Yet more of them, 38 percent, trust Trump to handle threats to democracy, than the 29 percent who trust Biden on the issue. Twenty-three percent don’t trust either major party candidate.

That latter category includes Matthew Titterington, 32, who lives in Milan, Mich., and works two part-time jobs, one in a bakery and another as a pharmacy tech. He said he is leaning toward voting for a third-party candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , because he dislikes both major-party choices.

The biggest threats to democracy, Titterington said, are foreign governments that stoke internal divisions among Americans, and internal division that “prevents us from being able to function.” He doesn’t think either Biden or Trump is equipped to handle those threats.

“I don’t know that I could pick one between the two — maybe Trump a little bit more external-threat-wise and Biden a little bit more internal-threat-wise, but I don’t even know if that is true,” Titterington said.

Locked-in Trump voters (76 percent) are more likely to be dissatisfied with how democracy is working in America than are Biden voters (37 percent). Voters are also divided on whether U.S. elections are fair, with 94 percent of Biden voters saying they trust them at least “a good amount” and 78 percent of Trump voters not trusting elections much or at all. Deciders are split with 52 percent trusting that elections are fair.

David Dunacusky, a 61-year-old from Phoenixville, Pa., who serves as a constable, an elected law enforcement officer, is among those who believe that the threat to democracy is coming from the left. A staunch Trump supporter, he echoed Trump’s unfounded claims that voter fraud swung the 2020 presidential election to Biden and suggested that FBI agents were embedded with Jan. 6 rioters. He also expressed concern that the election won’t be legitimate this year.

He said it’s “propaganda 100 percent” when Democrats say Trump is a threat to democracy because “they’re scared to death” of their corruption being exposed.

Asked which types of government they approve of, about 7 in 10 key-state voters support direct democracy, in which citizens, not elected officials, vote directly on issues to become law. Nearly 8 in 10 back representative democracy, in which people elected by citizens decide what is law.

About two-thirds of key state voters say that a political system in which a strong leader can make decisions without interference from Congress or the courts — in a word, a dictatorship — would be bad. That includes majorities of locked-in Biden and Trump voters. Nearly 6 in 10 Biden voters say this would be a “very bad” system of government, though that drops to about 4 in 10 among Trump voters.

Derinn Wallace, a 30-year-old from Scottsdale, Ariz., said she is voting for Biden despite her disappointments with some of his policies because she fears that Trump would destroy democracy.

“He is an authoritarian guy — he’ll do anything to stay in power once he gets power. So if he gets power again, I shudder to think what he will do,” Wallace said.

But many voters see less at stake. Alex Mayer, 25, a manufacturing processing engineer who lives in Grand Blanc, Mich., and says he is likely to support Trump, is among those who believe democracy will stand no matter who is president.

“I find it very hard to believe that democracy is going to go away. I don’t think about it very much. I look at it as a foundation that will never change,” Mayer said.

That’s a problem for Biden if voters are “taking that system of checks and balances for granted,” said Gest, the George Mason scholar.

Voters “feel reassured that Congress and the court system will protect America from former president Trump’s worst excesses,” he said. “I think that it’s going to be President Biden’s job over the next four months to communicate that democracy is something we cannot take for granted.”

The Deciders poll was conducted by The Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government April 15 to May 30, 2024, among a stratified random sample of 3,513 registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The sample was drawn from the L2 database of registered voters in each state, with voters contacted by mail, phone (including calling and texting) and email to complete the survey online or by phone. Results for the overall sample of voters in key states have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus two percentage points, and the error margin is larger among the sample of Deciders and those who are locked-in voters for either Trump or Biden.

Election 2024

Follow live updates from the 2024 campaign trail a day after President Biden and Donald Trump faced off in the first presidential debate of 2024. Here are takeaways and fact checks from the debate .

Who is running: President Biden and Donald Trump secured their parties’ nominations for the presidency . Here’s how we ended up with a Trump-Biden rematch .

Key dates and events: Voters in all states and U.S. territories have been choosing their party’s nominee for president ahead of the summer conventions. Here are key dates and events on the 2024 election calendar .

Abortion and the election: Voters in about a dozen states could decide the fate of abortion rights with constitutional amendments on the ballot in a pivotal election year. Biden supports legal access to abortion , and he has encouraged Congress to pass a law that would codify abortion rights nationwide. After months of mixed signals about his position, Trump said the issue should be left to states . Here’s how Biden’s and Trump’s abortion stances have shifted over the years.

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How to Write a Survey Report (with Pictures)
2. Write a 1-2 page executive summary paraphrasing the report. This comes at the very beginning of the report, after the table of contents. An executive summary condenses the main points of the report into a few pages. It should include: Methodology of the survey.
How to write a survey report?
A survey report is a document that presents the results of a survey. It should be written in a clear and concise way that is easy to understand. The report should include the following sections: Introduction: The introduction should state the purpose of the survey and the target population. It should also provide a brief overview of the results ...
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Present the key findings of the survey in a clear and organized manner. Use charts, graphs, and tables to visualize the data effectively. Ensure that the findings are presented in a logical sequence, making it easy for readers to follow the narrative. The survey findings section is the heart of the report, where the raw data collected during ...
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Completion rate. The completion rate is the number of questions answered divided by the total number of questions in your survey. If you have a survey of 12 questions but most respondents only answered 6 of those, you have a completion rate of 50%. Depending on the survey tool you use, the completion rate can indicate many things.
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A great report will increase the impact of your survey results and encourage more readers to engage with the content. Create Your Survey Now. In This Article. 1. Use Data Visualization. 2. Write the Key Facts First. 3. Write a Short Survey Summary.
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Tips for an effective survey report. Here are a few best practices for creating a quality survey report: Start with an introduction. Set the tone by explaining the purpose of the survey. Provide context for the information you're presenting. Use visualizations. Images and graphs are an effective way to tell a story.
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Here are the guidelines to remember while building a survey report: Make an introduction: At the start of the report, specify what the main aim of this survey was when you were starting off. Explaining the survey's purpose will help establish the mood. Give the facts you are delivering context.
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Step 4 - Beautify Your Survey. After adding the required form field to your survey, the next step is to make it attractive to respondents. Formplus has some built-in customization features that can be used to create a beautiful survey. This option allows you to add colours, fonts, images, backgrounds, etc.
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Begin with an executive summary. 3. List your objectives in the background section. 4. Compare your survey to others. 5. Explain how you conducted the survey. 6. Don't put the questions in the methodology.
10 Steps to Writing a Comprehensive Survey Report
2. Analysing Survey Data: Tips and Tricks. 3. Conclusion. Running a survey is an excellent way to gather information about your target audience and gain insights into their needs, preferences, and behaviours. However, it's not enough to just conduct a survey; you must also know how to interpret and present the results effectively.
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Steps For Creating A Survey Report. Step 1. Create A Questionnaire. A survey questionnaire is an instrument that you can use to collect data from your respondents and is considered a prominent sign of conducting a good survey report. This step consists of a list of questions, which you ask your respondents to answer.
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These are the five steps we're going to take together: Step 1: Make a plan. Step 2: Build your survey. Step 3: Test and iterate. Step 4: Share your survey. Step 5: Present the results. But before we get to the how let's take a quick look at the what and the why.
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How to Create an Effective Survey (Updated 2022)
7. Speak your respondent's language. This tip goes hand in hand with many others in this guide - it's about making language only as complex or as detailed as it needs to be when conducting great surveys. Create surveys that use language and terminology that your respondents will understand.
Questionnaire Design
Questionnaires vs. surveys. A survey is a research method where you collect and analyze data from a group of people. A questionnaire is a specific tool or instrument for collecting the data.. Designing a questionnaire means creating valid and reliable questions that address your research objectives, placing them in a useful order, and selecting an appropriate method for administration.
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How do Americans take our surveys?
Conversely, some participants in online survey panels like the American Trends Panel might change their attitudes or behaviors simply by being exposed to and answering a variety of questions over time. This is known as panel conditioning. Consider a survey that asks about Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Role of Government and Where Americans Agree, Disagree in Their Views
This report is based primarily on a survey of 8,709 adults, including 7,166 registered voters, from April 8 to 14, 2024. Some of the analysis in this report is based on a survey of 8,638 adults from May 13 to 19, 2024. ... The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation ...
If we're so busy, why isn't anything getting done?
We recommend a simple yet comprehensive approach for defining decision rights. We call it DARE, which stands for deciders, advisers, recommenders, and executors: Deciders are the only ones with a vote (unlike the RACI model, which helps determine who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed). If the deciders get stuck, they should jointly agree on how to escalate the decision or ...
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Trump trusted more than Biden on democracy among key swing-state voters
The survey sought to address several common challenges facing election polls, using multiple contact methods and cash incentives to boost the response rate and representativeness of the sample ...
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Sharable survey reports

Built-in reporting features

forms.app’s statistics page

MS Excel or Google Sheets

Custom data visualization tools

Table of Contents

SurveySparrow vs. Typeform: Which survey maker to choose?

What is sampling frame: Definition, example & tips

10 Best Jotform alternatives (pros, cons & prices)

What is a Survey Report?

5 Steps to Creating a Survey Report

Create a Questionnaire

Factors to Consider Before Creating a Questionnaire For a Survey Report

Collect Data

Analyze Data

Analyze and Interpret

Write Survey Report

Types of Survey Report

Features of a Survey Report/Guidelines

How to Create an Online Survey with Formplus

Step 1- Get Started for Free

Step 2- Start Creating Surveys

Use an Existing Template

Start From Scratch

Step 3 – Add Form Fields

Step 4 – Beautify Your Survey

Step 5 – Share and Start Collecting Responses

Conclusion

Cobra Effect & Perverse Survey Incentives: Definition, Implications & Examples

33 Online Shopping Questionnaire + [Template Examples]

Training Survey: Types, Template + [Question Example]

Job Evaluation: Definition, Methods + [Form Template]

Formplus - For Seamless Data Collection

How to Write a Survey Report: 10 Expert Tips

What is a survey report?

Create a survey with Shout

How to write a survey report

1. Use headings and subheadings to break up the report

2. Begin with an executive summary

3. List your objectives in the background section

4. Compare your survey to others

5. Explain how you conducted the survey

6. Don’t put the questions in the methodology

7. Separate the results and the analysis

8. Identify trends in the results section