Keep Their Attention – Online Studies

When conducting any market research, a key to success is keeping the participant interested enough to provide thoughtful responses.  As we know, our ability and desire to focus on any given task at any given time is limited.  How do we keep their attention AND get the responses we need?  Following are some of the proven ways to get the results you need.

1)  What Is Most Important – Invest in time and resources to determine what you really need to know from each study.  By first knowing the reason you’re conducting the research,  every question can be written to help you achieve your objective.  

2)  Demographics – When you know your objective, determining who your target audience is and how large it should be will follow.  

3)  Simple/Concise/Direct Language – Word questions as if you’re the one being asked.   Respondents are people with busy, distracted lives just like you and me. Word questions in simple, concise,       direct language without using bias.

  • Remember to word the question in an objective/unbiased way.  For example,  
    • A leading question – “How would you rate the legacy of the great President Abraham Lincoln?”   
    • An objective question – “How would you rate the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln?”

4)  Test The Survey – A good rule of thumb here is to sample about 10% of  your total targeted audience in order to determine if you’re getting the results you need.  

5)  Follow-up Surveys – The responses you get from your initial study may result in needing to know more information.  Let participants know on the initial study they may receive follow up questions.  This is your opportunity to dive deep.  Dive deep within reason.

Final thought, keep every task  focused on your objective.

 Sources:
http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/01/many-questions-online-survey.html
https://blog.questionpro.com/2014/09/11/how-to-get-the-best-results-from-your-online-survey/
http://blog.qsample.com/empathy-devil-writing-survey-questionnaires/