{"id":3396,"date":"2017-06-09T10:07:45","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T14:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/?p=3396"},"modified":"2019-09-24T08:53:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T12:53:26","slug":"the-right-question-type-gets-you-the-right-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/the-right-question-type-gets-you-the-right-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Right Question Type Gets You the Right Answer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are the wrong question types ruining your survey?<!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>You\u2019ve got to have the right questions, but question type matters more than you might think. I take every online survey that comes my way &#8212; satisfaction surveys from hotels I\u2019ve stayed in, interest surveys from community organizations I volunteer for, online polls on social media &#8212; and one of the most common mistakes I see is use of the wrong question type. Just this tiny misstep can jeopardize your whole project and leave you with flawed data.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise that questions are an important part of building a survey. But with all of the possible question types to select from, how do you know you\u2019re using the best one?<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>We\u2019ll start simple. Consider the following example:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Single-vs-Multi-Select-Image.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3397 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Single-vs-Multi-Select-Image.png\" alt=\"Single vs Multi Select Image\" width=\"628\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Single-vs-Multi-Select-Image.png 628w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Single-vs-Multi-Select-Image-300x173.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>You\u2019re right. They\u2019re nearly identical. But which is right?<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Hopefully you chose example A. Single-select question types are useful when the participant should be selecting only one answer option, such as their age group.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blog-Single-Select-Image.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"align-left size-medium wp-image-3401\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blog-Single-Select-Image-273x300.png\" alt=\"Blog Single Select Image\" width=\"273\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blog-Single-Select-Image-273x300.png 273w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blog-Single-Select-Image.png 283w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 273px) 100vw, 273px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Example B is a Multiple-select question type and is useful when the participant should select multiple answer options from a list. Age doesn\u2019t make sense here.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blog-Multi-Select.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3402\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blog-Multi-Select-273x300.png\" alt=\"Blog Multi Select\" width=\"273\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blog-Multi-Select-273x300.png 273w, https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blog-Multi-Select.png 283w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 273px) 100vw, 273px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Accidentally using multi-select questions when you need single answers leaves you vulnerable to unwittingly collecting bad data and thereby ruining your ability to report accurate findings.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p><b>When To Use Single vs. Multi<\/b><br \/>\nNot only do you have to determine when to use single vs multi-select, you have to know when to use each type of single-select question type, like, Radio Button, Horizontal Radio Button, Drop-Down, and Rating Scale. A good rule of thumb for picking the right single-select question type is to use a radio button or horizontal radio button when a question has eight or fewer answer options to choose from. Participants can view all options as once, and answers can be arranged in columns as well. If participants have many more responses to choose from, use a drop down to simplify the display.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Conversely, you should use a multi-select question when participants could or will have more than one answer. For example, \u201cHow did you hear about us? Please select all that apply.\u201d Sometimes, there\u2019s more than one right answer! Plus, you can always add answer constraints, making it mandatory to select an exact, minimum, or maximum number of answer options.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>The wrong question type can confuse participants and may lead to participation drop-out, thus reducing your response rate. Making the right choice of questions in a survey will not only enable you to gather responses but also help you collect the most meaningful data for analysis.<\/p>\n<div class=\"div-minispacer\"><\/div>\n<p>Interested in learning more? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/online-surveys\/design-a-survey\/\">Click here<\/a> to discover some of our more advanced question types.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are the wrong question types ruining your survey?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":5048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,205],"tags":[60,63,244,257],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Right Question Type Gets You the Right Answer - Sogolytics Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are the wrong question types ruining your survey? You\u2019ve got to have the right questions, but question type matters more than you might think. I take\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/the-right-question-type-gets-you-the-right-answer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Right Question Type Gets You the Right Answer - Sogolytics Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are the wrong question types ruining your survey? You\u2019ve got to have the right questions, but question type matters more than you might think. 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