Additional Tips for Web Surveys

1. One principle is to consider good Web page design when creating your survey pages. Do not use too many colors or fonts. They are distracting. On the other hand, bolding, italicizing, and changing the colors of key words, used appropriately, can make your questions easier to understand. Using color and/or a smaller font size to make instructions distinct from question text can make your questionnaire easier to follow.
2. Always specify a background color, even if it is white (usually a good choice). Some browsers may show a background color you do not expect, if you do not specify one. Background images usually make text harder to read, even when they make a page more attractive at first glance.
3. Use graphics sparingly. Some home Internet users still connect via modems, and graphics slow download times. Remember that showing a large graphic at a small size on a Web page does not reduce the time needed to download the graphic. Create or modify the graphic to a file size that is no bigger than you need. If your sample consists of people at work, you may use more graphics, since those people usually have faster connections, but even they appreciate faster downloads.
4. Use video only if that is what you are testing (e.g., a commercial). Make sure you do not require people to scroll horizontally to view part of the survey page. Most people find horizontal scrolling annoying. Question text wraps to fit the available space, but you can make a grid that is wider than some screens. As of January 2013 about 9% of people still use 1024x768 screen resolution. You may want to design your pages to be up to 980 pixels wide (leaving room for the browser edges and a scrollbar). In any case, you should not ask opinions on any graphic wider than that, since some people will have to scroll to see it.
5. Use "Responsive Layout" format when possible. Smartphones are a special consideration. Many newer ones have screens with 1024x768 or higher resolutions, but their screen sizes are so small that font sizes that are perfectly readable on a computer-sized screen may be unreadable without zooming in on a phone. If you think that many of your respondents will be taking your survey on a smartphone or smaller tablet, you may want to use large fonts for both labels and text input.
6. Include an introduction or welcome page. Explain the reason for the survey (as far as you can without compromising the survey). Put instructions at the point they are needed, instead of grouping them on the first page.
7. Make sure your page and question layout are consistent. Do not put answer choices on the right for some questions and on the left for others. Use color consistently. For example, always use the same color to represent an instruction, which is not part of a question per se. Use a different color (or bolding) any time you want to highlight words within questions.
8. Recognize that requiring that questions be answered will likely increase the number of people who drop out of a survey in the middle. If you do require answers, consider doing so only on key questions. Whenever you require an answer make sure the available options include all possible answers, including "don't know," "decline to state," or "not applicable," if there is any chance that these may represent some people's answers.
9. Consider your sample when designing the pages. Using answer grids and presenting answer choices in two or more columns can look attractive, save space and help avoid vertical scrolling. Unfortunately, these formats are a bit harder for some people to understand than a simple vertical list of answer choices. If you think your target population may have some trouble understanding how to fill out the survey, use these formats sparingly.
10. Allow space for long replies to comment type questions. Some people will type in longer answers on a Web page than they would write on a paper questionnaire or say to an interviewer. Drop-down lists save space on the screen, but be careful using them. Lists that require scrolling to see some choices can bias the results. Use them only if there is only one possible choice a person can make. One example is state of primary residence. If you present a list of choices that people have to think about, and only some of the choices are initially visible, there will be a bias in favor of those initially visible choices.
11. Researchers have been looking into the issue of whether it is better to present a survey in one or more long scrolling pages or in a series of separate pages that do not need scrolling. Research has not yet provided a clear answer. There is some evidence that grouping several similar questions on a page may result in answers that are more similar than if the questions were on different pages. Some people may dislike scrolling down a long page, while others may dislike the brief wait between questions when each is on a different page. Having your questionnaire split into multiple pages has the advantage that if someone quits partway through, at least you have the answers they have already given. You will also need to split your survey into multiple pages, if you want some people to not see certain questions, or if you want the answers given for some questions to affect those shown for later questions.
12. Sometimes researchers like to announce the start of a new section in a survey. Using separate section break pages that announce the start of a section, but do not include any questions will likely lead to some people quitting the survey at one of those pages. If you want to announce a new section, include at least one question on the page. The one exception to this rule is if the section start includes some instructions, and you have decided to randomize the order of the questions in the section. In that case, the section instructions would have to be one their own page, since you do not know which question would follow.
13. Some researchers like to show progress bars in a web survey. A fast moving progress bar (20%, 40%, 60%...) might encourage people, but a slow moving one (2%, 4%, 6%) will discourage people and likely lead to people quitting the survey.
14. When you have finished creating the survey and have it up on your Web site, test it thoroughly. Make sure that all the pages look as you wish and that all skips, randomizations and other logic work as you intend. A test on your own PC or a paper copy of the questionnaire does not guarantee that the copy on the Web will look and act the same.
15. We also recommend you monitor the live results as your survey progresses (good Web survey software allows this). Doing so can help you spot any problems that did not appear during your testing.