Tip #8: Do not ask redundant questions

If the goal of your survey is to annoy as many respondents as possible, then ask redundant questions. Of course, I am being cynical. No one wants to purposely annoy respondents who are taking the time out of their busy day to complete your survey.

If survey respondents detect redundancy in a survey, they may become annoyed and many will lose interest in completing the survey or simply speed through the survey without giving the answers to the questions much thought. Even worse, a respondent could become so frustrated that they intentionally submit incorrect answers.

Often times, the survey developer does not thoroughly review survey questions for redundancy, or the survey developer may not realize they are asking a redundant question. Distinguishing between concepts from question to question is necessary, but if the distinction is very subtle, respondents may recognize it as being unnecessarily redundant.

Here are two survey question examples with very subtle distinctions.

Please rate the value that financial reports add to your relationship with management teams.

Please rate the importance of financial reports for management teams.

Although the wording may be different, the two questions are essentially the same.

Visit the Snap Survey Software Blog daily to read the complete blog series, 9 Tips for Writing Quality Survey Questions