When you ask opinion questions in your survey, you are asking the respondent about statements they may or may not agree with. The scales you use and wording will vary based on the type of survey you are conducting. Below are two examples from both a public opinion survey and an employee opinion survey. Note the differences in language when developing your questions and structuring your rating scale questions.
Typically, opinion questions in a survey are simple agree/disagree scale questions as seen in the Public Opinion Survey below:
Simple Agree/Disagree Scale:
Five point rating scale question with a no opinion option:
Here are two examples from an Employee Opinion Survey. Notice the difference in how the rating scale questions are approached.
In the employee opinion survey example above, there may be confusion over the meaning of ‘strongly agree.’
Does it mean the respondent strongly agrees the manager has good communication skills, or that the respondent agrees that the manager has very good communication skills?
This example is a better constructed employee opinion question:
Careful consideration when constructing your opinion based rating scale question should be taken for your successful survey. For more information on employee surveys, click here.
