---
name: Survey Design
description: Ask questions that yield honest answers.
---
# Survey Design

Surveys are cheap to run and easy to get wrong. Bad survey design produces confident numbers that measure nothing real — respondents answer what they think you want, or what flatters them.

## Principles
- **Avoid leading questions.** "How satisfied were you with our excellent service?" presupposes satisfaction. Neutral phrasing ("How would you describe your experience?") is harder to bias.
- **Randomize option order.** Respondents favor early options; order effects are real.
- **Use the respondent's vocabulary.** Internal jargon confuses; confused respondents guess.
- **Pilot on a few real respondents.** Watch where they hesitate or ask "what does this mean?". Fix before launch.
- **Short as possible.** Drop-off accelerates with length. The 30th question gets worse data than the 3rd.

## Avoid
Self-reported future behavior. "Would you buy this?" overstates real intent massively.