5 Examples of Biased Survey Questions and Why You Should Avoid Them
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2024 5:01 am
5 Examples of Biased Survey Questions and Why You Should Avoid Them
Leading survey questions are asked in a way that intentionally leads the respondent toward a particular answer or are worded in a confusing manner, resulting in unclear answers.
Although it is rare these days to find organizations that want to intentionally afghanistan telemarketing data skew their results (mainly because customers are aware of unethical practices and companies are quickly called out) it is still common to see companies with biased surveys. But this is simply because they do not have the right skills and experience to create a good quality survey.
When this results in biased survey questions, it can be very dangerous for the company. Wrong conclusions will be drawn, wrong actions will be taken, and misinformation will be provided from the responses. You should definitely avoid biased survey questions, it is vitally important that all feedback you receive is unbiased and honest.
There are many types of leading questions, and each can have different consequences for your business, whether you created them intentionally or not. Below we've outlined five types of leading questions to avoid, some examples explaining why they're unfavorable, and the consequences you could face if you use them.
1. Suggestive questions
Leading questions are the most obvious examples of bias we can find, they make it very clear that there is a “correct” answer that the question is leading you to. This will always result in false information since, from the beginning, the respondent did not have the opportunity to give an honest answer.
Examples
“How amazing was your experience with our customer support team?”
As you can see, this question is phrased in a way that assumes the customer thinks the customer support team is amazing, it doesn't give them an option to answer otherwise. Now the customer is forced to rate the customer support team on a scale of how amazing they have been.
“What problems have you had with the launch of this new product?”
Again, this question assumes something bad has happened and will cause the customer to look for problems in order to provide their answer.
“Would you be concerned if this product was no longer produced?”
This example uses emotional language to direct the customer, rather than making assumptions like the first two questions. It suggests to the respondent that they should be concerned, simply by including emotional language.
Consequences of leading questions
Your survey responses will be completely distorted
You will not get results or new information
Customers may think you're deliberately trying to steer them toward a particular answer, which could lead to them leaving a negative review or calling you out on social media for your biased surveys.
What to do instead
Make sure that the questions you ask your customers are open to options, so they can make an objective choice. For example, instead of asking how amazing their experience as a customer has been, you should ask:
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with our customer service team? ”
This doesn't suggest any response to them and gives customers the opportunity to give a useful, measurable assessment.
2. Vague or ambiguous questions
This is a type of question that many organizations might ask without even realizing it. On the surface, these questions may seem honest and harmless, but their ambiguous nature can do more harm than good, confusing customers who will give poor answers.
Examples
“How do we compare to our competition?
For example, this question is too broad. Maybe your customers have never used your competitors’ products, so they wouldn’t be able to answer. Or maybe it’s not something your customers have thought about before and they start looking for information about your competition. Also, you haven’t offered a parameter for comparison – do you mean your product? Customer service level? Price? You’re leaving that choice completely up to the customers.
“Do you think your family members will like product X?”
The mistake here is in the language, using the word “think,” which can provoke different reactions from different people. Other similar words are “I feel” or “I hope.” You are asking the customer to give broad, subjective answers and to respond emotionally. Your customers may not know how their family members would react to your product and probably won’t go ask them to find out. Instead, they will abandon the survey.
Consequences
If you are not specific enough with your question, chances are the range of answers you receive will be so different from each other that it will render any information collected useless. Ambiguous questions provoke different thoughts in different people, so your questions should be specific and focused.
The client will not always interpret the question the way you expected, thus distorting the final results.
What to do instead
Be much more specific with your questions and get to the point, instead of asking your clients if they plan to recommend something, ask:
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this product to others?”
This removes the ambiguity and focuses them on one issue, again resulting in an easy-to-measure response.
3. Compound questions
These questions typically ask the customer to offer an opinion on two (loosely related) topics but with only one possible answer. This is another example of the common and unintentional mistakes that organizations make. In an attempt to gain more information, they end up asking compound questions.
Examples
Leading survey questions are asked in a way that intentionally leads the respondent toward a particular answer or are worded in a confusing manner, resulting in unclear answers.
Although it is rare these days to find organizations that want to intentionally afghanistan telemarketing data skew their results (mainly because customers are aware of unethical practices and companies are quickly called out) it is still common to see companies with biased surveys. But this is simply because they do not have the right skills and experience to create a good quality survey.
When this results in biased survey questions, it can be very dangerous for the company. Wrong conclusions will be drawn, wrong actions will be taken, and misinformation will be provided from the responses. You should definitely avoid biased survey questions, it is vitally important that all feedback you receive is unbiased and honest.
There are many types of leading questions, and each can have different consequences for your business, whether you created them intentionally or not. Below we've outlined five types of leading questions to avoid, some examples explaining why they're unfavorable, and the consequences you could face if you use them.
1. Suggestive questions
Leading questions are the most obvious examples of bias we can find, they make it very clear that there is a “correct” answer that the question is leading you to. This will always result in false information since, from the beginning, the respondent did not have the opportunity to give an honest answer.
Examples
“How amazing was your experience with our customer support team?”
As you can see, this question is phrased in a way that assumes the customer thinks the customer support team is amazing, it doesn't give them an option to answer otherwise. Now the customer is forced to rate the customer support team on a scale of how amazing they have been.
“What problems have you had with the launch of this new product?”
Again, this question assumes something bad has happened and will cause the customer to look for problems in order to provide their answer.
“Would you be concerned if this product was no longer produced?”
This example uses emotional language to direct the customer, rather than making assumptions like the first two questions. It suggests to the respondent that they should be concerned, simply by including emotional language.
Consequences of leading questions
Your survey responses will be completely distorted
You will not get results or new information
Customers may think you're deliberately trying to steer them toward a particular answer, which could lead to them leaving a negative review or calling you out on social media for your biased surveys.
What to do instead
Make sure that the questions you ask your customers are open to options, so they can make an objective choice. For example, instead of asking how amazing their experience as a customer has been, you should ask:
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with our customer service team? ”
This doesn't suggest any response to them and gives customers the opportunity to give a useful, measurable assessment.
2. Vague or ambiguous questions
This is a type of question that many organizations might ask without even realizing it. On the surface, these questions may seem honest and harmless, but their ambiguous nature can do more harm than good, confusing customers who will give poor answers.
Examples
“How do we compare to our competition?
For example, this question is too broad. Maybe your customers have never used your competitors’ products, so they wouldn’t be able to answer. Or maybe it’s not something your customers have thought about before and they start looking for information about your competition. Also, you haven’t offered a parameter for comparison – do you mean your product? Customer service level? Price? You’re leaving that choice completely up to the customers.
“Do you think your family members will like product X?”
The mistake here is in the language, using the word “think,” which can provoke different reactions from different people. Other similar words are “I feel” or “I hope.” You are asking the customer to give broad, subjective answers and to respond emotionally. Your customers may not know how their family members would react to your product and probably won’t go ask them to find out. Instead, they will abandon the survey.
Consequences
If you are not specific enough with your question, chances are the range of answers you receive will be so different from each other that it will render any information collected useless. Ambiguous questions provoke different thoughts in different people, so your questions should be specific and focused.
The client will not always interpret the question the way you expected, thus distorting the final results.
What to do instead
Be much more specific with your questions and get to the point, instead of asking your clients if they plan to recommend something, ask:
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this product to others?”
This removes the ambiguity and focuses them on one issue, again resulting in an easy-to-measure response.
3. Compound questions
These questions typically ask the customer to offer an opinion on two (loosely related) topics but with only one possible answer. This is another example of the common and unintentional mistakes that organizations make. In an attempt to gain more information, they end up asking compound questions.
Examples