Research Tips

Pre-Testing Surveys

Many of our tips provide suggestions for getting better results from surveys. Even if you’ve followed every one of these tips, it’s a good idea to pre-test your survey before administering it.

Pre-testing involves having a small sub-sample of respondents complete and return a questionnaire before it’s given to the rest of the respondents. A pre-test works best when the sampling procedures and data collection methods are identical to those planned for the main survey. Pre-testing enables you to:

Identify questions that seemed clear to those involved in developing the survey, but are confusing to some respondents for unforeseen reasons.
Determine how long it takes respondents to complete the questionnaire.
Gauge the likely response rate.

If any problems emerge during the pre-test, these can be corrected before the questionnaire is given to the main body of respondents.