Testing an online survey can lead to a lot of questions.
A mark of a true market research professional is someone who is able to explain the intricacies of research in a way that is easy to understand and not overwhelming. In a previous post, we discussed the online survey testing process. Learn more about the online survey testing checklist.
Want to learn more about the most common questions (and answers) when testing an online survey?
Learn more below!
Don't worry, we'll answer all your questions on online survey testing!
Question 1: Can changes still be made to the survey after programming?
Short answer, of course. Market research professionals should be willing to ensure questions are perfect before entering fieldwork. Oftentimes, once the survey is signed off on clients are already in the mindset that the finalized survey is "perfect".
Occasionally, when testing an online survey, slight wording changes, response code updates, or other survey elements are asked to be updated.
The survey is the tool used to gather the feedback needed to drive strategy. Market research professionals are dedicated to accuracy before entering fieldwork to ensure high quality data.
Question 2: Will the survey test responses affect the data collected?
When testing an online survey, rest assured that all test completes submitted will not affect the actual survey data collected.
Experienced market research professionals will take this a step further. Some online survey tools make it easy to either duplicate a survey for testing purposes or have the ability to create multiple survey links. Once testing is complete, the responses in the duplicate survey or submitted through the online survey test link can be deleted.
And if for some reason another test complete is submitted, don't worry. Using this method we'll know and it will be deleted. Many market research professionals are obsessed with data quality.
Question 3: Why are only some questions required?
Typically, allowing respondents to skip a question is a common tool used if respondents choose to not answer a question. Rather than forcing an answer and collecting a quick forced response or risk a respondent closing out of a survey because they cannot skip a question, allowing respondents to skip a question continues engagement and supports high quality data.
However, there are some instances where a few, many, or all survey questions are required. While this does depend on the survey, screener or disqualifying questions are always required. This ensures respondent targeting criteria are met before getting into the meat of the survey.
Here's another tip.
When screening out or disqualifying survey respondents, still allow them to enter into the survey incentive before exiting the survey. If you are encouraging responses by offering respondents a chance to win 1 of 5 $50 gift cards all respondents should be given the chance to enter. If not, this could encourage someone to click the link and lie *gasp* to complete the survey for their chance to win.
So yes... there can be survey respondents that lie *gasp again* and scare the #%@^ out of research professionals. Here's how to look for them and how to handle them.
Have questions for our team? Learn how to reach out to us below!
Question 4: Why does the survey loop to the beginning after completion?
For online survey testing purposes, many market research companies in NY will have the survey return to the start page once completed. This allows the tester to submit another test complete automatically.
Once the survey is fully launched, users are sent to a survey end page.
Here's an example of a survey end page.
Question 5: Will survey respondents click the survey link more than once?
The short answer here is no. If a respondent clicks a survey link that they have already completed, cookies are stored and the survey software will alert the user that they have already completed the survey.
However, if a respondent partially completed the survey and never reached the survey end page, the survey software will store their previous answers and pick up where the respondent left off in the survey.
In the cases where we run into cookie wizards who can quickly delete history for the hopes of entering into a sweepstakes multiple times, our market research company in NY reviews duplicate IP addresses as part of our data quality checks on the back-end.
Contact The Drive Research Team
Drive Research is a national market research company in NY. We work with clients to execute market research projects from start to finish. Our services range from online surveys, to focus groups, to competitive assessments, and more.
Contact us at [email protected] or call us at 315-303-2040.