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Jul
10
Posted by nnlmneo on July 10th, 2015
Posted in: Questionnaires and Surveys
How does your web survey look on a handheld device? Did you check?
The Pew Research Center reported that 27% of respondents to one of its recent surveys answered using a smartphone. Another 8% used a tablet. That means over one-third of participants used handheld devices to answer the questionnaire. Lesson learned: Unless you are absolutely sure your respondents will be using a computer, you need to design with mobile devices in mind.
As a public opinion polling organization, the Pew Center knows effective practices in survey research. It offers advice on developing questionnaires for handhelds in its article Tips for Creating Web Surveys for Completion on a Mobile Device. The top suggestion is to be sure your survey software is optimized for smartphones and tablets. The OERC uses SurveyMonkey, which fits this criteria. Many other popular Web survey applications do as well. Just be sure to check.
However, software alone will not automatically create surveys that are usable on handhelds devices. You also need to follow effective design principles. As a rule of thumb, keep it simple. Use short question formats. Avoid matrix-style questions. Keep the length of your survey short. And don’t get fancy: Questionnaires with logos and icons take longer to load on smartphones.
This article provides a great summary of tips to help you design mobile-device friendly questionnaires. My final word of advice? Pilot test questionnaires on computers, smartphones, and tablets. That way, you can make sure you are offering a smooth user experience to all of your respondents.
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