How to Start Survey Writing

Survey writing can be a somewhat involved task. Many people struggle with just where to start. This article provides some steps to take to get you started with survey development.

Instructions

1. Get input from content experts.

   Content experts are individuals that know a lot about your topic. If you're writing about depression in teens, for istance, you could get input from adolescent counselors or a pediatric psychologist.

2. Get input from the target survey respondents.

   The people that you plan to administer the survey to are a good source of information when beginning survey writing. You could ask them what they think, know, or have experienced relevant to the topic.

3. Conduct a literature search.

   If you're writing a survey, there may already be relevant info available. Where you look will depend on the focus of your survey. You can find lots of information on the internet or in PubMed (for clinical research-related topics, for instance).

4. Write down as many survey questions as you can.

   Based on the information gleaned from any of the steps above, begin drafting survey questions. At this point, don't worry about wording-just addressing the survey topic of interest.

5. Paraphrase the questions from the initial draft above.

   This step gives you wording options for the final questionnaire or additional versions to be used (in order to address survey reliability of reponses).

Tips & Warnings

• If you plan to implement this survey in an academic or other setting that requires approval procedures, be sure to submit your protocol way in advance of survey implementation.