The 4 Main Types of Event Survey Questions
In our last blog post, we established that surveying your attendees is a great way to increase event engagement. A survey or poll puts an attendee right smack dab in the middle of the process by empowering them with a voice. Also, depending on the type, scope, and goal of the survey puts them in the driver seat so at the next event they can stand up and say, “Yes I voted for more of THIS that we are seeing, and less of THAT that we are not experiencing”.
Survey methodology is a huge field of study with a mammoth brain trust in many universities worldwide. With so much to tackle here I will only tackle some question types. Not the questions themselves, just the types of question formats.
Here are the four primary survey question formats, including pros, cons and different considerations for which you should be using for different event surveys:
- Point / star rating,
- Picklist / radio button,
- Multi-picklist / checkboxes, and
- Free form comment box
Point / Star Rating
Point or star rating systems are as they sound, 1 for terrible, 10 for awesome and not much else. Easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to report, however they tend to leave very little insight into the why the ratings landed where they landed
Example of star rating event survey:
Pros
- Easy to use
- Easy to report
- Quantifiable
Cons
- Little insight into why ratings landed where they did
- Typical responses are at either end of the spectrum
- Average and most common value (mode) might be very different
Picklist / Radio Button
Picklist / radio button questions are questions where the respondent selects only one response from a pre-populated list. Complex issues can arise from this type of format biasing an outcome through the format of the question.
Example of picklist/radio button event survey:
Pros
- No creative thinking required
- Easy for respondents to select
- Clean reporting
Cons
- Respondents pigeon holes answers
- Potential for bias
Multi-Picklist / Checkbox
Similar to a picklist / radio button responses, these are pre-populated, however this format allows the respondent to pick not just one, but make several choices.
Example of milti-picklist/checkbox event survey:
Pros
- Respondents not stuck in a pigeon hole
- no creative thinking required
Cons
- lack of tiering of selected options
- potential for bias
- complex reporting methods required
Free Form Comment Box
The last question type is the free form comment box. This question type simple has question that begs to be answered. It requires respondents to write as much or as little as they like on the subject (well all depends on the length of the comment box).
Example of free form comment box event survey:
Pros
- Respondents can be very detailed in their answers
- True voice of respondent
Cons
- Questions need to cleanly direct the answer
- Responses can be unclear
- Hard to quantify
Multi-Format Event Surveys
For complex or more creative surveys, question type can be combined, such as a 5 star rating with a question above a comment box,”please let us know why chose this rating” or a multi-picklists that allows for ordered number responses.
So there you have it, pros and cons of the four most common question types found in surveys, to help maximize attendee engagement and your event intelligence.