This is part 9 of my series on writing a good user survey. If you're just joining us, you may want to start with part 1.
Step 8: Don't be too hard on yourself. This is a process.
Writing good survey questions is sometimes really hard. You're seeking the unbiased opinions of your users, but just by writing the questions you unintentionally insert your own biases and influences into your users' thoughts. And your own bias is inherently difficult to spot -- that's why there are entire sites dedicated to finding it. But fear not; knowing that you have hidden bias is half the battle. (Well... maybe only 20% of the battle. But still.)Once you know to scrutinize your questions and define your terms and ask people for feedback, you're on the right path. If you know what traps to look for, all you've got left is an optimization problem: how much of your time is worth the benefit you receive from knowing your users' opinions? Some questions probably deserve a great deal of care if their results will affect hiring decisions or big purchases. If you're trying to decide whether a button should say "Click here" or "Submit," then not so much. ...Unless the button is submitting a user's payment. That deserves some study!
I hope this series has been helpful! If you have questions, comments, or criticism, I'd love to hear about it. Also, are there other UX or UI topics you'd like me to discuss? Leave a comment or send me an email. And thanks for reading!
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This is part 9 of my series on writing a good user survey. If you want to start at the beginning, head back over to part 1.
Hire me, and then I'll write your next survey! I'm available for full-time or consulting work -- email me.
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