Great questions can often be the key to a great survey. If you want actionable insights as well as thoughtful and honest responses then you need to be asking the right questions.
Surveys are a versatile tool for employers, HR professionals, users researchers and just about everyone in between. Gathering a variety of detailed responses can be the first step to better understanding your users, students, employees and more.
A good survey can help bridge the knowledge gap that many of us face when trying to understand someone else's point of view. But many often wonder how they can create a successful survey and it really all starts with the questions you are asking.
Are they pertinent? Are they relevant? Have they been worded properly and are they clear?
Diversifying your questions, the available responses, as well as the format can do wonders to help liven up your next survey.
You want your respondents to be engaged so they provide you with thoughtful answers that help you define their pain points, understand their input, and highlight their satisfaction.
So with all of that said, let’s look at some examples of different survey questions you can ask in a wide variety of scenarios and the different types of questions you can use to gather those all important responses.
We have included examples that can be used by educators as well as HR and business professionals.
Types of Survey Questions & Examples
Classic Survey Questions Types
These question types are tried and tested, and have become the staple question types for many surveys.
Multiple Choice
1. Which of our products have you bought recently?
- Shoes
- Clothing
- Accessories
- Multiple
2. What type of resource do you find most useful?
- Blog post
- Template
- YouTube video
- E-Book / Guide
- All or some of the above
3. How often do you feel confused in class?
- Very often
- Occasionally
- On rare occasions
- Never
4. Where do you prefer to work / study?
- Library / Office
- At home
- A combination of both
5. What method of examination do you prefer?
- Written Exam
- Oral Exam
- Continuous Assessment
- Submitted Assignments
- Combination of all the above
What examination method do you prefer?
Scales
6. 1-10
- Do you feel prepared for your exams?
- What, on average, is your daily stress level?
- How comfortable are you returning to the classroom?
- What do you think of studying from home?
- I find value in the subjects I am studying
7. Very dissatisfied - Very satisfied
- My professional development at the company
- Our employee benefits
- The standard of learning opportunities provided
- The variety of tasks I do
- Our HR practices
8. Not very likely - Very likely
- How likely are you to recommend your manager to others?
- How likely are you to recommend this company to a friend?
- Would you recommend our product to someone you know?
- Would you take this course again knowing what you do now?
- How likely are you to use our services again in the future?
9. Not very important to me - Extremely important to me
- Having regular meetings with managers
- Having regular syncs with department colleagues
- All-hands meetings that discuss company goals and plans
- Taking part in company and departmental training days
- Having a mixture of face to face and online meetings
What's important in a job?
Rankings
10. What is most important to you?
- Maintaining a work life balance
- Achieving work goals
- Career development
- Relationships with colleagues
11. What do you look for when buying a product?
- Good price
- Functionality
- Reviews from other customers
- Information on website / social media
12. What is the best performing aspect of this course?
- Teaching method
- Course material
- Additional resources
- Extra curricular services
13. What has been the most interesting aspect of this course?
- Group lectures
- Student led seminars
- Open discussion tutorials
- Student presentations
14. What do you value in a good app?
- Ease of use
- Beautiful design
- Uniqueness
- Customer support
What do you value in a good app?
Creative Question Types
Including some of the traditional question types is greatest but you may need to diversify how you are asking your questions to keep respondents engaged. These slide types have been designed to get respondents thinking and considering their options more than before.
100 Points
15. What do you look for in a company?
- Brand reputation
- Reviews
- Company ethics
- Location
16. What modules do you enjoy?
- Grammar
- Literature
- Poetry
- Culture
17. What aspects of a benefits program do you value most?
- Insurance policy
- Parental leave
- Vacation time
- Company trips & relocation
- Opportunity to work remotely
What aspects of a benefits program do you value most?
2 x 2 Matrix
18. Action priority matrix
19. New skills matrix
20. BCG matrix
21. Product Survey Matrix
22. Company & Competitor Matrix
Company and Competitor Matrix
Special Mentimeter Questions
A Mentimeter survey offers you the added ability to include some of your favorite and popular slide types. Word Clouds are a great way to gather clear concise answers while Open Ended questions can help respondents express their views in a more detailed and expansive way.
Word Clouds
23. What is one challenge you constantly face at work?
24. Use one word to describe our product
25. How would you describe this class?
26. How did you find our help center / support?
27. What is the toughest thing you have to deal with on a daily basis?
Day to day difficulties
Open Ended
28. If given the opportunity, what 1 change would you make?
29. If you have a suggestion for management what would it be?
30. What area can we improve upon the most?
31. What one thing are we doing right as a company?
32. What is your favorite thing about our product?
Why you should use Mentimeter for your next survey
So you’ve seen what the benefits of a good survey are and what a good series of questions can do to improve yours. So how about using Mentimeter as your next survey tool? Our software has been designed to make surveys engaging, visually, and an easy way to collect important data.
Need more inspiration? Have no fear!!!
Even our ‘traditional’ survey question types (multiple choice etc.) can be given a new lease of life. Change those bar charts to a pie chart or get really creative by using a spider chart for your next scales question.
Feel free to mix and match what question types you use. Start with one of our most popular question types to keep respondents engaged and thinking critically and creatively and then include some survey staples.
Answers are easy to submit and can be done during a meeting or sent out to be completed when respondents have the required time.
