Why You Need Qualitative Thinking in Survey Design

Too many researchers write surveys that read like a dry set of instructions for anonymous strangers. Writers with this mindset see themselves as the rigid experts and the target audience merely as “respondents.”

Surveys like this feel cold. There is no sense of connection, and often, no attempt to use the actual language the audience speaks.

What is Qualitative Thinking

IIn qualitative research, we do the exact opposite. We aim for a genuine connection. We want to understand the target audience’s world on their terms, in their words. At Susan Bell Research, we bring this qualitative thinking directly into our quantitative research.

How To Write Surveys Qualitatively

1. Treat participants as equals

Deliberately engage with the people who take your surveys. Rather than hiding behind impersonal, transactional language, tell them exactly what you are interested in using ordinary, conversational language.

2. Start with their lives, not your concepts

Before jumping into a test concept or product feature, start by asking participants about their day-to-day lives. People like talking about themselves, and starting here warms up their brains and gets them engaged before you dive into the specifics.

3. Run cognitive pilots

Before launching a survey, conduct one-on-one interviews with a small sample of the target market, asking them to “think aloud” as they answer the questions.

When participants say “I don’t know what this question means” or “None of these answer options fit me” in our cognitive pilots, we know we must fix such friction points first, so that the final survey actually works.