What types of questions and tools await you in online surveys?

The standard question types in surveys are single and multiple selection. Open text fields, ranking questions and scaled queries are also included. In addition to these standard questions, there are a variety of question types and tools that are designed to make your opinion forming more interesting and/or to better target desired results. These question types and some other tools are briefly introduced here

Single selection

These question types are the most commonly used and are suitable for almost all topics/areas. The single selection is used for questions that only allow one answer, for example questions about gender, profession or place of residence. This question type can also be used when a clear answer is required. If one had to decide between well-known brands, which one would choose.

Multiple selection

In case of a multiple selection, it is possible to enter not only one but several answers for a question. A classic example is a list of trademarks where all known trademarks are to be clicked on. Or one can remember advertisements of the shown trademarks. As a rule, there is always an excluding answer for such question types, such as “None of the above” or “No information”. This answer cannot be combined with the other answers.

Open question

This type of question is particularly suitable for openly questioning the brand awareness or advertising recall at the beginning of a survey. An open question is often followed by a second question analogous to the open question, now only with a corresponding list of trademarks as a multiple selection, in which all relevant trademarks are then listed. A second possibility of an open text field is to give you the opportunity to add to a given list (e.g. Miscellaneous, namely:) and to evaluate this addition in the same way if necessary. Whereby we would be right at the scaled query…

Scaled query (scale)

How much do you like a brand, or how much do you dislike a brand. These gradations are important and can be freely selected by the customer, i.e. whether 10-step or 5-step, and usually have an important, analytical reason. Scaled queries are usually evaluated with the help of mean values and so-called top two values. These can be displayed with radio buttons or by means of a slider. But we will come to this later. As just described with the open question, you can also combine these two question types and give the respondent the opportunity to enter a mark or a statement and have it evaluated immediately. This is called a scaled question with an open input field.

Ranking question

Here you are asked to form an order. For this purpose, a list of brands or a list of statements is presented and the task is now to choose the most popular brand first. Then the second most popular, then the third most popular, and so on. After each selection, the selected one disappears, so that in the next step only the remaining marks can be selected. The answer options can be limited, so you can only select the three most popular ones.

Question with video / spot

Preferably taken in TV commercials or also as a test question in radio or TV commercials to determine whether the technical requirements for the survey are met. Thus, right at the beginning of a survey, one tests whether the loudspeakers are turned on and whether there is a general possibility that the commercial can be seen or heard. Otherwise, a question with video serves, among other things, as an advertising reminder. In addition one plays this TV-Spot and asks at the same time whether this is known and already in or even several times was seen or not.

Slider question

As a rule, a slider question is nothing more than a scaled question with a graphical representation. To do this, a graphic symbol (e.g. arrow) is dragged on a line to the left or right until the desired value is reached. Once the desired value is reached, the symbol is simply released and the value is stored in the database.

Drag and drop

Drag & Drop refers to the ability to move statements, terms or markers from one side to the other with the finger or mouse cursor. Question types such as ranking questions or card sorting can be used for this. Instead of answering scaled, you then have the possibility to drag the markers into the corresponding pots. Either with the mouse or with the finger mobile on the display.