Respect the Respondent's Time

Principle: Surveys should be concise and prioritize essential questions to maintain engagement and maximize completion rates.
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Survey fatigue significantly impacts response quality and completion rates. Research shows that abandonment increases dramatically after 7-8 minutes (Galesic & Bosnjak, 2009) and data quality deteriorates as surveys lengthen (Herzog & Bachman, 1981).

Examples

A 25-minute product feedback survey that asks for detailed responses about every feature, including those the respondent hasn’t used.

Problems:

  • Excessive length leads to abandonment mid-survey
  • Later questions receive rushed, low-quality responses
  • Includes irrelevant questions that waste respondent time
  • Damages relationship with participants and reduces future participation

A 5-minute focused survey that uses logic to ask only about features the respondent has used, with an optional section for additional feedback.

Benefits:

  • High completion rate ensures representative data
  • Consistent response quality throughout the survey
  • Respects respondents’ contributions and builds goodwill
  • Increases willingness to participate in future research

How to Apply It

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Start With Survey Objectives

Define specific research goals before writing questions to avoid scope creep.

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Eliminate Nice-to-Know Questions

Include only questions that directly support decision-making or address research goals.

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Use Skip Logic

Dynamically show questions based on previous answers to avoid irrelevant sections.

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Provide Progress Indicators

Show respondents their progress to reduce uncertainty about survey length.

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