What’s in a name? Well, when you’re naming a survey, quite a lot! People are asked to take surveys all the time, so coming up with a name that entices them to participate is very important. In this blog, we’ll look at how to name a survey, questionnaire, poll, quiz, or form that gets attention – and discuss a few things not to do.
Create your FREE Survey, Poll, or Questionnaire now!
7 Ways to Create a Good Name for a Survey
Researchers spend a lot of time coming up with survey topics and questions. Be sure not to undermine all of that work with a survey name that could be biased or turn people away. Here are seven ways to create a good name for a survey which will help keep your data clean.
1. Avoid Biased Survey Names
Typically, survey bias happens when the survey creator includes questions that may encourage a respondent to answer in a particular way, which damages the surveys credibility (for example, asking a leading question). However, survey bias can also be introduced in the name for a survey.
As a general rule, a good name for a survey should not be too specific, as it could attract people who feel strongly one way or the other regarding the topic, or turn away people altogether, resulting in a sampling error. Here’s a few survey name examples that have inherent bias.
Examples of Biased Survey Names
Survey name: Opinions About the Recent Political Election
This seems like a harmless name for a political survey, however it is biased as it could deter people who didn’t vote in the recent election or who don’t consider themselves very political. And, if you don’t include these types of people in the survey, results will be skewed only to voters and/or politically-minded people.
Survey name: The Negative Impact of Virtual Learning
This survey name is biased as it immediately puts the idea into respondents’ heads that virtual learning is bad – even if they don’t feel that it is. The title could lead them to answer in the negative, especially if that’s the direction they feel you want them to take.
Survey name: Health Insurance Survey
This biased survey name could alienate people who don’t have health insurance, and most likely, you want to survey these people as well to understand why they don’t have it. A better alternative would simply be, “Healthcare Survey.”
Survey name: Pineapple Poll!
Sure, it’s a short, sweet, and catchy name for a poll, but it’s probably going to alienate people who don’t like pineapple. And, you may want to reach these people in addition to pineapple lovers to understand what they don’t like about pineapples or why they don’t eat them.
2. Keep Survey Names Vague
Getting too detailed with survey names is one way to introduce bias into your survey. Here are some ways to keep survey names relatively generic, using the survey name examples from the previous section.
Opinions About the Recent Political Election
A better alternative would be “Election Survey.” It doesn’t specify politics, and it doesn’t specify that it’s about the most recent election, in case they didn’t vote in it.
The Negative Impact of Virtual Learning
A better alternative would be “Opinions on Virtual Learning.” Respondents will know the topic, but they’re not told to feel one way or the other about it.
Health Insurance Survey
A better alternative would be “Healthcare Survey.” This way, it looks to appeal to everyone, not just those with insurance, thus casting a wider net.
Pineapple Poll!
A better alternative would simply be “Fruit Poll.” This way, it’s not obvious that the true focus is on pineapples.
Of course, some of these names might be considered a bit “boring.” If response rates are low, keep the names vague but make them a little more interesting and resend them. For example:
- “Election Survey” becomes “Make Your Voice Heard in Our Election Survey”
- “Opinions on Virtual Learning” becomes “Virtual Learning: Blessing or Curse?”
- “Healthcare Survey” becomes “An Apple a Day: Healthcare Survey”
- “Fruit Poll” becomes “Tooty Fruity: Take the Poll!”
3. Keep Survey Names Short
Just as people prefer short surveys, short survey names are also beneficial. They give respondents just enough information to know what the topic is, but aren’t lengthy enough to turn them off or confuse them (the last thing you want to do is confuse someone before they’ve even begun the survey). Another bonus? It makes the task of naming a survey that much easier!
4. Consider Highlighting Anonymity
“Anonymous survey methods appear to promote greater disclosure of sensitive or stigmatizing information compared to non-anonymous methods,” writes the National Institute of Health (NIH) in a study. So, if you are sending an online survey on a sensitive topic, and your survey is anonymous, it doesn’t hurt to include that fact in the title of your survey to improve response rates.
By announcing anonymity in the title, potential respondents know immediately, without having to read further, that their answers will not be attributed to them. Going back to our recommended title of “Healthcare Survey,” you might opt to name it “Anonymous Healthcare Survey.”
5. Consider Highlighting Incentives
Are you offering an incentive to complete the survey, such as a gift card, promotional code, or free gift? You might consider including that in your title to capture people’s attention. For example, “Fruit Poll: Free Gift for Completing Our Survey.”
There is the possibility that highlighting incentives could attract the wrong person—someone who’s simply in it for the reward. This type of respondent may rush through the survey to claim their reward or provide inaccurate information because their only goal is a financial one. This can skew your results and cost you time and money. So, always consider the pros and cons of including survey incentives in your title.
6. Create Internal Survey Names
Creating an internal title helps you get organized. If you send out a lot of surveys, particularly if they have the same external title, it’s a good idea to create an internal title that you and your team will refer to it as. This internal title will not be seen by participants.
For example, let’s say you’re surveying students about virtual learning, and are sending it out to all high school students. If you’re looking at opinions based on their level of education, you might create four different internal names, as follows:
- Virtual Learning Survey: Freshmen
- Virtual Learning Survey: Sophomores
- Virtual Learning Survey: Juniors
- Virtual Learning Survey: Seniors
This could be very important because the surveys could have very different results based on grade level. For example, freshmen who are adjusting to a new school may prefer face-to-face learning, whereas seniors who are approaching graduation may prefer the flexibility of online learning.
7. Include Images with Survey Names
Using images in surveys is a great way to boost engagement and understanding of the survey. With SurveyLegend, images can be used to complement questions or answers. In addition, SurveyLegend allows you to create beautiful welcome pages in which to display the name of your survey, a description of the content, and include survey pictures, as seen below.
Somethings to note with this particular SurveyLegend welcome page:
- Branding: The school mascot, the wildcat, was added to the top for survey branding purposes and to provide legitimacy.
- Naming: The name is short and sweet, and avoids bias by not opining on whether it is positive or negative.
- Description: The description highlights that the survey is anonymous, and that there is an incentive for completion.
- Imagery: An image of a laptop is centered beneath the content which complements the survey name. A background image of additional computer-related imagery was also added.
Conclusion
When crafting a survey, you don’t want to spend countless hours developing great questions only to undermine everything with a name that introduces bias, confuses respondents, or turns them away. A survey title should never be an afterthought; put as much energy into creating that name as you did the survey itself. To come up with a good name for a survey, use the ideas in this blog – and use SurveyLegend to create engaging surveys with images. It’s free to start now!
How do you go about naming surveys? Did you find the ideas in the blog useful? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Create your FREE Survey, Poll, or Questionnaire now!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Survey names should be short and rather vague, but still give potential respondents an idea of the content. Keeping them short helps to engage, while keeping them vague helps ensure people aren’t attracted or deterred from taking it based on the topic alone, improving data analysis.
Survey bias happens when the survey creator includes questions that may persuade respondents to answer in a particular way. The bias could be introduced intentionally, do get the desired results however skewed, or unintentionally, resulting in discredited data. The name of a survey can also introduce survey bias before the respondent has even begun taking the survey.
A survey name should not be biased. It should also be short and rather vague as not to dissuade people from engaging with it. Highlighting that the survey is anonymous or includes incentives are also a consideration in order to boost response rates.
