How to Design a Survey

• To design a survey, take each quantitative indicator and translate it into a survey item that measures change and includes attribution to the program.

There are three common options for survey items:

• Forced choice questions (yes/no)
• Scaled questions (not at all, a little, some, quite a bit, a lot)
• Asking for a number or frequency

• Indicators can measure what people know, do, or feel, and each can be translated into one of these three question types to produce quantitative data.
• Examples include addiction recovery indicators (knowing the importance of positive people, meeting weekly with a support group, feeling comfortable talking about addiction) translated into scaled questions, numeric questions, or yes/no questions.
• Youth development indicators (financial literacy) are translated the same way: understanding saving and spending (scaled), creating and reviewing a budget (yes/no or frequency), and feeling confident breaking financial carelessness (scaled).
• When designing survey items, use one idea per question, include change and attribution, then add demographic questions (age, gender, location, dosage) to help analyse, display, and report impact data.