Design of online questionnaires 1: Appearance

Design issues are an extremely important consideration for online questionnaires because of the highly visual nature of the web environment, and the variety of technical skills of survey respondents. An inappropriately designed questionnaire can lead directly to increases in measurement error (Vehovar and Lozar Manfreda, 2008). The massive range of purposes of questionnaires and diversity of the populations to be studied mean that there is no single design approach that is appropriate for all online questionnaires. However, Best and Krueger (2008) point to two pairs of key interrelated issues. They stress the importance of uniformity (how consistently the questionnaire displays on different computers, balanced with consideration of usability (ease of use), and they also focus on the security (ensuring the questionnaire is only accessible by members of the sample and avoiding access by the same person more than once), balanced with anonymity (avoiding an impression that tracking or security considerations are compromising anonymity).

Some general design principles are noted in this section. This page will focus on issues primarily related to appearance, and the second page will consider those issues that are more concerned with content.

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The online questionnaire must be consistently designed throughout and it must also be consistent in appearance when viewed using different computer hardware and software packages as visual design has been found to have a direct impact on how respondents answer questions (Smyth et. al, 2006). It is important to avoid possible variations in the appearance owing to differences between the respondents' computer and the researchers' hardware or software. To achieve this, consideration of file-size and download time is important, along with the need to check that the questionnaire works at a range of screen settings.

It is common practice to design for the most common screen size (no bigger than 800 x 600), but it is important to check that the questionnaire does not display badly at larger (or smaller) sizes. It is important to use relative rather than absolute sizing where possible, and to avoid the use of images or other fixed size elements (such as tables with a fixed width) without checking their suitability on various screen sizes. If these elements are an essential part of the research question, then the possible impact on the validity of results is clear.

The following links show an extract from a questionnaire when viewed at three common screen-sizes. They are designed to show the dangers of failing to take this issue into account when developing the questionnaire.

1024 x 768 | 800 x 600 | 640 x 480

It is also good practice to test the questionnaire on as many different web browsers as possible prior to launch. This can be done by downloading archived versions of major browsers. It is also often a good idea to ask friends and colleagues who may use different browsers or have different connection speeds to view the questionnaire and feed back before deploying it. As shown in the 'multi-media stimuli' section in 'Design of online questionnaires 2: Content', the use of images or multi-media can have dramatic effects on file size and can lead to huge variation in download time depending on the speed of connection.

Remember also that users may want to increase text size or change colour options according to accessibility needs or preference. Where this will not affect the validity of results, it is therefore good practice to use Cascading Style Sheets which can be easily replaced or manipulated by the user if necessary. For optimum accessibility, this can be combined with measures such as avoiding absolute text sizes and setting a range of font options.

See the 'Key design issues' section of the 'Technical guide' module for further details about these issues.

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Colour can be used to enhance the questionnaire style and ease navigation. But technical variance in computers can result in colour variation in the received questionnaire and can increase download times. In order to minimize variation in the colour scheme, Best and Krueger (2004) suggest adopting the 216 colour web-safe palette that eliminates the 40 variable colours on an 8-bit system. Additionally, yellow and blue should be used and red, green, purple and orange avoided (Rigden 1999). Contrast between text and background should be maximized. Also, colours can convey cultural values. For example, green is associated with safety in the USA, criminality in France and youth and the future in Japan (Best and Krueger 2004). Overall, colour should be used with care and for specific purpose.

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Learning activity: Colour

The following example uses web-safe colours to ensure consistency. However, the example aims to show the potential effects of colour variance where they are not used. The colour scheme may appear to be suitable on the designer's machine, but may render differently on other computer screens.

Consider the use of colour in the example and make note in the text box. When you have finished, select 'check answer' to compare your notes with a suggested answer.

 

Look at the following words, and give each a score according to how positive you feel about it, by selecting the radio buttons underneath.

Aluminium	Tin
Positive Negative	Positive Negative
Silver	Magnesium
Positive Negative	Positive Negative
Copper	Brass
Positive Negative	Positive Negative

Check Answer

 

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Text appearance is based on font, size and decoration. The choice can affect transmission times, screen configurations and perceived length of questionnaire. Times New Roman and Arial are the preferred font style for high levels of legibility and readability (Bernard and Mills 2000). Verdana is also a good choice. The most popular font size are 12 and 14-point (Bernard et al. 2002) but this does vary with sub-group, with 14+ point being preferred amongst the elderly and children (Best and Krueger 2004). Generally font decoration (italics, bold etc) should be used sparingly as it can reduce reading speed and accuracy and they should also have consistent meaning throughout the survey (Dillman and Smyth, 2007). Underlining can cause confusion with hypertext links, and the use of unusual special characters should be avoided as these can be displayed inconsistently (Best and Krueger, 2008). It is also important to add adequate 'white space' for ease of reading and processing. This is a key factor in creating a suitable layout for the questionnaire. Questions should be easy to distinguish and should be consistently formatted and laid-out. Choices given should be equally spaced and positioned consistently to avoid measurement error.

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