October 3, 2011
Repeating and Repeating and Repeating Ourselves
By Roy Patel, VP, Sales and Business Development, EMEA
Me: How do you feel about repetitive questions?
You: Don’t like them.
Me: Ok, then do you enjoy being asked the same thing over and over?
You: No.
Me: Well, do you like it when you’re questioned more than once about the same thing?
You: Shut up.
This little exchange may sound ridiculous, but it really is what we’re doing in our surveys too much of the time. Recently our partners at Millward Brown analyzed data from 600 survey respondents on our panel who dropped out of surveys before completion. They found that 43 percent named repetitive questions as a cause of frustration leading them to drop out. Here’s how one respondent put it: “…don’t ask me the same questions over and over and over. Once is plenty. My answers do not change.”
So why are we deliberately annoying our respondents with repetitive questions? Why knowingly bother our respondents with the same question types? Why ask questions again and again, and we know respondents won’t appreciate it?
Why?
Category:Data Quality, Panel Management, Panel Quality, Panel Retention, Survey Best Practices
Posted on October 3, 2011
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