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3 drawbacks of long questionnaires

Adja Leye Gueye

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Research Fundamentals
3 drawbacks of long questionnaires

When writing your questionnaire, it's tempting to include a large number of questions in order to get as much insights as possible from your study. But long questionnaires come with side effects that can affect your results and the effectiveness of your data collection. Remember, the most important thing in your research is not to obtain as much information as possible, but the right information.

Here are a few drawbacks associated with lengthy questionnaires:

1. Low response rate

All respondents won’t necessarily have a lot of time to answer all your questions. A long questionnaire might imply an important respondent’s drop-off during the questionnaire completion. As a result, the collection of your data might take more time than expected to counter the low response rate.

2. Bias due to respondent fatigue

Respondents will tend to give incorrect answers after having answered an important number of questions as they start getting tired. “Respondent fatigue” is a well documented phenomenon in Research which brings an important bias in your responses and therefore affects the quality of your data. Keep in mind that you will take actions after your research, so if there is some bias in your results you might also take wrong decisions.

3. Analysis time

Longer questionnaires require a longer time of analysis of the result and thus a longer report. Keep in mind that you will need to communicate your findings and take actions: long reports might get you and your audience lost in the data and prevent you from having simple conclusions and actions to take after your research is done.

💡TIPS: How to reduce the length of my questionnaire?

To keep a more concise questionnaire, follow these quick tips:

  1. Narrow the scope of your study and remove the questions that wouldn’t fit into the objectives of your study. 

  2. Spot the similar questions and only keep 1 question for 1 insight (use the triple 1 rule : 1 idea = 1 question = 1 insight). 

  3. Link your questions with hypotheses and remove those that wouldn’t bring you clear conclusions

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