3 Things You Need to Know About Creating User-Friendly Research Questionnaires

As an industrial designer with strong skills in human-centered design, I have much experience in creating research questionnaires --- one of the most commonly used UX research methods. In the 7 years I've been studying industrial design, I've created countless questionnaires for my projects. Like many students with limited resources, I often relied on friends and family to fill them out. I would like to sincerely thank my friends who have gone to great lengths to help me fill out and disseminate my questionnaires over the years, I love you guys, haha.

Of course I also filled out countless questionnaires from my classmates. But sadly, some of those questionnaires were so horrible that I was confused and even agonized while filling them out... I could imagine how confusing and unreliable the data they got was. Poor-quality research leads to weak insights, which makes it much harder to give out good design concepts.

In professional settings, industrial designers often don’t conduct user research themselves. Larger teams typically separate research and design, with designers relying on research reports to guide their work. However, I believe that when designers develop a solid understanding of research methods, they can improve collaboration across departments and even help prevent costly mistakes. (Perhaps this is why SCAD added a “contextual research” course to the industrial design curriculum.)

I understand that in a fast-paced academic environment, conducting perfect research isn’t always realistic. But making research questionnaires more user-friendly is very easy. Small improvements can significantly enhance response rates and data quality. Based on my experience designing research and helping classmates refine their questionnaires, I’d like to share three key tips.

I cannot promise that this article will turn you into a research expert overnight, but at the very least, you won't get all sorts of complaints after sending out your questionnaires!

I have been asked if there is a limit to the number of questions a good questionnaire can have. My answer? There’s no strict rule. A questionnaire isn’t bad just because it has a lot of questions—I’ve created ones with over 30 myself. What truly matters is the experience of filling it out. Your goal is to make sure respondents stay engaged and complete it smoothly, rather than getting bored halfway through and rushing their answers.

From my experience, the ideal completion time is around three minutes. Less than 2 minutes will make your questionnaire look too casual, and the person filling out the questionnaire will naturally not be too attentive to the answers. More than 5 minutes will make the filler feel tired, which could lead to careless responses toward the end.

So, how do you control completion time? It’s simple—test it. Once your questionnaire is drafted, ask two friends to fill it out while you time them. To ensure inclusivity, try selecting friends of different genders. This small step can make a big difference in creating a smoother, more effective questionnaire.

This tip closely ties into the previous one. A person may be fluent in many languages, but most people's brains think in their mother tongue and read articles written in their mother tongue the fastest. Providing a questionnaire in a participant’s mother tongue can significantly reduce completion time, improving both the experience and data quality.

I’ve seen many SCAD Chinese students in the U.S. create English-language questionnaires and send them to other Chinese students on WeChat. This makes sense—after all, these surveys may also be distributed to other SCAD classmates, and English is the standard language in the U.S. However, using a non-native language can slow reading speed, increasing the time needed to complete the questionnaire. When participants start feeling fatigued, they may rush their answers or lose interest altogether.

That’s why I strongly recommend considering participants’ native language when designing questionnaires. Whenever possible, offer a version in their preferred language. Yes, creating multiple versions takes our extra effort, but it minimizes the burden on participants. In the end, reducing their difficulty leads to better-quality responses—something that benefits both the researcher and the respondent. Isn’t that a win-win?

Inclusivity in questionnaires is essential—especially when we don't have detailed user personas or distribution channels to specific target groups. (Students often have limited resources, making it difficult to distribute questionnaires strategically, I’ll share more tips on categorizing and filtering data in a future post.)

Primary research usually happens after secondary research. In secondary research, we've likely picked up some quick expertise and a lot of specialized vocabulary. This is a good thing, but we can't assume that everyone has the same knowledge base as we do. This is where we should show empathy.

As designers, we’re trained to write professional documents using the "language of designers"—a habit many of us develop early on. This advanced vocabulary can be persuasive when speaking to clients or stakeholders, but when engaging with research participants, it’s important to be approachable and clear. My professors often reminded me: "Explain your concept to me like I’m a kindergarten child—use the simplest words."

I once saw a student questionnaire that included the option "Not enough touchpoints." This is a classic example of "designer language"—but how would a non-designer know what touchpoints are? To avoid confusion, a better approach is to list specific touchpoints (e.g., web pages, phone support, printed documents) and ask participants which touchpoints provide them information or assistance. This way, respondents can easily understand the question and provide meaningful, reliable data.

A great way to avoid this problem is to test your questionnaire with non-peers before distribution. If even your parents (assuming they aren’t in the design field) can complete it without hesitation, your questionnaire is likely very inclusive and accessible. However, if they struggle with certain terms or questions, chances are your actual participants will too.

Considering everyone's reading experience (I know you don't want to spend more than 10 minutes on one article), I only listed the three most common problems and related suggestions in this article, I wish my sharing helped you.

There are many details to pay attention to to create a high-quality survey questionnaire. Diminishing horrible questionnaires is my ultimate goal. I will write more articles to share my unique perspective and thinking in the field of user experience research as an industrial designer.

If you think this article is helpful to you, please do not hesitate to share this article with your friends, like or subscribe to my channel "Curious Loom", so that I know that my effort is recognized! Thank you very much!