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Building a Survey

Creating questions, choosing question types, and structuring your survey.

Last updated April 2026

A well-designed survey gets honest, useful responses. This guide covers how to create a survey, choose the right question types, and structure your questions for the best results.

Creating a New Survey

Navigate to the Surveys section from the sidebar and click "New Survey". Start by filling in the basic details:

  • Title - a clear name that tells respondents what the survey is about
  • Description - a brief explanation of why you are running the survey and how responses will be used

A good description sets expectations and encourages participation. For example, "This survey asks about your experience with our new sprint process. Responses are anonymous and will be used to make improvements" is more motivating than "Please fill this in".

Question Types

Manager Toolkit supports ten question types:

5 Star Rating

Respondents pick from one to five stars. Best for satisfaction, quality, or general agreement ratings that are easy to compare over time.

Likert Scale

Strongly Disagree through Strongly Agree on a five-point scale. Best for measuring attitudes and beliefs.

Net Promoter Score

A zero to ten scale that splits respondents into Detractors, Passives, and Promoters. Best for tracking overall recommendation.

Emoji

Happy, Neutral, or Angry. Best for quick sentiment checks and pulse-style questions.

Yes & No

Tappable Yes or No cards. Best for clear binary questions.

Multiple Choice

Respondents select from predefined options. Best for categorising responses or comparing specific alternatives.

Simple Text

A single-line text field. Best for short answers like a name, a quick comment, or a one-line suggestion.

Paragraph

A larger free-text area for long-form replies. Best for detailed feedback, suggestions, or context.

Email Address

A text field validated as an email. Best when you need contact details for follow-up.

Number

A numeric input. Best for self-rated scales or counts that you want to chart.

Structuring Your Survey

The order and flow of your questions matters. A few guidelines:

  • Start with straightforward questions before asking for detailed opinions
  • Group related questions together so the survey feels logical
  • Put the most important questions early, when respondents are most engaged
  • Keep the total number of questions manageable, ideally five to ten

You can reorder questions by dragging them into your preferred sequence.

Writing Good Questions

Clear questions produce useful answers. Avoid:

  • Double-barrelled questions ("How satisfied are you with the process and the tooling?" - these are two different things)
  • Leading questions ("Don't you think the new process is better?" - this biases the response)
  • Vague questions ("How are things?" - too broad to produce actionable feedback)

Instead, be specific: "On a scale of 1-5, how clear are the acceptance criteria in your sprint tickets?"

Test your survey by reading each question aloud - if it sounds awkward, rewrite it. Mix rating and text questions: ratings give you measurable data, text gives you the reasons behind the numbers. Keep surveys focused on a single topic for better completion rates.

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