What research reveals about optimal survey length, questions and strategy

Surveys that ask too many of the same type of question tire respondents and return unreliable data, according to a new UC Riverside-led study.

The study found that people tire from questions that vary only slightly and tend to give similar answers to all questions as the survey progresses. Marketers, policymakers and researchers who rely on long surveys to predict consumer or voter behavior will have more accurate data if they craft surveys designed to elicit reliable, original answers, the researchers suggest.

“We wanted to know, is gathering more data in surveys always better, or could asking too many questions lead to respondents providing less useful responses as they adapt to the survey,” said first author Ye Li, a UC Riverside assistant professor of management. “Could this paradoxically lead to asking more questions but getting worse results?”

While it may be tempting to assume more data is always better, the authors wondered if the decision processes respondents use to answer a series of questions might change, especially when those questions use a similar, repetitive format.