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When to use which survey question type?
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Updated 2 months ago

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   Surveys are one of the most popular tools for gathering data and insights from a target audience.

Civio Engage offers a number of survey building tools to help you create a range of surveys for gathering different types of data. In this article we will explore the different types of questions you can choose to build your survey, and the best time to use them.

Multiple choice questions
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This is one of the most common types of survey questions, and it's very effective for gathering quantitative data and measuring attitudes and behaviours. Multiple choice questions let respondents choose from a set of predefined options, so it's important to make sure that the options are clear, unambiguous and mutually exclusive.

Tool to use:

#### **Checkbox**

Users can select one or more of the predefined options, or choose an 'other' option to provide a custom response.

#### **Drop-down**

Users can choose from a list of scrollable predefined options, and can select one or more.

![dropdown.jpeg](/storage/articles/9183176621455.jpg)

#### **Radios**

Users can select one of the predefined options, or choose an 'other' option to provide a custom response.

![](/storage/articles/10499830407055.png)

#### **Media selection**

Media selection enables survey creators to add an interactive visual input where respondents can choose between single or multi-image selection, enabling preference feedback on visual scenarios.

![](/storage/articles/11484899564047.png)

Rating scale questions
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Rating scale questions ask respondents to rate a statement or an item on a scale. These questions are useful for measuring opinions, attitudes and behaviours, and can provide more detailed data than a multiple choice question. Similarly, a Ranking tool asks respondents to order a list of options by preference.

These tools are useful for measuring sentiment, such as customer satisfaction.

Tool to use:

#### **Rating tool**

Choose from stars, thumbs or heart emojis.

![rating.jpeg](/storage/articles/9183971308943.jpg)

#### **Number slider**

Select a number within a range.

![slider.jpeg](/storage/articles/9183971313167.jpg)

#### **Ranking**

Drag and drop the options in order of preference.

![](/storage/articles/9695035017999.png)

Open-ended questions
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Open-ended questions are used when you want respondents to answer in their own words. They are useful for gathering qualitative data. They provide valuable insights into customer behaviour or attitudes, and can be used to gather feedback or suggestions for improvement. Open-ended questions can be more difficult to analyse than the quantitative data from multiple choice questions.

Find out more about analysing qualitative data with Civio Engage [here](https://www.district.au/article/text-analysis-community-engagement-software).

Tool to use:

#### **Text short**

Suitable for short responses.

![text short.jpeg](/storage/articles/9184042192143.jpg)

#### **Text long**

Suitable for longer responses.

![text long.jpeg](/storage/articles/9184042193167.jpg)

#### **Comment text**

Suitable for long responses with Rich Content format.

Demographic questions
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These questions ask respondents about personal characteristics such as age and gender, and are useful to segment data and identify patterns among different groups. They can also confirm if your survey data is representative of demographics.

Tool to use:

#### **Radio**

For single response questions such as Male/Female/Other.

#### **Number input**

For postcodes, age.

![number input.jpeg](/storage/articles/9184026857871.jpg)

Likert scale questions
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Likert scale questions ask respondents to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with a statement. They are similar to a rating scale question, but are used to measure attitudes or beliefs, and range from "strongly agree to "strongly disagree.

Tool to use:

#### **Likert scale**

![Cursor_and_Mouse_Highlight_Overlay.png](/storage/articles/9694915342095.png)

Matrix questions
----------------

A matrix question asks respondents to rate a series of items on a scale, and can be used for measuring multiple variables at the same time, such as customer satisfaction with different aspects of a product or service.

Tools to use:

#### **Ranking tool**

#### **Likert scale tool**

A well-designed survey is an important source of information and data about your community, and using the right question tool can give you valuable insights that will help to drive your project forward.

If you want more information about building surveys with Civio Engage, [contact us](https://www.district.au/contact) for a demonstration.

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