How to word a "response requested" survey alert

November 18, 2022 11:39 AM

In a survey where all questions are voluntary but questions are sometimes accidentally skipped, what alert text could I display next to skipped questions that briefly (1) prompts respondents to answer the question if they wanted to do so and also (2) communicates that they don't have to?

I'm administering a survey. It's essential that participants know that all questions are optional, and I explain this clearly verbally and in writing before they take the survey. However, sometimes people accidentally skip a question. I can set the survey so that alert text in red pops up next to skipped questions to request a response. Since in my experience these alerts usually mean that a response is required, I want to word this carefully to avoid communicating that they can't skip questions. For $reasons, adding a "decline to answer" response option for all questions is not a workable solution.

I thought of "Did you mean to skip this question? QUESTION OPTIONAL" but I would love other ideas!

posted by quiet coyote to Science & Nature (18 answers total)

Make every response required, but allow "I choose not to answer" as an accepted answer.

Works better if it's a multiple-choice survey; harder to do on freeform text.
posted by Hatashran at 11:41 AM on November 18, 2022 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: As I stated in the question, adding a "decline to answer" response option for all questions is not a workable solution. I only need help with the wording of the alert, not troubleshooting of the broader issue. Thanks!
posted by quiet coyote at 11:44 AM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

What are you using to administer the survey? I might consider encouraging caution at the beginning, to make sure folks don’t skip questions, and to remind them at the end to double-check.

If there’s a specific question that gets skipped you can consider a page break, so that question is at the top of a new page.

But you’re right that a question-level alert will be confusing.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:52 AM on November 18, 2022

Can you change the flow of the survey to add a review page before submitting? Our annual corporate employee survey had a page at the end that listed each question for which I had not provided a response, and a button to go back to that page in the survey. There was also some text explaining pretty much what you wrote. Below that was the Submit button.
posted by yuwtze at 11:55 AM on November 18, 2022

There is no response to this question. If you meant to skip it , if you would like to add an answer "

or, a little more formally

There is no response to this question. To leave it blank and continue to the next question , if you would like to add an answer "

Since you already have explained it verbally and at the beginning of the survey that they don't have to answer, I don't think you need to repeat the whole 'answers are optional' every time as long as the flag conveys a complete neutrality to answering or not answering.
posted by metahawk at 12:03 PM on November 18, 2022

"If you intended to answer the previous question, please hit the back button to complete it."

(And in general, even if you don't have "$reasons," you don't want to include a "decline to answer" option in surveys, as it would reduce greatly depress response rates. You might want to include it if there are questions that could be seen as intrusive, to avoid the risk of people getting annoyed and not completing the survey at all.)
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:06 PM on November 18, 2022

I would find it infuriating to be alerted about a question I didn't fill in deliberately, but a review page with something highlighting unanswered questions would be ok.

"You did not provide an answer for this question. Click 'go back' if you would like to add an answer" or something similar would be a reasonable phrasing.
posted by knapah at 12:06 PM on November 18, 2022 [5 favorites]

Re-ask the skipped items on the next page, with no mention that they skipped them.
posted by metasarah at 12:24 PM on November 18, 2022

Response by poster: It is also unfortunately not possible to add a review page, a second page where questions are re-displayed, or additional page breaks beyond the breaks we already have.

The flow is as follows and can't be changed:

1. Person skips question and clicks next
2. Instead of continuing to the next page, the page scrolls back up to the skipped question and displays the alert text next to the question
3. The person can click next a second time and the survey will continue to the next page, regardless of whether or not the question has been completed

Part of the trouble I'm having in wording the alert is that there's no additional action (e.g., clicking the back button) that they need to take to complete the item.
posted by quiet coyote at 12:25 PM on November 18, 2022

"Did you intend to skip this question? If so, please press 'next' again".
posted by SaltySalticid at 12:39 PM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

I would alert people at the beginning, as part of the general instructions:

"If you do not answer a question, you will be alerted and given a second opportunity to respond. If you wish to skip the question, simply click "Next" a second time to proceed."

Then for each alert, SaltySalticid's wording is very good.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:43 PM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

“Please provide an answer or press ‘Next’ again to skip this question.”

This tells them directly what you would like them to do and also explains the process for skipping a question (which seems a little non-intuitive).

The problem with “Did you mean…” is it seems like you’re assuming why they didn’t initially answer the question and this can be irritating if the assumption is not right.

Just provide direct instructions.
posted by kyten at 12:53 PM on November 18, 2022 [7 favorites]

Please don't put your users through any of this.

Your organization wants people to answer each question, but isn't willing to redesign the flow to encourage that behavior gracefully. Your solution of adding "are you sure" text is likely to confuse or piss off your users. They'll likely think, "Wait, am I allowed to skip this question or not?" and "What do I have to do to move forward?" You're likely to see higher abandonment of the survey altogether after someone encounters this band-aid, and no text you could come up with is going to fix an interface that isn't designed to make your survey simpler/frictionless for the user.

There are free survey tools that have best practices built into them, with bold, easily read question formats and sufficient spacing to cue orientation within the survey. My recommendation is either to use one of them, or to copy the formats and behaviors they've taught users to expect. If you're not willing to do that, then maybe skip the added friction altogether and accept that some (small percentage?) users will miss the occasional question.
posted by nadise at 1:58 PM on November 18, 2022 [11 favorites]

In my experience with surveys and other data-collection tools, including an alert like this would lead to major attrition early in the survey. There is no phrasing I can think of that would be able to overcome the inconvenience cost of having to confirm every skipped question.

Is there clear language in the intro and pre-survey communications materials for the value of the data being collected, and the benefit that participants will receive for providing it? (E.g., feedback that the boss will use to decide on benefits options for next year, etc.). Knowing how data will be used and that collectors will be accountable for the data they collect is the single best practice I’ve seen for getting people to answer questions.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 3:38 PM on November 18, 2022

Response by poster: Skipped questions are quite rare but are high-impact when they happen. Respondents are highly personally invested in filling them out. They know the value of the data they're providing and have actively sought us out to provide it. They are filling out 5 surveys over 3 months and we've gotten 97% full survey completion.

However, we've had a couple one-off instances in one question set in one survey where it seems that the page is opening at the end of the page instead of the beginning for some respondents. So people are missing all but the last question on the page. It's a matrix-type question that can't be split across pages without even more severe disruptions to ongoing data collection- lesson definitely learned for next time, but we can't fix that particular plane while it's flying. While we work on diagnosing the cause and addressing the programming issue, we need a stopgap that will help prevent further missed items.

So I am operating under what I believe to be a correct assumption that people actually want a reminder if they miss a question, and that this will not happen repeatedly for each user.
posted by quiet coyote at 4:26 PM on November 18, 2022 [5 favorites]

Those details are great help - thanks! In that case, I’d provide text that is super-concrete, doesn’t discuss what’s optional or not, and gives instructions from clearest to least clear.

“This question was left blank.
To skip this question, click Next.
To provide an answer to this question, [fill in the free text field below] and then click Next.”

In this case, I think it would actually be a *good* thing to put instructions to skip first, since you are confident that people *want* to answer but are missing questions because of UX issues. “Oh no! I *don’t* want to skip this question.” There isn’t a need to talk about questions being optional, because you’re not using these instructions to convince people to answer. (I have strong feelings about survey tactics that pressure users to answer optional questions, even gently.)
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 7:08 PM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

If the skip-to-bottom-of-page issue is a known problem, is it addressed in the verbal and written instructions before beginning? Is there a way to add text on that page before the Next button prompting users to scroll up and check even before clicking Next?
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 7:12 PM on November 18, 2022

I do user interaction stuff for a living. Seconding rrrrrrrrrt - that is exactly the phrasing and text layout I would suggest.

Are the questions numbered? If the first question I see starts with "5." or "Question 5 of 11: " I'm more likely to try scrolling up than if it just has the question text.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:17 AM on November 19, 2022