Demographic questions at the end of a survey
Should demographic questions be at the end of a survey?
Whether you think demographic questions should be placed at the beginning or end of a questionnaire depends on how sensitive the question is.
For instance, if you need to know your audience's income level, then it's probably best not to lead with that question..
What is an example of a demographic question for a survey?
Other demographic questions may include religion; household income; number of children in a household; or geographic location.
Because some demographic questions are sensitive, always give the respondent the option to refuse to complete a question with an answer option of 'prefer not to answer. '.
Where should demographic questions be placed in a survey?
With the introduction of remote (telephone) and self-administered survey modes, survey researchers often placed demographics near the end of the survey.
This is partly because asking about personal demographic information, like age, employment status, or income level, was considered sensitive.Feb 15, 2023.
10 Tips for Writing Inclusive Demographic Survey Questions
- Consider the Necessity of the Information
- Make Sure Free-From or Open-Ended Responses are Always an Option
- Be Upfront About What the Data is Used For
- Allow Users to Skip Questions
- Avoid Giving Too Many Multiple Choices
- Ensure Your Terminology is Up to Date
There are many methods for how to visualize demographic data well such as:
- Color coding
- Pie charts
- Bar charts
- Line charts
How do I collect demographic information using a survey?
You can easily collect demographic information like this using a survey
Businesses typically insert demographic questions in a separate section, usually at the top of the page, to help distinguish this information from the primary survey topic
The below image highlights the demographic examples mentioned above
Should demographic questions go at the end of a survey?
Unless you’re using the demographic questions to filter out your survey respondents, demographic questions should go at the end of the survey
Why? For most surveys, demographic questions are the easiest ones to answer
Respondents don’t have to think very hard – they (usually!) easily know their age, gender, postal code, etc
Which order should demographic questions be grouped?
And the placement of demographic questions in that order is important
Generally, the demographic questions should be grouped either at the beginning or at the end of the survey
But which one is the best?
Most researchers put demographic items at the end since they are off-topic, less interesting, less substantive, and potentially sensitive Some researchers put the most important demographic items at the beginning (and less important ones at the end) to have at least some understanding of those who are not completing the surveySome experts believe that demographic questions should be asked at the beginning of the survey, some believe that they should be asked at the end, and others say that the most important demographic questions should be asked at the beginning of the survey while demographic questions of lower importance should be asked at the end.Respondents should be aware that demographic questions are optional and be able to proceed with the survey without answering the question at all. Demographic questions should generally be placed at the end of a survey. Demographic questions can be included towards the beginning of a survey if used for screening.Unless you’re using the demographic questions to filter out your survey respondents, demographic questions should go at the end of the survey.With the introduction of remote (telephone) and self-administered survey modes, survey researchers often placed demographics near the end of the survey. This is partly because asking about personal demographic information, like age, employment status, or income level, was considered sensitive. You don’t want to turn a respondent off at the outset.
The Omnibus Survey, now called the Opinions Survey, is a survey conducted monthly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in Great Britain in order to collect information for different governmental departments as well as non-profit organisations in the academic and voluntary sector.
