Survey Creation

Even if you clearly understood the above question and could provide your opinion accurately, you likely did a double take.  Questions like this are an example of double negatives.  They usually include the word “not” somewhere in the question itself, and then ask respondents whether they agree with the statement or position.

You can see how these questions are troublesome.  Taking our example question, if someone feels that they should use the best online survey software available, they would have to select a disagree response option to provide an accurate response.  This introduces a second form of negation that is confusing and unnecessary.  It’s easy to understand that this question is difficult to understand.  In addition to confusing your survey sample respondents, it increases cognitive burden, something you are trying to reduce.

Instead, use “positive” question wording.  The question above would be better if it simply asked whether respondents agree that they should use the best online survey software available.

Double negative questions make respondents do a double take when trying to understand and provide answers.  Designing your survey questions in a positive manner gives you one less source of error and bias to worry about, and that's not a bad thing!