If you do basics exceptionally well, then you’re probably going to excel.
This applies to everything you do. Sports, studying, relationships, oh, and market research too.
Despite this we think the basics are a bore, AI, ML and VR are what we seem to adore.
But it’s the so-called ‘boring basics’ that really pay our bills. So this series is about appreciating and upcycling our basic and most important skills!
Survey research only meets it objectives if it effectively communicates with participants.
But ‘what’ is effective survey communication? Tough question. How about: a survey which guides its target audience through answering all the questions as the researcher wants them too.
Key to this is communicating visual instructions. Cue the next question: how do you best communicate visual instructions in a survey?
The answer lies on the Preston Bypass in 1958. This is the first modern UK road sign’s birthplace.
Margaret Calvert & Jock Kinneir designed the UK road signs we still use today. The government commissioned them with the brief being to design road signs that were readable at high speed. This means their work can steer your survey in the right direction of effective survey communication.
Communicate clearly. Prevent pileups
A survey is a set of behavioural instructions. Road signs are the same.
Select three responses. Slow down. Click here. Turn right. Warning: contraflow. Yes, these are all asked in different contexts. But they’re all asking people to behave in a certain way.
Calvert’s road sign designs were underpinned by the question: “what do people need to know?”. This means each sign communicates one request with unerring clarity. Yet, surveys often ask people for too much too quickly.
Surveys do this because we forget that people are cognitive misers. If something looks too hard to do, they won’t do it. This means participants ignore lengthy instructions you give them. Why? Simple. Because reading lots of text is hard work.
So, ask for less at once. Use icons where you can. Where necessary use video instructions. And always ask: “what do people need to know?”.
Communicate clearly. Colour is clarity
Each UK road sign communicates its usage with a unique colour scheme. This means drivers know which road type they’re about to drive on, and the which driving rules to follow.
Survey design often lacks such clarity. Too often, participant instructions are in small fonts on bland interfaces. Use colours like road signs with each colour representing different rules. Show the key at the survey’s start and have on display throughout if needed.
Three audiences. Three needs. One answer
Both surveys and road signs must speak to different audiences.
Clients, programmers and participants all read the same survey. All have different needs: Clients – meeting objectives. Programmers – programming instructions. Participants – following instructions.
Similarly, road signs must speak to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.
Both can communicate to three audiences by using the same approach: knowing their audiences.
Doing so means you communicate to each of them in familiar/recognisable ways. Use the right language. Apply appropriate colours. Utilise resonant imagery. These basics are critical to effective a survey’s clarity.
Don’t be fools, evolve the rules
Calvert & Kinneir’s original road sign designs remain foundational to how the UK travels. But they’ve since evolved. The Guildford Rules system updated road signs in the 1980’s to reduce clutter. Road signs evolved again in 2003 with digital technology.
Survey’s visual instructions must evolve too. The benchmark for this evolution is simple: familiar mass media.
The visuals used by people to send messages, find partners and buy furniture are what they’re familiar with. NOT an unfamiliar research interface. So, the last place to look for survey design tips is the research industry. Look around you at real life NOT research life.
Diversity > University
Calvert & Kinneir were typographers. They had experience in fields like luggage label design, commercial fonts and teaching. What’s more, neither of them drove.
In 2019 their work kept safety & order across 808bn passenger kilometres of travel in the UK. Could they have done so if they were solely road sign designers? I’d suggest no.
This is because Calvert & Kinneir looked further afield than driving for design inspiration. Survey design is the same. Yes, academic principals’ matter. But diverse thinking matters more for survey design’s evolution. This is because it creates what Matthew Syed calls recombinant innovation. This is innovation that combines two fields. And in doing so, innovates to higher levels.
Smarter is smarter. But not always better
Road sign’s most noticeable advancement came in 2006 with the first smart motorway. Here, road signs communicate real time instructions to drivers to manage traffic flows. But by 2017, smart motorway sign designs had to be revised due to lack of clarity.
Surveys are also trying to be smarter via automation, fixed templates and chat bots. Yes, faster & cheaper is getting more important. But are these sought to the detriment of quality? I’d suggest so.
So beware: if your instant-bot-survey is the visual equal of Hemmel Hempstead’s famed Plough Roundabout, your insights will be as chaotic as the traffic that tries to navigate it.
Pull over. Pause. Then speed up
Calvert & Kinneir’s work keeps the UK moving at high speeds. Research is moving faster than ever – with no speed limit. But never let this undermine your survey’s visual clarity. Instead, pull into the hard shoulder, look at your survey design and think “what would Maggie and Jock say?” before accelerating down the research highway.
