Creating a Good Survey #09: Utilization Guide to Logic

Presenting the same questions to all respondents can be inefficient and increase respondent fatigue, thereby lowering response quality. For example, asking a respondent who has no experience using a particular product about their satisfaction with that product is meaningless and forces the respondent to answer unnecessary questions. A powerful feature that solves these problems and provides a more personalized and efficient survey experience is Logic.

What is Logic?

Logic is a feature that designs the survey flow so that the next question or page presented automatically changes based on the respondent's answer to a previous question. In other words, it presents relevant follow-up questions to respondents who meet certain criteria and allows those who do not meet the criteria to skip those questions, providing a customized survey path.

Key Advantages of Logic:

• Reduced Response Time and Fatigue: Respondents do not need to answer unnecessary questions unrelated to them, which reduces the overall survey response time and significantly lowers fatigue during the survey process. This is particularly effective for surveys with many questions.
• Improved Response Relevance and Data Quality: Respondents focus only on questions directly relevant to them, allowing for more accurate and meaningful data. It prevents insincere or random answers to irrelevant questions, enhancing the overall data quality.
• Personalized Survey Experience and Increased Completion Rate: A survey experience that feels custom-designed for each respondent increases their satisfaction and the likelihood of completing the survey to the end. It can give the impression, "This survey is for me."

Various Logic Utilization Examples (Focusing on Marketing Scenarios):

1. Branching based on Product/Service Usage Experience:
   • Q1: "Have you purchased and used our OOO product within the last 6 months?"
     • Answer 'Yes': Proceed to Q2 (OOO product satisfaction)
     • Answer 'No': Skip Q2 and proceed to Q3 (Reasons for not purchasing OOO product or awareness) [9 (Avoiding assumptive questions), 30]
2. Branching for In-depth Questions based on Satisfaction Level:
   • Q5: "Overall, how satisfied were you with our customer support service? (1: Very Dissatisfied ~ 5: Very Satisfied)"
     • Answer 1 or 2: Proceed to Q6 ("What was the most dissatisfying aspect of your customer support service experience? Please specify.")
     • Answer 4 or 5: Proceed to Q7 ("What was the most satisfying aspect of your customer support service experience? Please specify.")
     • Answer 3: Proceed to Q8 (Neutral opinion or suggestions for improvement) 35
3. Requesting Feedback based on Specific Feature Usage:
   • Q10: "Have you used the 'Custom Recommendation' feature in our mobile app?"
     • Answer 'Yes': Proceed to Q11 ("What are your thoughts on the accuracy and usefulness of the 'Custom Recommendation' feature?")
     • Answer 'No': Skip Q11 and proceed to Q12 ("If you haven't used the 'Custom Recommendation' feature, what was the reason?")
4. Follow-up Questions based on Event Attendance:
   • Q15: "Did you attend the OOO new product launch webinar held last week?"
     • Answer 'Yes': Proceed to Q16 (Webinar content satisfaction, beneficial aspects, etc.)
     • Answer 'No': Proceed to Q17 (Reasons for not attending the webinar, future interest in similar events, etc.) 30

Precautions and Common Mistakes When Setting Up Logic:

• Avoid Overly Complex Logic Design: Too many branches or complex condition settings can make the survey flow difficult to understand, increase the possibility of errors, and make future modifications and management difficult. It's best to keep the Logic as simple and clear as possible.
• Prevent Circular Logic Errors: Logic that sends respondents back to a previous page or an already answered question can trap them in an 'infinite loop,' making survey progression impossible. Always design the survey to move forward.
• Beware of Logic Conflicts in Multiple-Response Questions: In multiple-choice questions where multiple options can be selected (checkbox type), if different Logic is set for each option, the system may follow only one path based on a predefined priority or generate an error if the respondent selects multiple options. In this case, careful Logic design or separating the question itself should be considered.
• Thorough Pre-testing is Essential: After setting up Logic, you must thoroughly test all possible response paths by simulating them yourself to ensure the Logic works correctly as intended, there are no errors, and the flow is natural from the respondent's perspective. It's important to test assuming various scenarios.

Differences in Features Among Survey Tools:

Most online survey tools offer Logic functionality, but the scope and flexibility of these features can vary. For example, some tools are primarily suited for applying Logic to closed-ended questions, while others support more complex and varied conditional branching settings (e.g., AND/OR combinations of multiple conditions). Therefore, it's advisable to understand the Logic features of the survey tool you plan to use beforehand and confirm if it meets your survey design intentions.

Logic, when utilized well, is a very powerful feature that can maximize the respondent experience and significantly enhance data quality. However, due to the potential for errors arising from complexity, careful planning and thorough testing are necessary to fully realize its benefits.