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I am running a short 10 question satisfaction survey. I am trying to determine if it is better to present all questions on the same screen, or present each question individually and have the user click "Next" to proceed to the next question.

Any standard protocol or research that would suggest one approach over another? I am concerned that presenting all questions at the same time would invite mindless checking of boxes.

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  • If you do it across separate pages then you can record the results as you go; meaning should they give up you still have some results and don't lose them all
    – tim.baker
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:16
  • also meaning that they can come back and finish it later, which is the UX answer, rather than the marketing one :-)
    – Toni Leigh
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 12:14
  • You can record results as the user leaves text-boxes in an all-in-one form too.
    – Riegardt Steyn
    Commented Oct 15, 2015 at 9:59

2 Answers 2

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IMAO, neither is perfect. Going for all-in-one-page has already been described in the previous answer.

On the other hand, one-question-per-page is quite boring and monotonous.

Survey designer should

  • keep in mind that participating a survey is a favor from the user, not the other way around.
  • Keep the questions interesting, concise while effective.
  • And, mind the click-count. Loading individual pages on slower networks, as well as on mobile, will quickly frustrate the user and push him subconsciously to give up.

In your context, i would

  • group the 10 must-ask questions into just 2/3 pages
  • keep the order of the questions random, unless sequence between questions is necessity.
  • keep "make-it-interesting" as top-priority. Effectiveness will follow.
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My suggestion would be to break the survey into meaningful chunks and present them on different pages so that users dont get overwhelmed by the amount of content and quickly click through. To quote this article

With a single-page questionnaire, the respondent scrolls down to see the next question. At the foot of the page, there is a button to submit the answers to the server. There are several drawbacks to single-page surveys, including:

  • Problems with download delays due to the amount of information on the page.
  • A higher percentage of respondents who decide not to complete the survey.
  • Can force respondents to answer questions that do not apply to them.
  • Less flexibility/functionality, particularly with respect to asking follow-up questions or skipping subsequent questions based on responses to previous questions.
  • Increased risk of data loss because the respondent has to complete the entire questionnaire before submitting the data.
  • Inability to require responses to certain questions.
  • Increased perception among respondents that the survey sponsor is unprofessional or unsophisticated.

Because of these drawbacks, single-page surveys often produce lower response rates and less useful results than multi-page surveys. Consequently, most online questionnaires developed by market research professionals use a multi-page approach. A typical page will load rapidly and fit neatly on the respondent’s screen regardless of resolution. The respondent answers one or more questions on each page then clicks an arrow or button to proceed to the next page.

That said I would recommend providing some kind of visual indicator which informs users how many questions have been completed and how many are still left.

enter image description here

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  • Your link is broken; and most of those points sound extremely subjective or possible to circumvent with good programming. Wouldn't you prefer to be able to review old answers or see what is still to come? I agree with the progress bar thing if you must go this route, though. Anyway, there is no right or wrong; it's all subject to the situation and down to common sense at the end of the day.
    – Riegardt Steyn
    Commented Oct 15, 2015 at 9:52

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