Randomization is often used as a tool to combat survey bias. By using the randomizing feature to randomly set the order of the answer options in your survey, you can prevent bias introduced by order and/or survey fatigue.
Users often want to get through surveys as quickly as possible, leading to a tendency of just looking for the first answer that makes sense to them. If the relevant answer is the first choice, they may choose this answer and go to the next question without paying much attention to the remaining answers. Presenting answers in the same order for each user can generate a bias towards those answers at the top. The weight of these answers may be overstated in the reporting and analysis of the survey data.
Studies have shown that users show bias to the first option they are presented, so randomizing your answer options can help to get a more accurate depiction of how your survey takers feel.
Benefits of Randomizing Answers
- Mitigate bias in your results
- Get more honest feedback
- Combat “Survey Fatigue”
Updated feature
Randomizing answers has been a feature within the QuestionPro toolbox for most standard question types like Multiple Choice and Image Choose. The QuestionPro team has just released the updated Advanced Randomization with random sub-selections and randomization of rows for matrix questions. This will give you more power to get the quality insights that you need.
Using Advanced Randomization
Open the Validation & Display Settings in the Settings tab in your question.
Turn on the “Randomize Answer Options” feature, then click on “Advanced Randomization”.
Here you can select the answers to be randomized and create sub-selections.
After saving your settings, your answers will be randomized based on your rules set in Advanced Randomization. You can preview the randomizing answer order with the survey URL.
