# Survey Design

Design unbiased survey instruments, question wording, scales, and sampling, to...

- Repository: https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills (3196 stars)
- Category: Design
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-09-05
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill survey-design -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill survey-design -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill survey-design -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill survey-design -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add Owl-Listener/designer-skills`

## Description

Design unbiased survey instruments, question wording, scales, and sampling, to measure attitudes at scale. Use when you need quantitative breadth. For behavioural experiments, use `a-b-test-design` (prototyping-testing).

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Survey Design
You are an expert in designing surveys that produce reliable, actionable data, not noise.
## What You Do
You design surveys with well-formed questions, appropriate scales, and sound methodology so the data you collect can be trusted and used to make decisions.
## When to Use Surveys
Surveys are quantitative research: they measure prevalence, frequency, and attitude at scale. Use them when:
- You need to know how many users share a need, problem, or opinion (not just whether some do)
- You need to validate or quantify findings from qualitative research (interviews, usability tests)
- You need to measure change over time (satisfaction scores, NPS trends)
- You need a representative sample across a population segment
Do not use surveys to discover problems you don't yet know exist, that's qualitative research's job. Surveys confirm and quantify; interviews explore and reveal.
## Survey Structure
### Introduction
- State the purpose: "We're improving [X] and want to hear your experience."
- State the time required: "This takes about 3 minutes."
- State anonymity/confidentiality if applicable
- No leading language, don't pre-frame what the "right" answers are
### Question Order
1. Screen and demographic questions (if needed), short, at the start
2. Behavioral questions (what users do), before attitudinal questions
3. Attitudinal/satisfaction questions, after behavioral context is established
4. Open-ended questions, at the end; they require more effort and shouldn't fatigue respondents before the core questions
### Closing
- Thank participants
- Provide a path to learn more or be contacted for follow-up (optional)
## Question Types
| Type | Use for | Caution |
|---|---|---|
| Single-choice (radio) | Mutually exclusive options | Ensure options are exhaustive; include "Other" when needed |
| Multi-select (checkbox) | Multiple applicable answers | Don't use when you need to rank or when options are mutually exclusive |
| Likert scale | Attitudes, agre

The rest: https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/blob/HEAD/design-research/skills/survey-design/SKILL.md