Asking the Right Questions: How to Design Effective School Surveys

A well-designed survey starts long before the first question is written. In this blog, we’ll walk you through simple steps to help you create surveys that gather meaningful, actionable feedback for your school or trust.

Start with a clear purpose

Before you draft a single question, ask yourself: “What are we trying to learn, and why?” Every question should have a reason to be there. 

Aim to:

• Fill gaps in your current knowledge
• Validate or challenge existing assumptions
• Inform decisions and next steps

Generate ideas before editing

When designing a survey from scratch, sit down by yourself or get your team together and brainstorm questions openly, without worrying about structure or wording. 

Use prompts to guide you, such as:

• What do we need to understand to make better decisions?
• What’s missing from the data we already have?
• What might help us understand the why behind an issue?

Once you’ve got a list of ideas, you can start shaping them into a meaningful survey.

Organise your survey around key themes

After the idea-gathering phase, move from quantity to quality. Group similar questions into themes and review the full list:

• Remove duplicates and overlapping questions
• Prioritise the most important themes
• Trim anything non-essential

More questions don’t necessarily equal better insight, so have a clear idea about why you’re gathering this feedback and how you may action it in the future.

Choose the right question types

There are several ways to ask a question, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. We recommend matching the question format to what you’re trying to learn.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Single-response questions: Best for quick, clear feedback.
• Multiple-response questions: Useful when several answers may apply.
• Open-ended questions: Provide richer context, but take longer to analyse.
• Demographic questions: Help you understand how experiences vary between groups.

Most Edurio surveys combine multiple-choice and open-ended questions for a balance of depth and efficiency.

Pay close attention to the wording

The way you phrase your questions matters, especially when asking about experiences or emotions. Try to focus on:

• Using plain, direct language
• Avoiding double-barrelled or leading questions
• Keeping questions specific and unambiguous
• Tailoring terminology to the age and experience of your audience

Design thoughtful response options

It’s not just what you ask – it’s how people can answer. Choose answer options that are:

• Mutually exclusive: Avoid overlap between choices
• Collectively exhaustive: Cover all possible responses
• Realistic: Reflect the full range of experiences, including neutral or “none” options

For rating scales, a 5-point scale often hits the sweet spot – it provides clear insight without overwhelming respondents.

Reduce the respondent burden

The longer or more confusing your survey, the less likely people are to complete it. Here’s how to keep your audience engaged:

• Stick to a manageable number of questions (under 70 for adults; fewer for pupils or SEND audiences)
  
• Order questions logically, grouping similar ones together
  
• Make it clear why you’re asking for feedback and how it will be used
  
• Use guidance text or skip logic where needed to support different respondents

How Edurio can help

Designing effective school surveys isn’t just about collecting data – it’s about asking the right questions in the right way. By keeping your surveys focused, clear, and purposeful, you can unlock meaningful insights that support better decisions for your whole school community.

That’s why we’ve created a library of adaptable 50+ survey templates, covering topics from pupil attendance to staff workload. The templates are tailored specifically for schools and trusts and feature a wide range of survey types to support your organisation’s specific needs.

Expert support

The Edurio Team works with school and trust leaders to ensure surveys are tailored to their context, and the feedback can be used to action real improvements.

If you’d like to speak to a survey specialist about using stakeholder feedback in your organisation, please book a demo with one of our experts or send an email to hello@edurio.com.