Design a Household Survey
Create a structured survey questionnaire for household or beneficiary data collection.
Draft: Design a Household Survey
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Your Prompt (With Your Details)
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You are a senior MEAL specialist tasked with designing a comprehensive household survey questionnaire. Your goal is to create a robust tool that collects high-quality, disaggregated data aligned with program objectives, ensuring ethical data collection and clear implementation guidance.
Task: Design a structured household survey questionnaire for your program.
Survey Design Requirements:
- Survey Title and Purpose Statement: Clearly state the survey's title and its primary purpose, linking it to your intended outcomes.
- Target Population: Define the target population, specifying the relevant age range and geographic area.
- Core Questions: Develop 15-20 core questions covering key topic areas. Ensure questions are simple, non-leading, and use a mix of question types:
- Multiple Choice
- Likert Scale
- Open-ended
- Disaggregation Variables: Integrate questions that allow for data disaggregation by relevant disaggregation variables (e.g., gender, age, geography).
- Logical Flow and Skip Logic: Structure the questionnaire with logical section headers and incorporate skip logic where necessary to ensure respondents only answer relevant questions.
- Enumerator Instructions: Provide clear, concise instructions for enumerators on how to administer the survey, including guidance on informed consent, confidentiality, and probing techniques.
- Ethical Considerations: Explicitly address ethical considerations, including obtaining informed consent from participants and ensuring the confidentiality and anonymity of their data.
- Data Quality Control: Outline specific data quality control measures to be implemented during data collection (e.g., supervisor spot-checks, data validation protocols).
- Data Analysis Plan: Briefly describe the intended data analysis plan, including how the disaggregated data will be used to assess program impact against your intended outcomes.
- Sampling Methodology: Describe the proposed sampling methodology for selecting households.
- Timeline for Implementation: Provide a high-level timeline for the survey implementation.
Output Format:
Present the output as follows:
- Survey Title: The title of the survey.
- Purpose Statement: A detailed statement of the survey's purpose.
- Target Population: A definition of the target population.
- Questionnaire Structure:
- Section 1: The title of the first section.
- The first question.
- Response options for the first question.
- ...
- Section 2: The title of the second section.
- ...
- ... (Continue for all sections)
- Section 1: The title of the first section.
- Enumerator Instructions: Detailed instructions for enumerators.
- Ethical Considerations: A description of ethical protocols.
- Data Quality Control Measures: A list of implemented measures.
- Data Analysis Plan: A brief description of the plan.
- Sampling Methodology: A description of the methodology.
- Timeline for Implementation: A high-level timeline.
Check: Score It with the Survey Instrument Review Rubric
The Review Prompt
Paste the draft at the bottom of this prompt and run it. It scores each criterion from 1 to 5 and says why.
You are an expert M&E data specialist. Score the survey instrument I will provide using the rubric below.
SCORING RUBRIC - Survey Instrument Review Score each dimension 1-5 using these criteria:
DIMENSION 1: Question Design
- Score 5: All questions use one-topic-per-question format. No leading or loaded words. Language matches target population literacy level. Response options mutually exclusive and exhaustive. Sensitive questions placed at the end.
- Score 4: All questions one-topic-per-question. No more than two questions contain mild ambiguity or slightly technical terms unlikely to cause significant response error.
- Score 3: Half or more questions are clearly worded; the remainder have isolated issues (occasional ambiguity, minor leading phrasing, or response options missing a "don't know" or "prefer not to say" option). Issues are not systematic.
- Score 2: More than 20 percent of questions contain leading language, double-barreled constructions, or significant ambiguity, OR response options have systematic gaps or overlaps.
- Score 1: Questions systematically leading, double-barreled, or use terminology the target population would not understand.
DIMENSION 2: Instrument Structure
- Score 5: Introduction covers all five elements (who is collecting, purpose, data use, time estimate, voluntary participation). Questions ordered general to specific within sections. Skip logic present, clear, and consistently applied. Length appropriate for context.
- Score 4: Introduction covers four of five elements. Question order logical. Skip logic present with no more than two minor inconsistencies.
- Score 3: Introduction covers three of five elements. Question order mostly logical with grouping issues. Skip logic exists for major branches but is missing or unclear for minor ones.
- Score 2: Introduction covers two or fewer elements, OR skip logic is absent or systematically inconsistent, OR survey includes questions not needed for indicator measurement.
- Score 1: No introduction. No logical structure. No skip logic. Questions not traceable to indicator needs.
DIMENSION 3: Ethical Standards
- Score 5: Informed consent covers all six elements (purpose, voluntary participation, right to refuse or withdraw, confidentiality protections, contact information, data storage). Safeguarding documented for vulnerable populations.
- Score 4: Consent covers five of six elements. Basic safeguarding addressed.
- Score 3: Consent covers core elements (purpose, voluntary participation, confidentiality) but is missing two secondary elements (typically data storage details or contact information). No safeguarding considerations documented.
- Score 2: Consent present but covers fewer than three elements (typically a checkbox or verbal statement that does not cover confidentiality or data use).
- Score 1: No consent procedure.
DIMENSION 4: Indicator Alignment
- Score 5: Every question maps to a specific indicator or stated data need. No orphan questions. Every required indicator has at least one question.
- Score 4: At least 80 percent of questions trace to indicators. The remainder are useful for context but not explicitly linked. All core indicators have coverage.
- Score 3: Half or more questions trace to indicators, with up to four orphan questions. Most required indicators are covered, but one or two have weak or indirect coverage only.
- Score 2: Less than half of questions trace to indicator requirements, OR several required indicators have no corresponding question.
- Score 1: No traceable link between questions and program indicators.
DIMENSION 5: Pretesting and Adaptation
- Score 5: Piloted with at least five people from the actual target population. Findings documented with specific revisions evident. Enumerators received standardized training including at least one mock interview.
- Score 4: Pretesting documented. Pilot sample may not match target population exactly. At least one revision documented. Enumerator guidelines present.
- Score 3: Pretesting conducted and mentioned, but documentation is partial: findings summarized without specific revision notes, OR enumerator guidelines exist but are generic rather than instrument-specific.
- Score 2: Pretesting mentioned but not documented. No instrument-specific enumerator guidance.
- Score 1: No evidence of pretesting. No enumerator training. Instrument went directly from design to field.
ADDITIONAL TASK: List every specific question that fails Dimension 1 (Question Design). For each, state the problem type (leading / double-barreled / ambiguous / wrong literacy level / response options) and provide a corrected version.
OUTPUT FORMAT:
| Dimension | Score (1-5) | Key Finding | Priority Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question Design | |||
| Instrument Structure | |||
| Ethical Standards | |||
| Indicator Alignment | |||
| Pretesting |
Total: X/25 Band: Strong (22-25) / Adequate (17-21) / Needs Revision (11-16) / Substantial Revision (5-10) Single Most Important Revision: [One sentence]
Then list flagged questions with corrections.
SURVEY INSTRUMENT TO SCORE: [Paste your questionnaire here]
Fix: Revise What Scored Low
The Revise Prompt
Paste the draft and its scores at the bottom of this prompt. It revises the parts that scored below 4.
You are an expert M&E data specialist. Review the draft questionnaire I will provide and fix every problem that falls below the Good (4) threshold on the Survey Instrument Review rubric.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR AND FIX:
Question Design problems:
- Double-barreled questions - split into two separate questions
- Leading questions - rewrite as neutral
- Loaded or assumptive language - remove the assumption and rewrite
- Technical jargon the target population likely does not use - replace with plain language
- Response options that overlap or have gaps - rewrite to be mutually exclusive and exhaustive
Structure problems:
- Missing or incomplete introduction - add or complete with all required elements (who, purpose, use, time, voluntary)
- Sensitive questions placed early - move to the final section
- Missing or unclear skip logic - add explicit skip instructions
Ethical problems:
- Absent or incomplete consent - add a full informed consent statement
Indicator alignment problems:
- Questions not traceable to any indicator - either cut them or note what indicator they serve
- Required indicators not covered - add questions to fill the gap
OUTPUT FORMAT:
- List every problem found by dimension, with original text and corrected version.
- Then provide the complete revised questionnaire incorporating all corrections.
DRAFT QUESTIONNAIRE TO REVISE: [Paste your draft questionnaire here]