The first goal in learning to write effective poll questions is to elicit responses and to get people to think. Capture their minds in the topic you are polling. That can be difficult at times. Basic yes or no questions may be what you need. Similarly, complex responses engage minds more.

Simple is good. My preference is simplicity. The simpler, the better: yes/no/I don’t know, true/false, or 4 multiple guess answers. With a single poll question I am not trying to solve the Middle East conflict, as tempting as that sounds. I am merely getting my readers to think about one issue

If the responses are simple and straightforward, the question must then frame the issue accurately and honestly. What do I mean by that? Well, if you want honest answers, you cannot flavor the question to the side you want as an answer.

As an example: “Do you favor quality children’s health care?” I can tell you quite frankly that 98% of those responding will answer “Yes.” I would. To me, that’s a faulty question (and dishonest if it were intentional). A better question would be “Are you willing to be taxed more to reform the current health care system?” People might be opposed to higher taxes, and so it mixes up the responses a bit. Now the question is balanced and fair. I suspect the answer now would be 60/40 or 50/50 in favor of one or the other.

Next, make certain you cover all areas in your answers. For example, no, yes, and I don’t know are fairly good choices for answers, especially when you are soliciting general opinion.

Avoid extreme or all-inclusive words such as never, always, all, daily, none, etc. For example, if you phrase the question: “do you always eat a banana in the morning,” the one time when a person ran out of bananas negates the other 99.8% of the time. Use more inclusive words such as mostly, some, frequently, often, or few. If accuracy and honesty is your goal, this should help.

Lastly, be brief. Brevity is crucial in forming accurate online poll questions. Simpler question get answered. Period. Wouldn’t you answer a short question, if it’s understandable and readable? Recently, I asked a high school class, “do you thank you notes at Christmas time?” My two answers were yes and no. Very simple. Answerable. To the point. Either they wrote thank you notes or they didn’t. I left them no other options.

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