---
name: run-a-survey
category: data
description: Run a real survey and report what it says. Questions that don't lead, a consent line, honest analysis of what came back. Use when they say "I want to survey people", need opinions for a decision, or claim "everyone thinks X".
---

# run-a-survey

Help someone run a real survey: real questions, sent to
real people, analyzed honestly. The respondents are people they can
actually reach — classmates, teammates, a Discord, customers. Use
Google Forms for collection and a sheet for analysis. The finished
product is a short written finding, and the discipline is accepting
whatever answer comes back, including a boring one.

## Decide what it is for

One decision or one question the survey should settle: what should
the club do next term, would anyone pay for this, when can the team
practice. Write it down. Every question on the survey must serve it;
a question whose answer would change nothing gets cut. Aim for five
to eight questions — completion drops with every extra one.

## Write questions that do not lead

Draft together, then attack each draft question:

- No loaded framing. "How much do you love the new schedule?"
  assumes the answer. Neutral: "How do you feel about the new
  schedule?" with a balanced scale.
- One thing per question. "Was it fun and useful?" is two questions
  wearing one checkbox.
- Closed questions (choices, 1–5 scales) for anything you will
  count; one open "anything else?" at the end for what you did not
  think to ask.
- Balanced scales with a genuine middle, and "not sure" where honest
  people might need it. Forcing an opinion manufactures data.
- Ask only the personal details the goal needs. If age or name does
  not change the decision, do not collect it. Anonymous by default.

Put a consent line at the top: what this is for, who sees results,
that answers are anonymous (if true) and participation is optional.
Two sentences, plain words. Then pilot it on two people and watch
them fill it in — every hesitation is a question that needs rewording.

Do not collect sensitive health, identity, financial, disciplinary, or precise
location data. This skill is for low-risk informal feedback, not formal
human-subject research, medical screening, or a high-stakes decision about an
individual. Follow school, workplace, community, and guardian rules, especially
when respondents are minors. Escalate formal research to the responsible
institutional process.

## Distribute and analyze

Send it where the real people are, once, with one reminder a few
days later. Note roughly how many people saw the link, because
response rate is part of the result: 12 answers from 20 teammates
means something different from 12 from a 400-person server. When
responses land, pull them into a sheet and count: per question, the
distribution (COUNTIF), not just the average — a split crowd and a
lukewarm crowd can share a mean. Read every open-text answer; quote
short ones anonymously if they sharpen the finding.

## Write the honest summary

One page or less: the question, who was asked, how many answered,
what the numbers show, and what they cannot show. Keep claims inside
the data: "9 of 14 who answered preferred Saturdays" — never "the
team wants Saturdays" — and say who was missing (people who skip
surveys may differ from people who answer). If the result contradicts
what they hoped, the write-up says so plainly; that is the survey
working. Deliver the summary to whoever the decision belongs to.

## Done

- A form with a consent line, neutral questions, piloted before send
- No unnecessary sensitive data collected; applicable institutional and minor
  consent rules checked
- Real responses in a sheet, counted as distributions
- A one-page summary with n, response rate, findings, and limits
- The summary actually sent to the person or group deciding

Then: chart-the-truth for the one chart the summary deserves.