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Image for Pro Tip Series 20 - What are "Double-Barrel" questions, and how do I avoid them?

“Double-Barrel” questions – what are they and how do I avoid them?

“Between vanilla and chocolate, which do you prefer?”  “Yes.”

One major component to the art of writing well-constructed survey questions is to whittle them down to their base premise, item , topic or issue; without premise, and without causing confusion as to what we mean by the question and what the respondent means by their answer.

What is a “double-barreled” question?  

We (and undoubtedly you) have seen questions like:

  1. My manager is accessible and easy to talk to.
  2. Senior leaders are approachable and communicate openly and honestly.

For a start, it’s pretty much a big red flag when we see an “and” or “or” in a question.  

So if you’re unsure if it’s double-barrel ask yourself this;

“If I split this question in two, is it possible the respondent would answer the questions differently, and if so does that matter?”

There are times when it’s ok to use “and” or “or” – but more on that later.

(This can be an issue with demographic questions as well – as addressed in the last post Pro Tip Series 19 – “Demographic” or “Breakout” questions – How do I ask them and where should I put them in the survey?)

Why are double-barrelled questions bad?

Clearly when someone answers “strongly agree” to the above we have no idea what they are talking about. Is the manager accessible but maybe not easy to talk to? Are senior leaders approachable but perhaps not communicating openly and honestly?

Only the respondent knows what they meant, and we can’t ask them now.

So when faced with a question like this, a respondent will either:

  • not know how to respond and leave it blank.
  • answer using the concept they have in their head re what we REALLY meant, and you wind up with meaningless (and dangerous) results. 

But I don’t want my survey to be 200 questions long!

Yes it’s true, using double-barreled statements can help shorten your survey – and at times that’s fine when there will be a very high correlation in the topics.

However, if merging two concepts into one results in a question that is unanswerable, uninterpretable, or both; then clearly it would be better to shorten the survey by leaving the question out altogether, right? :)  (Oo cheeky!)

When is it OK then?

So when CAN I use “and” or “or”?

One case is where there are multiple clauses that are all required, and it doesn’t matter which one they are thinking about. “I often think about murdering my colleagues and/or senior management.” is still actionable if answered in the positive – though you still don’t know where to send the protection detail. (… and we don’t really care what “often” means in this case either BTW – just get on the phone.)

This is a very very rare thing, however, and you would STILL have been better off splitting this question into two, as then you’d know whether to send Batman off to rescue Harry Dent or Rachael Ward.

Another example of a statement with an “and” that would be ok is “I feel valued and appreciated by this organization.”

Value and appreciation are very similar (highly correlated), and you need both. Most likely, respondents would respond the same way to both value and appreciation, so putting them together is generally fine. 

Recap

  1. A “double-barrel” question is one with an “and” or “or” – and if split into separate questions might have different, separately-actionable responses.
  2. If you are using an “and” or “or”, but if split out the answers to the questions would still be the same, then it’s fine to leave them together.
  3. If a question IS deemed “double-barrelled”, split it in two – EVEN if it makes your survey longer.

Hope this was of help, but as always give me a shout if you would like to discuss it.

Next up: Pro Tip Series 21 – How to add “Diversity” questions to your survey.

Thanks for reading, and if you’re interested in running a survey for your organization call us at 1-604-219-7876, email us at [email protected], or just book a discovery call with our team.

We love to engage in curious conversation! Grab a time on my calendar if you’d like to elaborate more on this topic or anything else
Maureen Simons

Maureen Simons is a senior human resources and communication consultant with over 25 years of experience helping clients achieve their business and organizational objectives through their people. (Linkedin)

Picture of Adam Hunter

Adam Hunter has a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA, and 35+ years of technical and programming experience, resulting in a broad mix of analytical, statistical, project-related and business skills. (Linkedin)

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