Total Survey Design

Designing Surveys for Multilingual Populations - Part 2. An Interview with Rubén Ángel Arias Rueda

In this episode of Total Survey Design, Dr. Azdren Coma sits down with Dr. Rubén Ángel Arias Rueda, Project Manager and Lead Researcher at Washington State University&apo

Designing Surveys for Multilingual Populations - Дизајнирање анкети за повеќејазични популации

In this episode of Total Survey Design, Dr. Azdren Coma explores what it takes to design surveys for populations that speak two or more languages. The episode explains wh

Personal Appeals in Contact Letters: How More Appeals Means More Responses

In this episode, I explore research by Lena Le and Thom Allen at Washington State University on the use of personal appeals in survey contact letters — the persuasive sta

How the Dunning-Kruger Effect Skews Self-Reported Skill Ratings

In this episode, Dr. Azdren Coma explores how the Dunning-Kruger effect distorts self-reported skill ratings in hiring and surveys. A seemingly straightforward question l

Writing Good Survey Questions - Part 3. Open-Ended Questions

In this episode, I will be talking about open-ended questions. Along with closed-ended questions, open-ended questions are the other major type of question used in survey

Question Stem Order Effects: Ice Cream, Ballots, and the Science of Being First

What happens when you are faced with a list of options but do not have a strong preference? In this episode, I explore how the simple order of a list can nudge a person&a

Intro to Survey Design for Marketing Research Students (Guest Lecture)

This episode is a live guest lecture recorded for a Marketing Research class at Washington State University.  The guest lecture is meant to introduce complete newcomers

Forced Choice vs Neutral Options: Why Forcing Choices May Damage Your Data

In this episode of the Total Survey Design Podcast, I explore whether to include a neutral midpoint option in survey questions or force respondents to pick a side. I defi

Forced Questions (Will Hurt Your Data)

Should you ever force respondents to answer a survey question? In this episode of Total Survey Design, I examine forced questions. While these features are often used und

Can Generative AI Help Design a Better Questionnaire? Feedback Help

On this episode of the Total Survey Design podcast, I put generative AI to the test by asking it to critique and improve the Microsoft Word Feedback survey: a short, ever

Trump & Rogan vs. Survey Sampling: Addendum

On this bonus episode of the Total Survey Design podcast, I follow up on Trump and Rogan’s polling critiques with a listener email highlighting nonresponse bias, the real

Trump & Rogan vs. Survey Sampling: What They Got Right, And Totally Wrong

On this episode of the Total Survey Design podcast, I examine an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, #2219, which aired on October 25th, 2024, where he discusses

Designing a Feedback Survey From Scratch

In this episode, Azdren creates a feedback survey from scratch, showing the process from idea formation, to messy first draft of the questionnaire, to final product.  To

Survey Weighting: When It Helps And When It Hurts

This episode of the Total Survey Design podcast demystifies the statistical technique of survey weighting (or post-stratification), explaining how it corrects sample imba

Nonresponse Error. Part 1 - Why Response Rate Does Not Necessarily Predict Nonresponse Error

This episode explains the important distinction between response rate and nonresponse error in survey research. Drawing on principles from Dillman et al.(2014), it clarif

A Conversation with Mark Miazga, Director of University Survey & Assessment Services at U of Minnesota

In this episode, the hosts speak with Mark Miazga, Director of University Survey and Assessment Services at the University of Minnesota, about his journey into survey res

A Conversation with Rob Santos, U.S. Census Bureau Director

In this episode, we talk with Robert Santos, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau from 2022 to 2025, about his professional journey and philosophy toward data and public se

A Critique of Microsoft Word’s Feedback Survey

In this episode, I talk about a survey I didn’t plan to analyze—one that popped up the moment I opened Microsoft Word. Microsoft asked for feedback, and well… I had some.

An Interview with Jon Krosnick on Survey Design, Public Opinion, and Scientific Rigor

In this episode of Total Survey Design, Dr. Azdren Coma and Dr. Seon Yup Lee interview Dr. Jon Krosnick, a leading expert on political behavior, survey methodology, and p

An Interview with Thom Allen

In this episode I sat down with Thom to talk about surveys. We talked about his time at the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center, working with Don Dillman on vari