What Type Of Data Do Surveys Gather

Gathering demographic information from surveys

Where do yous live? What do y'all exercise? How much do you earn? Pardon the personal questions, but gathering demographic information from questions similar these is a groovy fashion to better understand your audience.

Demographic information allows you to ameliorate understand certain background characteristics of an audience, whether it's their age, race, ethnicity, income, work situation, marital status, etc. Past asking demographic questions in surveys, you can gather demographic data nigh current and potential customers at scale, and in turn, help you design a market division strategy to reach the correct clients.

What's the definition of demographic survey questions? And more than importantly, how should yous utilize them in your surveys? Go answers to these questions and more than in this article, with detailed tips for implementing them, and tools to analyze demographic data. You'll besides find specific sample survey questions and demographic examples that yous can utilize in your own questionnaire.

What are demographic questions?

Simply put, demographic questions are whatsoever question(s) that aim to better understand the identity of a particular respondent.

Demographic surveys (surveys that use demographic questions) seek basic information nigh respondents that allows the survey designer to sympathize where each person fits in the full general population.

How do y'all collect demographic information?

Demographic information examples include: age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, income, pedagogy, and employment. You can easily and effectively collect these types of information with survey questions.

Now, what do all these examples have in common? They're all concrete characteristics that help narrow down which market segment the people in your target audience best fit into. That means you can split a larger group into subgroups based on, say, income or instruction level. Demographic questions are key to this procedure, but why do market sectionalisation in the first place?

Why you should collect demographic information

Marketers are one group of professionals who have a lot to gain from asking demographic questions.
The more they know almost their target population, the higher the chances their messaging will resonate with their desired audience.

Pointing to a specific market on a globe

Think of how different your marketing efforts would be if you knew that most of your target population is equanimous of married men in a high-income bracket rather than unmarried female higher students. Or what if you were aiming for male retirees in California instead of female person executives in the Midwest? Knowing a little virtually your target audience can brand a big departure.

This kind of data is useful in many scenarios: You can benefit from it when developing products, measuring ad effectiveness, providing wellness services, understanding public opinion—even selling cars.

What demographic information is skilful for

Anyone—regardless of their sector or industry—tin can do good from finding relevant data virtually their audiences with SurveyMonkey demographic surveys.

The questions from SurveyMonkey's demographic survey templates allow you lot to segment audiences on the basis of income, gender, location, and other factors.

Visit this link to notice several utilise-cases for running demographic research.

Question examples for gathering demographic information

SurveyMonkey has many practiced-designed survey templates you can use straight out of the box, or as a reference to build your ain customized questionnaire.

You can also utilise the certified questions available in the Question Banking company, which is a great option in instance you lot need to insert just a few demographic questions in a broader survey—a pretty common practice.

The post-obit are some examples of good demographic survey questions:

Which category beneath includes your age?

17 or younger
18-20
21-29
xxx-39
40-49
50-59
lx or older

Are yous White, Black or African-American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, or some other race?

White
Black or African-American
American Indian or Alaskan Native
Asian
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific islander
From multiple races
Some other race (delight specify)

Pro tip: For demographic questions like the last one, it's a skillful thought to add an "Other (please specify)" respond option. This type of answer option gives respondents a text box to self-identify.

Female
Male
Other (specify)

Note that the final question requires a text box for the respondent to self-identify.

Are yous at present married, widowed, divorced, separated, or never married?

Married
Widowed
Divorced
Separated
Never married

What is the highest level of school you take completed or the highest caste you have received?

Less than high school degree
Loftier schoolhouse degree or equivalent (east.g., GED)
Some higher simply no degree
Associate degree
Bachelor degree
Graduate degree

Which of the following categories all-time describes your employment status?

Employed, working 1-39 hours per week
Employed, working twoscore or more hours per week
Not employed, looking for work
Not employed, NOT looking for piece of work
Retired
Disabled, not able to work

How much full combined money did all members of your household earn in 2010?

$0 – $9,999
$10,000 – $19,999
$xx,000 – $29,999
$30,000 – $39,999
$40,000 – $49,999
$50,000 – $59,999
$60,000 – $69,999
$70,000 – $79,999
$80,000 – $89,999
$90,000 – $99,999
$100,000 or more

Some demographic survey templates you can employ

At present that you've seen what sample demographic questions actually await like, you can bank check out some ready-to-use demographic survey templates.

The following are templates, that include demographic survey questions, straight from the minds of SurveyMonkey's expert survey methodologists:

* Please note that some demographics templates are bachelor in English language simply at this time.

This half dozen-question template asks respondents about gender, historic period, educational activity, employment, household income, and race.

In addition to the six questions posed in the Snapshot Template, this 12-question template asks about geographic location, housing, marital status, ethnicity, business or farm ownership, and personal income.

With two quick questions, acquire nearly respondents' employment condition and the type of work they do.

Detect the makeup of your school community with xvi basic demographic questions about gender, income, race, relationship to student, and more than.

Larn more about the companies on your client listing with this 10-question survey that asks when the company was founded, where it's headquartered, number of employees and locations, and more.

These B2B survey templates aid your business clients understand their cease customers. Demographic questions include historic period, gender, education level, employment condition, almanac household income, marital and family status, housing, business organization, and farm buying.

SurveyMonkey offers many other demographic survey templates, including Commuting, Household Upkeep, General Internet Usage, Linguistic communication Proficiency, Mobile or Cell Telephone Employ, and U.South. Military Service.

How to easily create demographic surveys

Online surveys are a great fashion to reach a broad audition. You can post demographic questionnaires to your website, send them through electronic mail, or ask for responses through Facebook and other social media channels.

If you demand assistance reaching the right target audition, yous can rely on a service that will get y'all enough respondents to conduct a successful survey with the correct demographic mix. SurveyMonkey Audience non simply makes information technology piece of cake to observe people who will have your survey, it also eliminates the demand for them to even respond demographic questions.

How? Well, you can send your questionnaire to a selected group of respondents based on the demographic targets you want to attain. SurveyMonkey Audience knows who is taking the survey and therefore it can automatically pipe in v types of demographic information (gender, age, household income, device used to take the survey, and location) straight into your results. This saves the respondent time and ensures you're reaching the right people.

Using the Filter and Compare tools in SurveyMonkey Analyze, y'all tin easily compare and contrast how different demographic groups respond your questions. This makes demographic segmentation and information assay with SurveyMonkey Audience even easier.

nine smashing tips for an effective demographic questionnaire

You're almost ready to create your own demographic questionnaire… but first, how about reviewing some tips to brand certain that you lot implement the best practices in survey methodology?

Think near your survey goal… Every survey starts when a goal is set. Looking at your main objective makes information technology easier to determine which demographic questions you will need to include.
…but only include the demographic questions you lot need. Don't overload your questionnaire, or you'll risk inducing survey fatigue in your respondents.
Be mindful of your audience. Keep phrasing respectful in demographic questions, since many of them deal with matters of personal identity like gender, race, ethnicity, etc.
Know when to get personal. Just like an in-person conversation, first plant rapport with your respondent, then enquire about personal matters. Read more than on this mail about sensitive questions.
Don't let numbers overlap. As in the income question case above, make sure that no two responses include the same number. For example, if one age subclass covers l to 59 years old, make sure the next 1 starts at 60—not at 59.
Brand responses anonymous. Many people are sensitive almost offer their personal information. Demographic information examples where this can ring true, include: income level, employment status, race, and ethnicity. If you're surveying for wide demographic patterns or trends, consider making responses anonymous—and be sure to let your respondents know that'south the case.
Explicate the purpose of your survey. In a brief introduction, tell your respondents how yous'll apply the information. For instance: "Nosotros want to know more than about our customers and what they want. This data will help u.s. put together the correct mix of products and services to ensure your satisfaction."
Brand your survey every bit accessible every bit possible. Reach as many people as possible. All of SurveyMonkey's survey designs are accessible past U.S. Section 508 standards, and you can deliver them online in a multifariousness of means.
Exist brief. Shorter surveys are easier for respondents to complete. Permit them know how long yours will have.

Gear up to employ demographic questions in your surveys?

With this comprehensive guide to asking demographic questions on surveys, y'all're ready to ask your target audience for all the information that you may need for your next project. Start your own survey now→