What is a screener survey?

A screener survey, also known as a screener questionnaire, is a short survey given to potential participants in a UX research study.

It helps to determine whether or not the participants meet the criteria for the study, such as their demographics, experience, or behaviors.

Screener surveys help UX researchers to recruit the right participants for their studies. It ensures that the researchers get feedback from the people who are most likely to use the product or service they are designing and, therefore, can provide the most valuable insights.

Why is screener survey needed sometimes?

It is worth mentioning here that screener surveys are not always needed, but they can be helpful in some situations. For example:

• A study has specific criteria for participants, such as a certain age range, income level, or experience level.
• When recruiting for a study that is limited in size, screener surveys narrow down the pool of potential participants to those who are most likely to be interested in and qualified for the study.
• When recruiting for a study with a sensitive subject, screener surveys help exclude participants uncomfortable with the topics discussed.

How to create a screener survey?

Before you start creating a screener survey for your user research study, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

Plan your study first.

Before creating a screener survey, it is vital to plan your user research study first. It means that you should define your research goal, research questions, and target audience in the first place.

Your research goal is the overall objective of your study. What do you hope to learn from the study?

Your research questions are more specific and focused. They should be specific enough to be answered by your study but broad enough to provide valuable insights.

For example, let’s assume you are in a design team tasked with redesigning an e-commerce website for a clothing company. In this scenario, this is how your research plan could look like:

Research goal: To understand the needs and pain points of users of a company’s website.

Research questions:

• What are the biggest frustrations that users face when shopping on the website?
• What features are most important to users?
• What would make the shopping experience more enjoyable for users?

We write more about planning user research in the article here.

Define your ideal study candidate.

Once you have planned your study and defined your research goal and research questions, you can start to define your ideal study candidate. Who would be the most helpful in providing you with the information you need to answer your research questions?

To define your ideal study candidate, consider the following factors:

• Demographics: What should be the participants’ age, gender, race, ethnicity, and income level? Should you even consider those factors?
• Experience: What level of experience with your product or service do you need from participants?
• Behaviors: What behaviors do you want to target? For example, are you interested in participants who are frequent users of a particular feature or have recently experienced a problem with your product?

Once you have defined your ideal study candidate, you can start to create questions for your screener survey that will help you to identify participants who meet that criteria.

We will discuss specific screener survey questions later in the article. 

It is an important step. To gather valuable insights, you need to talk to people who will be able to provide them. This is why researchers need screener surveys in the first place, and the success of screener surveys depends on well-defined study candidates.

How to write practical screener survey questions?

1. Screen for behaviors rather than demographics

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, it is crucial to have well-defined characteristics of a potential study participant. However, when writing screener survey questions, you should screen for behaviors rather than demographics. In other words, you should ask questions about what participants do rather than who they are.

In a nutshell, instead of relying on demographics to predict how people will use a digital product, it is more effective to ask people questions about their behaviors and interests. 

2. Arrange screener survey questions in the right order.

Questions in a screener survey should be arranged in a logical order, which should help to make the survey flow smoothly and reduce the chance of participants abandoning it.

To come up with the right order for your survey, try applying these rules:

• Start with the most important questions first. These are the questions that will help you to identify participants who meet your target audience criteria.
• Group related questions together. 
• Ask open-ended questions before branching logic. This way, you will collect more detailed information from participants before deciding whether or not to skip over any questions.
• Use a branching logic to skip over questions that are not relevant to the participant’s answers. This approach will shorten the survey and make it more engaging for participants.

P.S.: Branching logic is a method to create a custom path based on a user’s response. For example, suppose for a question, “How often do you use social media?” the participant answers: “Never”. In that case, branching logic will allow the participant to skip the question related to the content he is consuming on social media.

3. Write precise questions

When writing screener survey questions, try to be as precise as possible. Avoid vague, general questions that participants could interpret in different ways. Ask specific questions that will give you the information you need to decide whether or not to include the participant in your study.

For example, instead of asking: “How often do you use social media?”  you could ask: “How many hours per day do you spend on social media?” 

Participants could understand that, in the first question, the researcher is asking about the general usage of social media. As a result, participants could provide an answer “every day.” The second question narrows down possible answers to a specific number of hours a day, which, in some cases, could be a more desirable outcome. 

Tips for writing precise screener survey questions:

• Avoid double negatives.
• Avoid using jargon or ambiguous language.
• Avoid leading questions.
• Define your terms. If you are using any technical terms or specialized language in your questions, be sure to define them clearly.
• Test your questions with others. Ask a few people to take your survey and provide feedback on your questions. Testing the survey beforehand will help you identify areas where the questions can be improved.

4. Provide an “other” option

To ensure that your questions do not exclude anyone, provide an “other” option for participants who do not fit into one of the answer choices you have provided.

For example, if you have to ask a question about the gender of the participant, you should provide the following answer choices:

• Male
• Female
• Non-binary
• Other

This question provides an “other” option for participants who identify as non-binary or have another gender identity.

Providing an “other” option for all of your screener survey questions is a good practice to follow. It will help you to recruit a more diverse group of participants for your study, collect more accurate and reliable data, and make participants feel more comfortable answering your questions.

5. Include open-ended questions

In general, surveys include mostly close-ended questions because they gather information from a large sample of respondents, and yes-no questions make data easier to analyze.

However, it is a good idea to include some open-ended questions in your screener survey. They allow participants to provide more detailed information about themselves and their experiences. 

By including open-ended questions in your screener survey, you can collect more valuable and in-depth data from participants. This information can be helpful in your study, understanding your participants, and interpreting your results.

6. Keep it short

It is essential to keep the screener survey short and to the point. Participants are more likely to complete a survey that is short and easy to finish.

Aim to keep your screener survey to 10 questions or less. If you must ask more than ten questions, consider breaking up your survey into multiple parts. This will make the survey more manageable for participants and less likely to overwhelm them.

Additional tips

• Be neutral. Avoid questions that suggest an answer.
• Test your questions before you use them. Ask a few people to take your survey and provide feedback. This way, you will identify areas where the questions can be improved before screening starts.

Examples of screener survey questions

Industry or occupation

Of course, every screener survey is different, as it serves to find perfect participants for each unique study. However, some questions will be standard and fit for screener surveys of many user research studies.

Questions about the industry of the participant:

• What industry do you work in?
• Please select the industries that you are most familiar with:
• Are you currently working in the healthcare industry?
• Have you ever worked in the education industry?
• Are you familiar with the financial services industry?
• Are you interested in learning more about the energy industry?

Questions about the occupation of the participant:

• What is your job title?
• Are you currently employed as a software engineer?
• Have you ever worked as a marketing manager?
• Are you a nurse or a doctor?
• Are you a business owner or entrepreneur?
• Are you interested in a career in the tech industry?

Demographic screening questions

Here are some examples of screener survey questions that can be used to target participants based on their demographics, such as age, gender, location, income level, and education level:

Age:

• What is your age?
• Are you 18 years of age or older?

Gender:

• What is your gender?
• Do you identify as male, female, non-binary, or other?

Location:

• Where do you currently live?
• What country do you live in?
• What region of the country do you live in?

Income level:

• What is your annual household income?
• What is your income range?

Education level:

• What is your highest level of education?
• What degree(s) do you have?

It is important to note that you should ask demographic questions only when they are relevant to the research study.

For example, if you are conducting a study on the usability of a new website, it would be appropriate to screen for participants based on their age and location. However, it would not be appropriate to screen for participants based on their gender or income level unless these factors are relevant to the website’s design or functionality.

Behavioral screening questions

Here are some examples of screener survey questions to target participants based on their behaviors, such as product usage, online shopping habits, and social media activity:

Familiarity with a product or service

• How familiar are you with our product/service?
• How often do you use our product/service?
• What features of our product/service do you use most often?
• What are the biggest challenges you face when using our product/service?
• Have you ever used our new mobile app?
• How familiar are you with the features of our new social media platform?
• How often do you shop on our e-commerce website?

Frequency of performing specific tasks

• How often do you [insert task here]?
• How many times per month/week/day do you usually [insert task here]?
• What percentage of time do you spend on [insert task here]?
• When was the last time you [insert task here]?
• Do you plan on [insert task here] in the next month/week/day?

Here are some more specific examples:

• How often do you create new social media posts?
• How many hours per week do you spend on customer support?
• How much time in your job do you spend on data analysis?
• When was the last time you purchased a new product online?
• Do you plan on attending a trade show in the next month?

Online shopping habits:

• How often do you shop online?
• What websites do you shop online at most often?
• What types of products do you typically purchase online?
• What are the most important factors to you when making an online purchase?
• Have you ever had a negative experience shopping online?

Social media activity:

• Which social media platforms do you use most often?
• How often do you use social media?
• What types of content do you consume on social media?
• What social media platforms do you use to make purchases?
• Do you trust product recommendations from social media influencers?

Behavioral screening questions are often more effective than demographic screening questions because they allow researchers to target participants more likely to be interested in the research study.

The Take Aways

Here is a summary of all the key points of this article.

• Screener survey questions help to determine whether or not potential participants in a UX research study meet the criteria for the study.
• Screener survey questions can target participants based on their demographics, behaviors, and interests.
• When writing screener survey questions, it is essential to be specific, clear, unbiased, and provide a range of answer choices.
• Here are some examples of screener survey questions:
  • Demographic screening questions: age, gender, location, income level, education level
  • Behavioral screening questions: product usage, online shopping habits, social media activity
  • Industry or occupation
  • Familiarity with a product or service
  • Frequency of performing specific tasks

We at Talebook hope this article will help you write practical screener survey questions that will help you recruit the right participants for their studies.

Further reading

How to use Screening Questions to Select the Right Participants for User Research by Kathryn Whitenton

Writing Your First User Research Screener Survey by Robert R. Urbaniak