QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

Access

The priority in developing a questionnaire, as with any survey, is ensuring an equitable, fair, and accessible capacity to respond. Plan to make the questionnaire accessible to those with a wide variety of abilities, including those who use adaptive technologies. In the questionnaire, communicate the reasoning behind the project and planned usage of the information. Use clear and agreedupon language.

There always must be an open-field response option for all questions, and managing this type of data will need to planned for (see Data Management ). Do not make any question about artists’ demographic information required, and provide a “choose not to respond” option for every question, as to not force participants to answer anything they feel uncomfortable sharing. These are key components to any questionnaire following best practices guidelines.

Format

Decide how information will be collected—electronically, via an online survey or PDF form, via in-person interviews, and/or via a handwritten form. More and more information gathering and communication with artists is happening electronically, and this format may be easier to secure initially, as well as easier to maintain, alter, and update into the future. Electronic forms will also allow for additional options based on user responses (conditional questions). Consider access and security pros and cons around these options, or if it will be necessary to have multiple formats.

Resources

General Mobasseri, Armin. “Improving Readability,” Villanova University.

Language

Consider if the questionnaire will be translated into other languages by assessing both the resources involved and the constituencies that it will serve. Anticipate the resources and processes involved in translating responses as well. Also determine if the questionnaire requires the capacity to handle spellings and diacritics in a range of languages (e.g., Chinese characters [Pinyin or Wade-Giles], oral Indigenous languages), especially for the constituencies you plan to query.

Storage

The responses to the questionnaire should be able to be stored in both “computer-readable” and “human-readable” formats. The computer-readable format includes database fields in which this information will be stored as well as any metadata that will be stored about the answers (date collected, who sent or received the survey, who filled it out). The human-readable and archival version of the questionnaire should be stored in its raw form to preserve the words of the artist. This can be a PDF version of the questionnaire linked to the artist in the database, a transcript of a conversation with an artist, printed in an artist’s folder, etc. Define who will have access to both the computer-readable and the human-readable versions and make sure they are linked. Artists should always be sent a copy of their responses upon submission. (See Data Management and Data Maintenance.)

Tone and Phrasing

Ensure that the tone of the questionnaire is accessible and sets reasonable expectations. For example, clarify what information the organization is planning to display on which platforms, qualifying that this may change, and establishing how these changes will be communicated to the artists and what approvals will be needed. Ensure the method for artists to communicate feedback about the questionnaire is clear.

Use inclusive language that is respectful to a wide variety of cultural backgrounds as well as education, experience, age, and accessibility needs. A fifth-grade reading level is generally recommended for all outward facing materials.

• Less inclusive: “Program(s) attended, public collections with examples of your work, people with whom you have studied?” The phrasing of this question is elitist, prioritizing the experiences of artists who have more traditional arts educations and careers.

• More inclusive: “Is there anything else you’d like to share (general statement about your work or practice, places you have been active, collections with your work, programs you have attended, who you have studied with or been mentored by)?” The phrasing of this question prioritizes the artist themselves, focusing on artistic practice and leaving space for a diversity of backgrounds and experiences.

NOTE Groups

Consider how to handle artist attributions that are not simply individuals, e.g., artist collectives where members rotate or change (Guerrilla Girls, Postcommodity), Indigenous families who create works as a group, works created by a specific artist but attributed to a community. Designate one person to respond on behalf of the group, explicitly stating that their responses should be representative of the entire group, not of the one individual.

External Resources

Provide reference materials and links to additional research in case artists aren’t familiar with any of the terms your questionnaire employs.