Before starting to write any question for your survey, define the objectives of your survey and the research goals you plan to achieve. Here are some guidelines to follow:

• Create reasonable objectives:
  • Don’t have objectives that can’t be directly met through the survey.
  • E.g. Don’t try to find effects that take years to measure if you don’t have the means to perform a longitudinal study (where participants are surveyed several times over a long period of time).
• Develop a timeline:
  • When will you write the questions? Pilot the survey? Launch the survey? Follow up with participants? Close the survey? Analyze the data? Write up the report? Etc.
• Prioritize your goal:​
  • E.g., if you find that you don’t have enough money or time to get the sample you want, you may want to ask fewer questions.
• Determine your target population:
  • It must be feasible to collect a pseudo-random sample from the population.
  • Your goals and objectives should be framed in reference to this audience.
  • Try to avoid bias (or at least determine your acceptable form of bias).
  • E.g., instead of “Penn State University students” you may want to instead target “Current undergraduate students majoring in Economics at Penn State University”.