Asking the Right Questions: The Psychology Behind Effective Survey Design for Core Facilities

Core facilities rely on user feedback and needs assessments, but how do you ensure your surveys yield meaningful, actionable data? This interactive talk bridges psychology and practical survey design, offering strategies tailored to the unique challenges of service evaluation and user needs. We’ll explore how question wording, response scales, and tool selection influence data quality, and how backwards design can save time and nerves while balancing scientific rigor with real-world constraints. Through case examples, we will talk about how to align survey complexity with goals, from quick feedback to in-depth analyses. Leave with a sharper eye for effective design and the confidence to ask the right questions.