GDPR & advice on writing your survey

It is important when sending out a survey to consider how to introduce the survey to the audience.  This can also be sent in the email or put on the webpage with the link to the survey itself.

What follows are some key bits of information you can cover.  The overall aim is to be as honest and transparent as possible.  In order to convey the 'formality' of the survey please also apply branding.

1. The purpose of the survey and what the information provided will be used for.  Please note you cannot change your mind and re-use that information for any other purpose than what is stated.

2. Who will have access to the information provided by the individual recipient and the final report - eg.  only the named researchers or those who have access to the Webopol account will have access to the data, but the final report will be shared with the whole organisation.  

3. Will you be collecting personal information?  Note that you need to have a reason for collecting personal information - if you do not require personal information for the purpose of your survey then don't collect it.  It could be that you only need generic demographic information - you may be able to use a couple of filter questions to get the recipient profile you need.  If you are going to collect personal information be clear why you need it, who has access to it, how it will be used in the final report, and what will happen to the information once your study is complete.   Please ensure that if you say the survey is anonymous that it truly is; and make sure this is selected in the settings - otherwise you may be collecting IP info even if you are not collecting names and email addresses.  For non-senstive personal information you can add an extra paragraph of text above the SUBMIT button e.g. by submitting this survey you are agreeing to NHSGGC using your data for the purpose stated.

4.  Will you be collecting sensitive personal information, otherwise known as special category data as defined in GDPR?  Again you have to have a basis for collecting this, and if you are then you need to request explicit consent to collect that data.  You should reference this in the intro, so if someone doesn't want to divulge this information then they need go no further.  To obtain the consent itself add this in as a lead question e.g. This survey will request you provide 'sensitive personal information' under GDPR.  We require you to provide your explicit consent:.  Please tick Yes  if you consent to this, and No if you don't.  Skip logic can take anyone that ticked No to the end of the survey, while anyone that ticked Yes will continue on.

5.  If you are collecting personal information of any kind, assure the respondent that Webropol is a secure tool and is compliant with the law, ie. all information provided will be secure and kept in compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

6. How long the survey is and how long it will take, so that the respondent can judge when they have enough time to complete the survey.  If you test the survey before making it available more widely the survey tool can measure how long it took your test subjects to complete the survey and you can use that as your guide.

7.  If the respondent needs to collect data before they complete the survey, make sure that they have a list of questions they can attend to offline before completing the survey online.

8. If the survey is part of research which requires ethical approval or any other approval then please state this.

9. Finally - not everyone has up to date technology, and some may have other technology issues which means they cannot complete the survey online.  Or perhaps they have some questions before they complete the survey.  Provide contact details for repondents to get in touch with you should they have any issues or questions.

Useful resources

The Library Network can support you in using Webropol to compose your survey. Here are some  sources of advice on how to write a good survey - where to start, the best sort of questions to use etc.:

NHS England: Writing an effective questionnaire

Qualtrics: 10 tips for building effective surveys

UXBooth: The essential guide to writing effective survey questions

Open University: Using a questionnaire

Constant Contact: How to write good survey questions

There is a wide range of books on research and study skills, including questionnaire design, available from NHSGGC Libraries.  There are both print and e-books, which can be browsed or borrowed.  Contact library staff for details or browse and reserve copies on our online catalogue.