I have collected here various items that will eventually be integrated into larger discussions. I have labeled each one with an appropriate key survey term.

Conditional logic: Rather than the hosting software serving a question based on an earlier answer – a conditional logic question, here is an example of doing it by hand, so to speak, from the State Bar of Michigan 2023 Economics of Law Survey. This old-fashioned method doesn’t shorten the survey and could lead to a respondent answering it by mistake. You can’t confirm that the person answered “Yes” to the earlier question.

Flyspeck your questions: Have experienced, objective eyes pore over your questions as part of your stress testing. For its 2023 Lawyer Well-Being survey in early 203, the Massachusetts Bar Association explains its careful review (page 44): “An external focus group comprised of senior in-house counsel, private practitioners, arbitrators, technical experts, representatives from arbitral institutions, academics, and third party funders provided valuable feedback on the draft questionnaire.” Earlier it added (page 31): “[We] cognitively tested the survey before fielding it to ensure that respondents interpreted all questions appropriately.”

Reach participants through other organizations: Pinsent Masons 2022 survey on International Arbitration was “indebted to TDM/OGEMID, Global Arbitration Review and Tales of the Tribunal, as well as AAA/ICDR, ArbitralWomen, BAC/BIAC, CAM-CCBC, CAM Santiago, CIArb, CPR, CRCICA, DIS, EDAC, Energy Arbitration Club, HKIAC, ICC, JCAA, LCIA, LMAA, Mute Off Thursdays, NAI, NYIAC, SCC, SCCA SIAC and VIAC, for promoting the questionnaire amongst their members and subscribers. At least 26 organizations promoted the questionnaire! The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) wrote of its 2023 CLO survey, “To further expand our reach, we also sent participation invites through other ACC partner organizations, and opportunities to participate were also sent through LinkedIn campaigns.”

Invitation email: Further with the Financial Times survey: “The survey will take only a few minutes to complete. If you would like to share the survey among patent attorneys or clients who would like to participate, you can enter their contact data at the end of this survey so they receive an invitation as well.”

Email addresses (validation and professional email: In the introduction to a survey by the Financial Times, conducted by Statista in early 2023, this paragraph struck me:

“Please note that we will ask you for your professional email address at the end of the survey. To ensure high quality, we only use survey results from participants who have validated their survey results via a valid professional email address. Non-validated results will not be considered.” The end of the questionnaire adds, “For the validation of your data we need your name and your business e-mail address. After submitting the survey, you will receive an e-mail from us with a confirmation link to validate your e-mail address.”

Translated surveys: In a survey by the Financial Times, conducted by Statista during early 2023, the second page announces: “Welcome to our survey. At this point and also during the survey, you can select your preferred language at any time. The change will take effect as soon as you continue to the next question.” Users could shift from English to German, French, or Italian.

Incentives: From a survey by the Financial Times, conducted by Statista during early 2023: “In addition, for every participant completing the survey we will donate 0.50 cents to the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC/ICRC), supporting people in crisis regions around the world.” A survey of lawyers in 2014 by the Primary Research Group asked what respondents would like as a token of appreciation, which they referred to as “compensation”.

24. How would you like to be compensated for taking this survey?

1. The results of this survey
2. for every 5 surveys that you respond to you have the right to ask one question to (an estimated) 100-200 lawyers at major firms in the United States and to obtain a statistical summary of the results of that question
3. A $50 product credit for Primary Research Group products about law firms.

Qualifier questions: While roaming through a survey by the Financial Times, conducted by Statista during early 2023, I failed the qualifier question that appeared at the beginning. Up popped this message: “Thank you very much, but unfortunately you do not belong to our target group!”

Control who responds and one per organization: The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) U.S. Law Firm Diversity Survey took extra steps to obtain only one response per firm. “Submit your points of contact (POC) for the U.S. Law Firm Diversity Survey (we request only one person to submit all POCs). Receive your unique Law Firm Diversity Survey link via e-mail from [link].” Does this mean the MCAA created a link for each law firm?

Customization and autocompletion: A survey by the Financial Times, conducted by Statista in early 2023, shows a customized sector at the top, based on what the respondent selected earlier. The survey also features autocompletion of names of patent/IP law firms. If a respondent starts entering the name of a firm, the hosting software will fill in the rest. This capability helps standardize names of firms.