SURVEY BUILDER · QUANT DESIGN

AI Survey Design That Thinks Ahead to the Analysis

Turn a clear brief and the methodology you sold into a fully routed, field-ready questionnaire, built step by step to the rules expert researchers follow, and to the analysis it has to support.

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QUESTIONNAIRE DRAFTILLUSTRATIVE
OBJ 1What drives loyalty?
OBJ 2Which segments to target?
Q4Overall satisfaction, 0–10ANALYSIS PLAN: DRIVER OUTCOME
Q5Attribute ratings, same 0–10 scaleANALYSIS PLAN: CANDIDATE DRIVERS
Q9Needs statements, agree 1–5ANALYSIS PLAN: SEGMENTATION INPUT
Q14Region × age quotasANALYSIS PLAN: SUBGROUP BASES CHECKED
✓ EVERY OBJECTIVE MAPPED✓ SCALES CONSISTENT? 1 QUESTION NEEDS YOUR CALL

PRECISION BY DESIGN

Precision is designed in, not checked at the end

A quant instrument fails quietly. A subtly biased scale, an undifferentiated battery or a routing error rarely shows until analysis, after the fieldwork budget is spent. Insightology’s AI survey design is trained on the steps and rules expert researchers follow, from understanding what the results will be used for to writing, scaling, ordering and scripting every question, and it checks its work at every step.

The design steps it is trained on

Every questionnaire is built in the order an experienced research director would build it, with a check at each step and a pause to ask you whenever a decision needs a researcher’s judgment.

1

Understand the objectives and how the results will be used

? STOPS AND ASKS IF NEEDED

Starting from your decoded brief, it establishes the decision the client has to make, who will act on the results, and what would change strategically and commercially depending on the answer.

BUILT-IN CHECKIf the decision, the audience or the measure of success isn’t clear, it stops and asks.
2

Turn the objectives into an analysis plan

? STOPS AND ASKS IF NEEDED

For each objective it decides how the answer will be found: which comparisons, which statistics and which subgroups.

BUILT-IN CHECKEvery objective has a planned analysis before a question is written.
3

Build the method, step by step

? STOPS AND ASKS IF NEEDED

It follows the construction steps of the methodology you sold, from attribute lists to task designs.

BUILT-IN CHECKThe method’s rules are tested at each stage, not at the end.
4

Write the questions

One idea per question, neutral wording, and answer lists that are complete and don’t overlap.

BUILT-IN CHECKLeading, loaded and double-barreled questions are flagged.
5

Choose the scales

Each scale is chosen for the analysis it feeds.

BUILT-IN CHECKScales that will be compared, combined or tracked are made consistent.
6

Set the order and flow

Sequenced so one section doesn’t prime the next, with rotation wherever order could bias answers.

BUILT-IN CHECKLength and respondent burden are reviewed against data quality.
7

Route, script and check

Skip logic, quotas, randomization and rotation, delivered as a field-ready instrument.

BUILT-IN CHECKAutomated logic checks catch dead ends, unreachable questions and conflicting conditions.
STOPS AND ASKS

Generic AI improvises. Our model stops and asks.

When a generic AI assistant hits a gap, it improvises: fluently, and without flagging that a human decision is needed. The Survey Builder is trained to recognize the moments that need a researcher’s call, and to stop and ask when:

?the objectives conflict, or the decision behind them isn’t stated
?a subgroup the client wants to compare looks too small to read reliably
?the method needs inputs only you or the client can supply, such as the price points, the attribute list or the competitive set
?a client amendment would break the method, the trend or the analysis plan
EXAMPLE 1 · QUOTAS“Before I write the quotas: under-25s look like about 40 interviews. Raise the quota, or report them with the 25–34s?”
EXAMPLE 2 · NEEDS BATTERY“We don’t have a validated set of emotional needs for this audience. I can draft a hypothesized set now if that would help, but the sounder route is a short piece of preparatory work before we lock the survey design. Which would you prefer?”
Nothing enters the field without your sign-off.

COMPLEX METHODS

AI survey design that knows how to build each method

Most AI survey builder tools know what a conjoint or a MaxDiff is. Insightology’s survey design AI knows how to build one, step by step, drawing on hundreds of methodologies and statistical techniques, plus your agency’s own. That is what lets it handle very complex designs.

Conjoint survey design

BUILD STEPS
  1. 01Define the choice the market actually makes
  2. 02Select attributes that drive choice and that the client can act on
  3. 03Set realistic, mutually exclusive levels in balanced numbers
  4. 04Use prohibitions only where combinations are impossible
  5. 05Design the choice tasks, concepts per task and holdout tasks so the simulator can be trusted

MaxDiff survey design

BUILD STEPS
  1. 01Build an item list at one level of abstraction
  2. 02Keep one idea per item
  3. 03Design balanced sets so every item appears often enough to be scored reliably
  4. 04Anchor the scale when the client needs absolute importance

Needs-based segmentation

BUILD STEPS
  1. 01Write statements that discriminate, not ones everyone agrees with
  2. 02Cover each dimension with enough items to cluster on
  3. 03Add profiling questions to describe, size and find each segment
  4. 04Plan a short question set to classify people in future studies

Pricing research

BUILD STEPS
  1. 01Match the technique to the pricing question: acceptable range, demand at set prices, or price traded against features
  2. 02Set the context before any price question
  3. 03Use realistic price points that don’t anchor the respondent

Multi-market trackers

BUILD STEPS
  1. 01Lock the core questions, order and scales so the trend stays comparable
  2. 02Separate core questions from rotating modules
  3. 03Write wording that travels across markets and languages
Hundreds more

The Survey Builder draws on hundreds of methodologies and statistical techniques, plus your agency’s own.

+ YOUR AGENCY’S METHODS, VIA THE AGENCY VAULT

RESEARCH STANDARDS

How it writes questions, chooses scales and sets the order

Writing questions

✗ LEADING AND DOUBLE-BARRELED“How satisfied are you with our fast, friendly service?”
✓ BETTER“How satisfied are you with the speed of service?”

One idea per question; plain, neutral wording; specific timeframes; answer lists that are complete and mutually exclusive, with “other” and “don’t know” where they belong; and your agency’s house style, learned through the Agency Vault.

Choosing scales

✗ UNBALANCED: ONE NEGATIVE, THREE POSITIVEPoor · Fair · Good · Very good · Excellent
✓ BETTERVery poor · Poor · Neither · Good · Very good

The scale type follows the analysis (a rating to measure, a ranking or choice task to prioritize); balanced scales with clearly labeled points; a deliberate decision on midpoints; one direction throughout; and the same scale for every item that will be compared, combined or tracked.

Setting the order

✗ PROMPTED BEFORE UNAIDED PRIMES THE ANSWERShow the brand list, then ask which brands come to mind
✓ BETTERAsk which brands come to mind, then show the list

Screening first, then general before specific, unaided before aided, and behavior before attitudes; sensitive and demographic questions late; answer lists and blocks rotated to control order effects; and a length that protects data quality.

THE ANALYSIS PLAN

Designed for the statistics you will run

Most survey problems are analysis problems that started in the questionnaire. This is AI questionnaire design that works backwards from the analysis plan.

WORKS BACKWARDS: FROM THE DECISION TO THE QUESTIONS
01The decisionWhat the client must decide
02Analysis planHow each objective will be answered
03VariablesOutcomes, drivers, profiling and weighting
04QuestionsWritten, scaled and ordered to fit

Scales that fit the statistics

Consistent scale points and anchors, so ratings can be compared, combined and modeled.

The variables the analysis needs

A key driver analysis needs an outcome and candidate drivers on comparable scales; a segmentation needs its clustering inputs and profiling variables; weighting needs the right demographics. All of them are in from the start, not found missing at the tables stage.

Bases you can report

Routing and quota flags set so the subgroups the client cares about end up large enough to read.

Open ends where they earn their place

Placed to explain the numbers, not added at the end to fill space.

When fieldwork closes, the Multi-Modal Analyser inherits the objectives, the methodology and the questionnaire, so AI survey analysis starts from the question the client is paying to answer.

ROUTING MAPILLUSTRATIVE
Q1ScreenerQ2Category user?Q3aUsage (users)Q4Brand awarenessQ3bBarriers (non-users)Q7Not in the surveyYESNO
LOGIC CHECK: DEAD END CAUGHT BEFORE FIELDWORK

FIELD-READY

Routed, scripted and field-ready

Skip logic, randomization and rotation, quota flags and automated logic checks, delivered as a scripted, field-ready instrument. AI survey scripting removes the hand-checking that usually sits between a signed-off questionnaire and a live survey.

Client amendments in seconds

Paste client feedback or upload a redlined document, and the routing and scripting update automatically, with every change logged. If an amendment would break the method, the trend or the analysis plan, it tells you before it makes the change.

BEFORE AND AFTER

Manual survey drafting vs. AI survey creation

STAGE
MANUAL DRAFTING
WITH INSIGHTOLOGY
First draft
MANUAL DRAFTINGAdapt last year’s questionnaire; 1–2 days
WITH INSIGHTOLOGYComplete draft from objectives in under an hour
Design quality
MANUAL DRAFTINGDepends on who is writing it that day
WITH INSIGHTOLOGYSame validated design steps and rules on every project
Judgment calls
MANUAL DRAFTINGMade under deadline pressure, or missed
WITH INSIGHTOLOGYFlagged: it stops and asks
Analysis readiness
MANUAL DRAFTINGGaps found at the tables stage
WITH INSIGHTOLOGYBuilt to the analysis plan from the first draft
Routing and scripting
MANUAL DRAFTINGWritten by hand, checked by hand
WITH INSIGHTOLOGYRouted and scripted with automated logic checks
Client amendments
MANUAL DRAFTINGRe-edit, re-route, re-check
WITH INSIGHTOLOGYUpdated in seconds, changes tracked

ONE DESIGN

One design, carried through the project

MethodologySurvey designScreenerFieldworkAnalysis

The design doesn’t stop at the questionnaire. The Screener Generator and the Multi-Modal Analyser inherit it, so the people you recruit match the sample you designed and the analysis reads results against the objectives you set. The method itself comes from the methodology generator; for studies that combine qual and quant, see mixed-methods research; for the whole workflow, see market research automation.

WHAT AGENCIES REPORT
2 days → 1 hour

One agency cut survey design from two days to one hour.

Pricing is per project, with unlimited users; the typical fee is less than the cost of scripting a survey.

FAQ

Questions agencies ask

Yes. It builds each method step by step, from the attribute or item list to the task design, and your researchers review and sign off before anything goes to field.

BRING A LIVE BRIEF

Book a demo and bring a live questionnaire brief

See the design steps, the checks and the questions it stops to ask, on a brief of your own.

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