Accessible survey checklist: What to consider

Checklist for accessible surveys based on WCAG

Creating accessible surveys requires a range of factors to be considered. In this context, accessibility means that everyone – with or without disabilities – can complete a survey, regardless of their impairments or the technology available to them. LamaPoll makes it easy to create accessible online surveys that follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Survey creators should nevertheless pay attention to several important aspects. Use the following checklist to review your survey's question types, design, layout, media, content, settings and invitation.

To help ensure that your survey is accessible, consider the following:

1. Accessible question types

All LamaPoll question types are accessible. However, the principle that applies to any survey is even more important here: some question types are simpler, clearer and easier to understand than others. Single-choice and multiple-choice questions are popular for good reason. Long matrices with several columns or scales, and large ranking questions, can impose a substantial cognitive burden.

Keep the following in mind:

• Prefer familiar question types that are easy to understand
• Avoid using several scales in one question; split them into separate questions instead
• Avoid complex or highly interactive formats such as ranking questions
• Split multi-stage questions into separate steps, for example a choice question followed by a text-entry field and conditionally displayed follow-up questions
• Where possible, divide long matrix or rating questions into several shorter questions

2. Accessible survey design: colours and fonts

• Set the font size to 15 or 16 pixels
• Ensure sufficient colour contrast. For example, do not use dark text on a dark background. LamaPoll automatically calculates suitable contrast for automatically generated colours, such as those used in sliders
• Do not use colour alone to identify links in the survey; links should at least also be underlined
• Avoid non-essential highlight elements such as information buttons
• Enable the “Continue later” link and tell participants that it is available

3. Accessible survey layout and structure

• Keep lines of text to around 70 characters for better readability
• Structure longer text with headings and paragraphs
• Use only a few questions per page; on desktop screens, participants should ideally not need to scroll

4. Media in an accessible survey

• Avoid videos unless they are necessary. If you use video, provide accessible alternatives such as captions and audio description. Add alternative text to informative images
• Use clear, unambiguous and easy-to-understand language

5. Accessible question content

• Ask unambiguous questions and avoid double negatives.
  Do not ask: “Is there neither child labour nor forced labour in your supply chain?” – Yes / No
  A clearer version is: “Is there child labour or forced labour in your supply chain?” – Yes / No
  Better still, ask two separate questions: one about child labour and one about forced labour.
• Reduce the effort required from participants.
  Do not ask: “Are you going on holiday this year and, if so, where?” – Spain, Italy, ...
  Instead ask: “Are you going on holiday this year?” – Yes / No, followed by a conditionally displayed question about the destination.
• Show only relevant questions. Instead of asking every participant which newspapers they read and making “None of these” the last option, first ask whether they read newspapers. Only show the detailed follow-up question when relevant.
• Where necessary, adapt LamaPoll's instructions and error messages so that participants know exactly how to answer a question before continuing.

6. Accessible survey settings

• Multilingual surveys: It may be easier for participants to select their preferred language in the first question and then be routed to the next page in that language.
• Password-protected surveys: The password and access-key entry pages are also accessible, so you can choose the access-control method suitable for your survey.
• Avoid CAPTCHAs.

7. Accessible survey invitations

• If you send invitations through LamaPoll, apply the same accessibility principles to the email: use a sufficient font size, strong contrast and clear language
• Avoid unnecessary images in emails, as many email clients block remote images by default until the recipient chooses to load them
• For closed surveys, use individual links so that participants do not have to pass through the access-key entry page
• If you know each participant's preferred language, store it as an attribute and link directly to the correct language version of a multilingual survey
• Do not use colour alone to identify links in the email; links should at least also be underlined

Create an accessible survey

What is LamaPoll?

LamaPoll is a premium survey tool for creating your own online surveys. Whatever the context or objective – whether you are surveying employees or customers – you can create attractive, user-friendly questionnaires in your own design, fully optimised for every device. You retain full control over your data: it is stored on dedicated, certified servers located exclusively in Germany and is protected under the German Federal Data Protection Act, among other legislation.
Even with the free plan, you can create your own survey and collect responses from up to 50 participants, with results presented in clear charts and ready to download. Our Flexirates offer more features, greater convenience and higher participant limits. They can be cancelled monthly with a single click, so you only pay for as long as you need them.
Our questionnaire templates and online survey examples are, of course, available free of charge.